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Stadia to close its game studios

The company is announcing the news today, though Kotaku began to hear rumblings from sources close to Stadia last week that Google's service was heading for a major change. One games industry source told Kotaku that Google was canceling multiple projects, basically any games slated for release beyond a specific 2021 window, though they believed games close to release would still come out. Today brings some clarification.

Google will close its two game studios, located in Montreal and Los Angeles. That closure will impact around 150 developers, one source familiar with Stadia operations said. The company says it will try to find those developers new roles at Google.
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web.archive.org

Google Stadia Shuts Down Internal Studios, Changing Business Focus

Google Stadia, the late 2019 streaming platform that promised to revolutionize gaming by letting users stream games without needing to own a powerful PC or console, is altering course, getting out of the game-making business and will now offer its platform directly to game publishers alongside...
web.archive.org web.archive.org

What do you think, how long does Stadia have left?
 
The company is announcing the news today, though Kotaku began to hear rumblings from sources close to Stadia last week that Google's service was heading for a major change. One games industry source told Kotaku that Google was canceling multiple projects, basically any games slated for release beyond a specific 2021 window, though they believed games close to release would still come out. Today brings some clarification.
Click to expand...
Google will close its two game studios, located in Montreal and Los Angeles. That closure will impact around 150 developers, one source familiar with Stadia operations said. The company says it will try to find those developers new roles at Google.
Click to expand...
Stadia isn't quite done. The Stadia tech could still succeed. By many accounts, Stadia runs games great. But as a game-maker, Google appears to have packed it in. Said one source familiar with Stadia's first-party operations, citing another tech giant's widely publicized failure to create video games: "Google was a terrible place to make games. Imagine Amazon, but under-resourced."
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Google Stadia Shuts Down Internal Studios, Changing Business Focus (kotaku.com)
 
notsurprisedkirk.jpg
 
Update:
We launched Stadia with the goal of making your favorite games instantly available wherever you want to play them. With the recent successful launch of Cyberpunk 2077 on Stadia, gameplay on all types of devices, including iOS, growing our slate of YouTube integrations, and our global expansions, it's clear that Stadia's technology has been proven and works at scale. Having games streamed to any screen is the future of this industry, and we'll continue to invest in Stadia and its underlying platform to provide the best cloud gaming experience for our partners and the gaming community. This has been the vision of Stadia since the beginning.

In 2021, we're expanding our efforts to help game developers and publishers take advantage of our platform technology and deliver games directly to their players. We see an important opportunity to work with partners seeking a gaming solution all built on Stadia's advanced technical infrastructure and platform tools. We believe this is the best path to building Stadia into a long-term, sustainable business that helps grow the industry.

Creating best-in-class games from the ground up takes many years and significant investment, and the cost is going up exponentially. Given our focus on building on the proven technology of Stadia as well as deepening our business partnerships, we've decided that we will not be investing further in bringing exclusive content from our internal development team SG&E, beyond any near-term planned games. With the increased focus on using our technology platform for industry partners, Jade Raymond has decided to leave Google to pursue other opportunities. We greatly appreciate Jade's contribution to Stadia and wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors. Over the coming months, most of the SG&E team will be moving on to new roles. We're committed to working with this talented team to find new roles and support them.

What does this mean if you're a current or future Stadia gamer? You can continue playing all your games on Stadia and Stadia Pro, and we'll continue to bring new titles from third parties to the platform. We're committed to the future of cloud gaming, and will continue to do our part to drive this industry forward. Our goal remains focused on creating the best possible platform for gamers and technology for our partners, bringing these experiences to life for people everywhere.
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blog.google

Focusing on Stadia’s future as a platform, and winding down SG&E

We’re expanding our efforts to help game developers and publishers take advantage of our platform technology, and winding down SG&E.
blog.google blog.google
 
Considering the unbelievable amount of mismanagement Stadia suffered I´m surprised they made it this far at all.
That service was DOA by design.
 
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vince vaughn laughing GIF


Xcloud and Luna next in line.

Luna will be dead before end of the year, XCloud will last more since it has even Sony using it (Azure) and GamePass but it won´t be long.
 
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Yeah this is Google exiting the business as most of you predicted they would. Having tried all of the cloud gaming services Stadia as a platform was by far the best, but the business model never made sense.
 
The only shocking thing about this is just how quickly.

I remember one or two lone nutjobs trying to argue that just because Google has a history of shutting down tonnes of ventures that this one, this one would be different.
 
v_iHuGi said:
vince vaughn laughing GIF


Xcloud and Luna next in line.

Luna will be dead before end of the year, XCloud will last more since it has even Sony using it (Azure) and GamePass but it won´t be long.
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Nah they can always use xcloud as a value add to xbox, they can keep it up just has Sony has kept up PS Now.
 
Oh crap.
Been a subscriber since day 1. Granted I only scooped up the free games, never bought anything else, but it's no doubt the best streaming tech I've tried by far. Geforce Now gets close because of PC hardware but stumbles on 2FA login jank, queues and stability. Xcloud is the worst, quantity over quality.
 
Crazy how huge companies like Google, amazon or even apple just don't get gaming.
They want a slice but aren't willing to invest in producing their own content.
 
Shocking news. Stadia offered a business model publishers would love, but consumers hate. GeForce Now and xCloud is the business model that should be used for cloud gaming.
 
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v_iHuGi said:
vince vaughn laughing GIF


Xcloud and Luna next in line.

Luna will be dead before end of the year, XCloud will last more since it has even Sony using it (Azure) and GamePass but it won´t be long.
Click to expand...
doubt Luna will be gone that fast (especially if it gets bunled with Prime)

also definitely doubt Xcloud will be a goner due to the same reason with game pass
 
Some of it sounds like Stadia is going to try to pivot into a white label streaming provider. Buy the game streaming direct from manufacturer and it is all handled by Stadia but presentation is the game publisher.
 
ZippyTheOtter said:
I'm as stunned as the rest of you.

Google has lost all confidence from me to commit to projects over the years.
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I actually didn't think it would happen with Stadia knowing Google's history (the lost of commitment.) So, kinda saw it, but didn't expect it, to actually happen. Well, given ti has, I likely won't be the first to try any new Google product/service as I have in the past. Have been burned too many times now. lol. Some of their stuff ends up being good but they still kill it and only bring it back if Apple does something similar (usually also better) and then it just seems like they just didn't have the foresight. Ugh. Google.
 
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Rikkori said:
Update:


blog.google

Focusing on Stadia’s future as a platform, and winding down SG&E

We’re expanding our efforts to help game developers and publishers take advantage of our platform technology, and winding down SG&E.
blog.google blog.google
Click to expand...
That's the way to go. Few are going to buy hardware to stream games. An app in devices they already have could have more reach, though still has the barrier of having to buy a controller for people who aren't already gamers or hassle with syncing and controller back and forth between whatever console and whatever streaming device if they only have one pad.

In an case, a main appeal of streaming content is being able to access it on gadgets people already have. If there's a future in streaming gaming it will be on apps built into TVs and in all mobile devices. Otherwise for the core gamer market, PCs and consoles with options to buy games (physical or digitally), pays or services like Gamepass to download and play games ano streaming services on those platforms already reach that market. Only question is if there's a big enough market of people out there who'd pay for a streaming gaming service who aren't currently willing to buy consoles or a gaming PC, and who aren't satisfied by mobile games. I'm skeptical there's much market there.
 
If you're like me, you probably read this as Google shutting down the Stadia service.

That hasn't happened…yet. This is just the Stadia game studios.
 
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