Google Stadia is officially shutting down on January 18th, and the team behind the video game streaming service has teased Worm Game, the final title to be released for the platform that was used to test several Stadia features before its launch.
Now anyone can play the worm game using Google Chrome browser, It is very much inspired by the classic game Snake. It’s not the most graphically advanced game, but it has multiple levels, the ability to change the color of the worm, and four modes – Campaign, Arcade, Multiplayer, and Build.
It’s also important to note that if you want to try out Worm Game, you’ll need to do so by January 18th as it will become unplayable when Google Stadia officially shuts down.
It’s a rare glimpse behind the scenes of game development, and a fascinating look at how the team helped bring Stadia to life.
“Play the game that came to Stadia before Stadia came to the world,” the Stadia Platform Content Team wrote. “Worm Game” is an unassuming title that we used to test many Stadia features, from long before our 2019 public launch, all the way up to 2022. Team Stadia won’t win game of the year, but Team Stadia spent a lot of time playing it and thought we’d share it with you. Thanks for Play and everything.”
Besides Worm Game, the Stadia team has another surprise in store for those invested in the failed platform, as it will launch Self-service tool to enable Bluetooth connections on your Stadia console next week. We don’t have the exact details on how it will work yet, but those will come “when it’s launched.”
Launched in 2019, Google Stadia is a cloud gaming service that allows users to stream video games, including AAA titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, to devices with Google Chrome. It doesn’t matter how powerful the device is either, everything runs on Google’s cloud service.
Google announced in September 2022 that Stadia would be shutting down in January 2023, but has taken the generous initiative of refunding “all Stadia hardware purchases made through the Google Store, and all game and additional content purchases made through the Stadia Store”.
While Stadia may not live to see another month, the technology behind it will live on as Google has already started offering it as a white-label product. This means other companies can use the technology without saying, “Hey, this is powered by Google Stadia!” AT&T really took advantage of this when it offered Batman: Arkham Knight to its users for free.
For more on the rise and fall of Google Stadia, be sure to check out our in-depth look at what happened to a platform that Google promised would be “the future of gaming.”
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Adam Pankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @employee and on twitch.
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