Google investigates ‘side effects’ caused by Stadia refunds – Times of India

Google recently announced that its cloud gaming service — Stadia — will be shutting down in January 2023. The tech giant has also started refunding all Stadia hardware bought via the Google Store. The company is also issuing refunds for all the games and add-on content that users have bought from the Stadia store. Google expects to complete all the refunds before the cloud gaming service is gone for good.
Some customers are now seeing negative Play Points balances as well as huge Google Play Store credits due to these Stadia refunds. In a statement to 9to5Google, the company has confirmed that this issue is unintended and will only affect US customers. Google is also working on solutions for Android users who faced Play Point deductions due to Stadia refunds.

Google Stadia refunds: Original payment method
While announcing the shutdown of its cloud gaming service, Google confirmed that all Stadia purchases will be returned to their original payment method. However, the company enabled an exclusive payment method for Android users which was the Play Store credit.

Google allows Android users to obtain Play Store credit by redeeming Play Points, purchasing Google Play gift cards and by answering Opinion Rewards surveys. The company is now refunding Stadia purchases made with Play Store credit as the same for such users, just like any other payment method.
Why some users are receiving huge amounts of Google Play Store credit
Some customers funded their Stadia purchases with the credit they received by accumulating Google Play Store gift cards. Several users have also reported receiving huge amounts of Play Store credit (thousands of dollars) on Reddit.
This might be happening as Google’s support team is unable to transfer the stacked-up Play Store credit to any other payment form. As per the report, any Stadia-related transactions split between Play Store credit and other forms of payment (like online banking, credit card, etc) will likely follow that same split during refund.
Google Opinion Rewards complications
Play Store credit earned from Google Opinion Rewards expires one year after the completion of each survey. Stadia customers have discovered that Google is returning these credits with their original expiration date still in place. This means that Opinion Rewards credits that were spent a year ago will not be refunded. The company is yet to clarify the situation with Play Credit redeemed from Google Opinion Rewards.

Google Play Points deduction for Stadia refunds
Moreover, some users who are enrolled in Google’s Play Points system have also reported that their Stadia refunds are also subtracting the Play Points earned with each transaction. Multiple users have also reported negative balances on their Google Play accounts. Some users have also noted seeing negative balances in the thousands. Google is also reportedly stopping users from claiming discounts on Play Store purchases until the negative balance is resolved.