Maybe it's best that Google only owns the platform, not the content.
The EU seems to be tired of tech companies owning both: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/platform-busin...
Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus
11–20 of 834 posts
Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus
#12For context, Amazon is also struggling to make first party games [1]. I think it was hubris that these large companies didn't start with smaller scoped games and instead jumped head first into building their own engines and ips. [1]: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-01-29/amazon-ga...
Perhaps hubris. But it could also be the same thing that plagues every developer that tries to build games: procrastinating the impossible part (building games, especially games worth a damn) by the doing the easy part (building tools). And the delusion that you're doing anything of value because it feels productive. And the allure of generalization.
Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus
#13How long until an article title is simply the first four words of this one's?
Well, this has been going since it launched: http://stadiacountdown.com/
Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus
#14> 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.”
"Google" and "under-resourced" in the same blurb is very funny.
Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus
#15> With the increased focus on using our technology platform for industry partners, Jade Raymond has decided to leave Google to pursue other opportunities.
I'm glad she got out.
Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus
#16Maybe it's best that Google only owns the platform, not the content. The EU seems to be tired of tech companies owning both: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/platform-busin...
There are a lot of examples of companies owning both though:
1. Microsoft: https://kotaku.com/microsoft-now-has-23-first-party-studios-...
2. Nintendo owns many successful games on their platforms: Zelda, Mario based titles, etc.
3. Sony: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sony_Interactive_Enter...
Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus
#17I think this might get the “oh, Google shuts down another area after a few years, color me surprised” crowd going, but for me this is totally the right move. There are a LOT of videogame developers out there. Many of them are quite good at what they do. The cloud gaming space, while much better than it used to be, has plenty of room for improvement — it’s not remotely mainstream yet, and there’s still time yet to min…
I agree that they didn't need this in the first place, but this is the venture they started last March [1]. What changed for them in those 10 months that wasn't an obvious trend before?
[1] https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/4/21164801/google-stadia-sha...
Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus
#18For context, Amazon is also struggling to make first party games [1]. I think it was hubris that these large companies didn't start with smaller scoped games and instead jumped head first into building their own engines and ips. [1]: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-01-29/amazon-ga...
Did amazon build their own engine? I thought they licensed cryengine and slapped their brand on it?
Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus
#19Maybe it's best that Google only owns the platform, not the content. The EU seems to be tired of tech companies owning both: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/platform-busin...
There are a lot of examples of companies owning both though: 1. Microsoft: https://kotaku.com/microsoft-now-has-23-first-party-studios-... 2. Nintendo owns many successful games on their platforms: Zelda, Mario based titles, etc. 3. Sony: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sony_Interactive_Enter...
True, but, in other areas this has been abused:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-scooped-up-data-from-its...
https://www.computerworld.com/article/2468760/apple--steals-...
Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus
#20For context, Amazon is also struggling to make first party games [1]. I think it was hubris that these large companies didn't start with smaller scoped games and instead jumped head first into building their own engines and ips. [1]: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-01-29/amazon-ga...
They didn't really build their own engine, they bought a re-licensable license to CryEngine, rebranded it to Lumberyard, and started their engine work from that.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160209005740/en/Ama...
This sale is speculated to have saved Crytek from bankruptcy, as they were failing to pay their employees at the time. Lucky for Crytek, and Amazon was probably thinking "man, we got a great deal on this!"
http://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/source-crytek-i...
Unfortunately the engine they got a great deal on was CryEngine, which has made some cool games, but by a lot of accounts is not great to work in. Much like the issues reported at EA's studios (with Frostbite), if you're working on a game in it you want to be working closely with the engine devs. They're the ones who know how to make it work, or can fix it when it doesn't work.
A number of CryEngine developers left to join Cloud Imperium's Frankfurt office working on Star Citizen. That office basically exists to pick up the ex-Crytek people who wanted a job where they'd get paid. I don't know if Amazon snagged any of them, it would've been a harder sell to relocate to the US, but with the amount of money they were pouring into this, not impossible.