Google had a game studio? Did it make anything?
They brought over an exec to build the studio. [1]
[1] https://www.polygon.com/2019/3/19/18272965/google-stadia-stu...
Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus
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Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus
#22I know Google/Stadia recently partnered with LG to bundle the Stadia app with LG TVs, but I wonder why Google doesn't do this with every TV manufacturers (save Sony.)
If I were Stadia's marketing chief, I'd
1. Bribe the TV manufacturers to include the Stadia app
2. Advertise that the TV includes _a game console_ during TV commercials.
3. Allow the TV users to pay a bit extra ($20?) to buy a basic game controller.
4. Have all the store demo units to auto stream Stadia playing video games and explicitly explain you don't need a xbox/playstation to play these games.
5. Buy out Witcher 3/Call of Duty 4/Project Cars 2/other older games and make them free for TVs with Stadia bundles.
Most smart TVs these days are more than fast enough to stream HD broadcast. I don't understand why Google doesn't push this.
Fiddling with my phone to play Stadia on my TV is pretty crumple some. It's just too much work for normal folks. People just want to turn on the TV and start playing.
Edit: I guess monopolistic abuse is a concern. However Sony and MS have their own streaming services. Google can just advertise 'play games with Stadia and Playstation Now and Xbox Cloud on your TV!' I am 100% if players switch to playing games on TV without game consoles, it hurts MS/Sony a lot more than to Google.
Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus
#23[deleted]
Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus
#24I was looking forward to seeing some of the games that would have only been possible on Stadia's architecture. Imagine a Battlefield-style game with a larger map and over 500+ simultaneous players.
Hopefully the games that SG&E do finish showcase what's possible when a developer targets Stadia's strengths.
Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus
#25I feel bad for Phil Harrison. He worked v hard at Sony PlayStation to get a Facebook style platform off the ground way before FB ever existed, got shafted in the 1st party game dev worldwide studios politics wars, joined MSFT to try and resurrect Xbox and is now presumably not doing well with Stadia at Google which has broken a lot of very hard ground to enable cloud gaming. The games always come before the platform (People bought Sonic The Hedgehog, not the enabling Sega hardware). Assuming Stadia doesn't disappear someone else will probably profit from all this.
Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus
#26For 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...
It's probably more that PC gaming is just saturated anyways, and even throwing money at it won't work unless there is a clear and compelling advantage or hook. There are way too many market killers that just suck up time and attention now, with the rise of games as service.
Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
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-...
Yeah, I think it is a bit tricky to draw the line. Consider brick and motor pharmacy stores putting generic brand white-labeled items next to name brand items. This has helped the consumer (IMO). But, at the same time I can see how it can be abused. The tricky part is coming up with a way to get best of both worlds. Unfortunately, I have personally seen the pendulum swing from one extreme to the other (based on rushed outrage driven legislation) too many times.
Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus
#28Some of the industry's largest players have been in the game development space for 30+ years and even then are only marginally successful. Xbox itself was on the brink of being shut down/sold off a few years ago. What exactly did Google (and Amazon/Apple/Facebook) expect would happen?
Focusing on Stadia's strength as a platform seems to be a good move forward. It is a technically sound service. I'm sure the massive bump it got from Cyberpunk showed execs that a partnership-only gaming model could be successful. They do need to expand licensing, improve their subscription catalog and get more indie studios involved. Relying on users to consistently pay $60+ for games on top of the monthly fees is a losing business model.
Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus
#29Google had a game studio? Did it make anything?
As far as I can tell they never released a game.
Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus
#30I 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…
As a gamer, I'll buy a console for the exclusives that I can't experience elsewhere. Having solid AAA content that's exclusive seems to come from having solid first party development studios.