Even that (in some cases) is tied into digital content. Look at Hitman, physical disc but also A LOT of the content is digital only (7DS, Contracts, etc.) Your access to that content relies on both ioi maintaining their servers and also your platform of choice staying up and running.
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I guess we view âownershipâ differently. When someone else has complete say over your âpropertyâ I donât see that as you owning anything. Yes itâs nice to get a refund (because like you said, something is better than nothing) but that doesnât change the fact that ALL Stadia users were essentially renting (one time purchase fee) content. Financially, theyâre whole and not out any money. Great. But theyâve lost their games and progress for 4+ years. Not great.
I donât know how to tell you this but an in perpetuity license grants you local ownership. Thatâs not technically owning anything, but itâs functional ownership (which basically boils down to âyou own this copy of the Original; donât try to claim you made itâ). Sure, you have it in your hands, but thatâs not really the definition of ownership by law.
That could be argued for EGS and Steam, and really anything digital; Google Stadia is just a big name thatâs flopped. They werenât âessentially rentingâ anything; they purchased the damn thing, and expected Google to keep the servers up. When that became no longer feasible, Google shut it down and offered people refunds (likely because it was easier to do). Path of least resistance and all that.
Thatâs what ownership is in the digital because thatâs how activation-based DRM tends to work like; that just isnât specific to Stadia. Google for all their faults (of which there are MANY), did the right thing here and didnât try weasel their way out of the problem, so I will commend them for getting something about Stadiasâ business right.
I know, but weâre talking about two different things now. I know if you purchase and âownâ a copy of Windows that doesnât magically mean you now OWN Windows and youâre the new Bill Gates. You just own a copy. Digitally. My point is, with Stadia you donât even own a copy of any games you purchased. Nothing. Theyâre refunding customers for not only the reasons I mentioned above, but also because once their service ends next year you wonât even have that digital copy of a game. Youâll have nothing.
Google hasnât mentioned the possibility of transferring your games to another platform (which could change) like the examples you gave. So itâs not the same. Does that make sense!?
Yes you did. Theyâre refunding you of that purchase and revoking your ownership of it in the process. Itâs not âessentially rentingâ, it was ownership at the time, and will continue to be until people get their refunds.
For the time Stadia is up, You own it; no exceptions.
I was more talking about save transfers, not game transfers (though GOG Connect has proven such a thing is possible), but I get your point.
Contracts Mode is literally designed to run on servers, so Iâm less annoyed by that. To some extent, you know what youâre getting. 7DS being online only is a slap in the face, and IOI really needs to change that.
I said ârentingâ because if you donât accept a refund, can you keep âownershipâ of the games you purchased on Stadia? Nope. That digital copy you keep saying people own wonât exist come 01/18/23. You either take a refund or walk away empty handed. Keeping the games you âownâ isnât an option.
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Oh no this is becoming another arguing thread 
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It did not start out that way, I promise you.
That isnât what I implied, nor what I said. My words were that, prior to that date, the game is yours. Anything after that, it isnât, and the ownership reverts back to the game owner, and you get your money back. The refunds appear to be automatic, so AFAIK, you donât have to do anything special.
I have nothing else to say on the matter.
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I still donât think it is!? Difference of opinion, debate, yeah. But I donât consider this âarguingâ. Itâs a discussion forum. Weâre discussing shit. We might not agree but thatâs fine. 
Nice that theyâre willing to do that considering their busy schedule⌠of sexual misconduct. 
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No lie, this is why I stopped playing Watchdogs 2, despite being fun as all hell.
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Stadia was awesome, especially for huge games like Hitman. Being able to play a few challenges in Bed on my phone, showing it to my brother over christmas at my parentsâ, playing it during a server-session while waiting for stuff to complete. I use a quite nice gaming pc but still had some games on Stadia, just because it was such a great experience. Also it was way, way, wayyyy better then luna and GeForce Now, I tried those three and itâs not even competition. Yes, annoying that you have to buy games again, but itâs a different plattform and if you own Hitman on PS4 you have to re-buy it on XBox, so why should this be such a big deal.
Wht I wonder now: I have Hitman 3 with H1 + H2 progress on Steam, but also Hitman Trilogy with a lot of unlocks on Stadia - if Stadia could overwrite PC I would lose some legacy items, if I would just let stadia go I might not get exclusive unlocks. I hope iO finds a way to just give all players the exclusive unlocks.
