An announcement from Google Stadia states that it will start to process refunds for Stadia hardware purchases today, which is expected to be completed within two weeks. Through this time phase, the refunds should arrive to the customers ahead of the Stadia shutdown in January.
Refunding Hardware Purchases from Google Store
Starting today, Google will be issuing refunds for Stadia hardware that is purchased from the Google Store. According to the announcement from the company, emails will be sent to the anticipated customers who requested a refund.
The eligible purchases for refunds include the Stadia controller, bundles like the Founder's Edition, the Premiere Edition, and Play and Watch with Google TV package that includes a Chromecast Ultra with the WiFi-connected gamepad.
This started when Google announced on September 29th that its cloud gaming will be shutting down in January next year, which Google committed to the public on refunding software and hardware purchases.
The processing of refunds started last November 9, when the company attempted to automate the process for all purchased games by the customers, including add-on content and subscription fees.
Google states, "We ask for your patience as we work through each transaction and ask that you refrain from contacting Customer Support as they will not be able to expedite your refund during this time."
No Refunds for These Products
Google Stadia also made it clear that not all purchases will be having a refund. According to Engadget, Google is not refunding subscription fees for Stadia Pro or Stadia hardware that was bought from Best Buy.
Although it is not eligible, customers will still be able to continue playing your games in Pro without further charges until the down date. "Players who held an active Stadia Pro subscription as of September 29 will not be charged for access to their Pro library or other subscription entitlements during the shut down period," the company stated
Players will not be able to play games on the services once Stadia shuts down on the expected date.
Just last week, in the middle of processing, some customers noticed receiving refunds even for Stadia Pro. This was surprising as Google cleared to the public about this subscription not being included.
An ₤8.99 ($9.37) was shown in the screenshot from Reddit, which was the monthly cost for Stadia Pro overseas during the time when it was still active.
According to 9To5Google, these appeared to primarily be in the United Kingdom, with multiple reports of the money being sent back. Although the customers were not required to return the money, the report stated that it should not be treated as any sort of precedent.
Adding to the speculations, this might be due to a regional requirement, which is why some of the people in a certain area received unexpected refunds.
