Google's Stadia will close on January 18, and those who enjoyed the service in its final weeks are mourning its demise; whatever mistakes Google made with Stadia, it must be said that the company's handling of the service's termination has been exemplary (for consumers) The company's response has been exemplary (to consumers). While having all the money in the world behind it no doubt helps, the way the company proactively reimbursed its backers and prepared its controllers for future Bluetooth use is nothing short of commendable.

The past few days have brought a somewhat sentimental surprise from the Stadia service: Google released the first game in which Stadia was used, an in-house developed version of Snake called Worm Game. This solo and multiplayer title was described as "used to test many of Stadia's features from well before its 2019 general launch until 2022"

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Is that a speck of dust in your eye' Worm Game is a kind of break for the engineers and talent that made Stadia a success, and as if it must be the final flourish for a technology that at one time aimed to upset the entire pecking order of the gaming industry Why and how Stadia failed to gain a large enough audience is a topic for another article, but whatever the reason, the technology was a success. And while Stadia may not have turned out to be what Google wanted it to be, game streaming will undoubtedly remain an industry segment and, over time, will become the way many people play games.

Stadia will end its service on January 18 at 11:59 PM. Until that time, the worm game, once a test case for a service that rocked the gaming world, will enjoy a brief moment of sunshine.