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I ended up finding individual pictures of the three exclusive Stadia items (in case anyone here hasnât seen them before).
-White Sunset Suit
-Sunset Rubber Duck
-Orange Pinstripe Briefcase
I do feel bad for those who loved playing Hitman 3 on Google Stadia. I am wondering if IOI will bring cross saves (for all unlocks) for Stadia players, or will just bring the three Stadia exclusive items to all systems/services (Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Epic/Steam/PC).
How did Hitman 3 play on Google Stadia? (If any Stadia players could respond to this comment to let us know how it played, I would greatly appreciate it).
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For context, I played all of H1-H2 on PC, then had to switch to Stadia for H3 in 2021 due to my PC being dead (bought the entire WoA trilogy on Stadia rather than just the H3 levels), and then finally returned to H3/entire WoA trilogy on PC in 2022 once my machine had been repaired and the Steam release of H3 came out.
I also play Hitman via controller rather than K&M (Steam controller on PC, Stadia controller during my year in the wilderness in 2021); Iâd estimate my skill level at Hitman games is pretty much slap bang in the middle of the spectrum between casual n00bs and people who are actually really good at the game; and my playstyle definitely is more towards the roleplaying end than it is the speedrunning end.
With that in mind to give you an idea of how I play Hitman and what Iâm looking for from the game when I play it, I can then say that I experienced virtually no difference between playing Hitman in Stadia vs playing it locally on PC⌠except for the graphical fidelity which is SO much better on the PC version than it is on Stadia (even the Stadia Pro tier which allowed you to stream the game in 4k resolution). Other than looking much prettier in the Steam version, the experience of playing the game felt very much the same on both platforms.
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Iâve 100%-ed Hitman on Steam, then 100%-ed it again with the launch of Hitman 2. I was very happy to hear H3 would allow savegame import but was very unhappy to hear H3 would be an epic exclusive. So I then had the choice of (a) wait a year, (b) pay money that will support the epic launcher or (c) pay a lot of money to get the full trilogy on Stadia. I chose (c) and donât regret it one bit.
Stadia is, as scat wrote before, mostly equal to the pc version. It looks a bit worse (no motion blur for example) but more important it runs in flawless 60 FPS and controlls great. M/K as well as gamepad, I played both: mouse for Sniper Assasin Maps, sometimes for Elusive Targets because itâs just quicker and more precise, would not risk an ET by playing with a controller (or precise shots like the chandellier for the sloth sin), but gamepad for general enjoyment because it just feels better to lean back and relax.
Off-topic: Gamepad vs Controller. Do you guys make any difference? Is this something I donât get speaking another language?
Hitman PC is the better version because of more stuff to do - better graphics, more options in general, mod support etc.
But Hitman stadia is the second-best version in my eyes because this game is huge, itâs not a âlets finish this game this weekendâ game but instead a very, very, very large pile of challenges and little things to do. Perfect for Stadia because it could be played everywhere without a download and while keeping your savegame. Example: I have to manage some server stuff on the weekend, my collegue is not here yet, so letâs just finish the ET quickly on some old office pc. Works flawlessly. Also enjoying a short play on my phone was nice - not professionally, but just for fun during some free time.
If you care for leaderboards or competition - I donât, but still - Stadia was quite empty and isntead of getting ârank 7223136 of 20934823434â you could really get a feeling for your skill on Stadia because it was mostly more like â72 of 350â. Which is sad but cool, depending on your persepctive.
Stadia was and is awesome. Especially for a game like Hitman that you can complete over many months while Stadia gives you the option to work on your progress everywhere instantly.
To be fair, I can happily replace Stadia with my Steam Deck now, it offers just the same luxury. But before the Deck, Stadia was in my eyes the best and most comfortable way to enjoy this game (even if technically the second best).
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the only logical option is to allow progress carryover for stadia users to whatever platform they want
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I quite like the suit aswell, I just wish for the platform exclusive suits they all had black shoes
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Both words are interchangeable and accepted as correct by anyone who plays games. I think here in the U.S. we use Controller more often than not.
Any input device you use to interact with a game is a Controller (gamepad, keyboard, mouse, light gun, steering wheel, etc.).
A Gamepad is just one type of Controller.
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