Google Stadia officially closed its doors in early January Part of that closure meant that Stadia's Wi-Fi enabled controllers were no longer functional Thankfully, there is an option to convert these controller connections to Bluetooth, and Google initially gave users until the end of the year to do so

But now it appears that deadline has been extended for another 12 months

Google is offering refunds for Stadia hardware and software as the service ends However, those who keep their controllers on hand can continue to use them on other devices by switching from a Wi-Fi connection to a Bluetooth connection That way, they can use it on PCs, cell phones, tablets, and even Macs

This change is permanent, and one cannot go back to using the stadia controller via Wi-Fi This is because, in that state, it is as useless as a fancy looking rock It may be fine for gazing at or using as a paperweight, but ultimately it is impractical [As Ars Technica points out, converting a Stadia controller to Bluetooth is not as easy as downloading firmware Instead, Google uses a dedicated update page set up with a "WebUSB" API, which eliminates the need to download specialized update software, but does not allow third parties to replicate the entire Bluetooth conversion process This means that Google's expiration date has expired In other words, once Google expires, you are out of luck

Fortunately, Google has extended the deadline to December 31, 2024, giving everyone 12 months So those of you who own a stadium controller (or found one for sale at a very reasonable price) have a while to prevent it from becoming e-waste

Currently, the controller sells for $45 on Amazon, not the best price for something almost obsolete, but much cheaper than the original $69 Whether it's worth buying and converting to Bluetooth is up to you

According to Google, the entire conversion process takes about three minutes, and you need to make sure the controller has been charged for at least 30 minutes All you have to do is connect the controller to your computer with a USB data cable and open the conversion page in the Chromium browser

The browser will walk you through everything step-by-step and has the ability to check if the Stadia controller has been converted to Bluetooth Once the conversion is actually complete, pairing mode is initiated by pressing the Y button for at least two seconds, at which point the status light will flash orange