Google Stadia is officially shutting down on January 18, and the team behind the video game streaming service has given the world Worm Games, the final title to be released for the platform and the title of the game. The game was used to test many of Stadia’s features prior to launch.
Now anyone with a Google Chrome browser can play Worm Game, and it is heavily inspired by the classic game Snake. It’s not the most graphically advanced game, but it does have multiple levels, the ability to change the color of your worm, and four modes – Campaign, Arcade, Multiplayer, and Build.
It’s also important to note that, if you want to try Worm Game, you must do so by January 18, as the game will become unplayable once Google Stadia is officially shut down.
It’s a rare look behind the curtain on game development, and a fascinating look at how the team helped bring Stadia to life.
“Let’s play the game coming to Stadia before Stadia launches to the world,” wrote the Stadia Platform Content Team. “‘The Worm Game’ is a modest title that we used to test many of Stadia’s features, starting before we went public in 2019, all the way to 2022. It will didn’t win Game of the Year, but the Stadia team spent a LOT of time playing it and we thought we’d share it with you. Thanks for playing and for everything.”
Besides Worm Game, the Stadia team has another surprise for those who have invested in the failed platform, that is they will release a “self-service tool to enable Bluetooth connectivity on your Stadia Controller” next week. We don’t have exact details on how it works yet, but they will be “released”.
Google Stadia launched in 2019 and 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, because everything runs on Google’s cloud service.
Google announced in September 2022 that Stadia would be shutting down in January 2023, but it did make the generous gesture of refunding “all Stadia hardware purchases made through the Google Store as well as all game content and add-on purchases made through Stadia Store.”
Although Stadia may not live another month, the technology behind it will survive as Google has started offering it as a white label product. This means other companies can use the technology without having to say, “Hey, this is run by Google Stadia!” AT&T took advantage of this by offering Batman: Arkham Knight for free to its users.
To learn more about the rise and fall of Google Stadia, be sure to check out Our insight into what’s happened to a platform that Google promises will be the “future of gaming”.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and more Convulsion.
