Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus

#211

Post by paulpan » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 9:57 PM UTC

guardiangod wrote: post #22

I 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.…

Sounds like the right approach, and it seems Google is slowly moving in that direction...starting with this decision.

As others have commented, it was pure hubris for Google (and Rick Osterloh) to believe they could just start a new game studio and use it to fuel growth of the Stadia streaming platform. Xbox surely would've died without Halo!

This "do it all myself" approach needs to start with building a massive user base upon which to lure other game developers and TV manufacturers - not the other way around. A telling sign is that the newest Google TV dongle doesn't yet support Stadia...

From a hardware technical standpoint, I think most TV manufacturers don't include a powerful enough SOC from which to run a Stadia app (e.g. a built-in Chromecast != Chromecast dongle). There's also some server-side compatibility issues that we're not aware of.

Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus

#212

Post by throwaway98249 » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 9:58 PM UTC

Invictus0 wrote: post #146

JulianMorrison wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I presume that they came out of the gate with the sensible perspective that if you build it, and there aren't any games on it, the players won't come. My guess is what changed is that the infrastructure is now viable as infrastructure, they don't need to prop it up with their own game releases.

IMO, it would be better to take the Nintendo approach and build out a couple generic games that highlight the best features of the system. Wii tennis and wii bowling ended up being my favorite Wii games.

It seems a generic game to demonstrate new hardware is more difficult than we might assume... anyone for Kinect Sports?

Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus

#213

Post by lrae » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 9:58 PM UTC

wronglebowski wrote: post #191

lrae wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, not sure where the idea comes from that Microsoft fronts like the entire development cost for ... for what even? As a publisher? Sure, maybe. For games coming to Game Pass? No. Same for the EGS, it's not like they front all those games. (Most exclusivity is bought way later in the process.) But the original comment is pretty much Windows Phone back then. To this day I have no idea why Microsoft was so cheap and…

My point of reference here is from this twitter thread. https://twitter.com/RaveofRavendale/status/13094734056039096... "With Nowhere Prophet, it was an interesting case because we were also launching on Xbox Game Pass at the same time, which had essentially already secured financial success for the console versions" Not exclusive, still got a significant chunk of cash.

Having the money to port a game to console is great, but usually not comparable to fronting the full development of a game.

There might be a couple where Epic might have done that (kind of, I know they saved some games), but I don't think Microsoft funded any development for a gamepass game so far. (From a third party, not published by Microsoft.)

Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus

#214

Post by s3r3nity » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 9:59 PM UTC

itronitron wrote: post #84

Andrex wrote: post #47

From Kotaku[0]: > "The service’s best moments may have been when its third-party ports showed off the strength of the cloud gaming model, in which a game can run well on just about any device with a screen and a strong internet connection. Ubisoft games such as Assassin’s Creed Odyssey ran well on Stadia. Destiny 2’s Stadia support let players of that game drop in for an extra match or quest from their phone or lapto…

>> >"When Cyberpunk 2077 was faltering on everything else in December, it was running quite well on Stadia." This is the first time I have heard that, it seems like something that Stadia's marketing team would want to tell people.

Can confirm - Cyberpunk 2077, along with Doom Eternal and Celeste, have been a blast on Stadia for me for the past few months.

Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus

#215

Post by nikolay » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 9:59 PM UTC

Microsoft shutdown Invoke - I got a $50 voucher and I still can use the device as a bluetooth speaker. What happens with my Stadio investment in hardware when they shut it down soon?! How many times we need to say: "Not again!" investing any time with a new product/service from Google?! My daughter got a Pixel 3a - it has so many issues and Google won't fix saying it has to do with my carrier. Their forums are flooded with people from different carriers having the same issues, but, not, they blame Bluetooth problems to T-Mobile! Same with Google Home Max - I bought one wanted to buy another until it's gone (when it was $179) just to be brought back at full price ($299) and then be gone again! Same with Google OnHub - I bought it, then it became unsupported and gone!

Google cannot run a business, they really don't know how to protect their brand, and never fail to piss off everybody and especially their early adopters!

Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus

#216

Post by hobofan » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 9:59 PM UTC

mindfreeze wrote: post #152

Recently I came across this https://shadow.tech/ They do something promising and better (?)

I've had a great experience with their service quite some time ago, though I'm a bit worried about their ability to scale up. IIRC they had suspended new sign ups for some time, and rollout of their Ultra and Infinite offerings seems pretty slow (possibly because of GPU shortages?).

Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus

#217

Post by hnburnsy » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 9:59 PM UTC

GraceFromGoogle at r/stadia...

"Hi everyone, I completely understand your emotions surrounding the news, so I wanted to chime in with a couple more thoughts. Please note that Stadia.com, Stadia Pro, and your games aren’t going anywhere. In fact, we’ll keep bringing more games to the platform and Stadia Pro. We had an exciting launch with Cyberpunk 2077 back in December, and the Stadia team is dedicated to bringing even more titles to the platform this year.“

Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus

#218

Post by ocdtrekkie » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 9:59 PM UTC

Jare wrote: post #131

wronglebowski wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was recently an article about Stadia where a developer from a decent sized studio claimed they were approached by Google for Stadia. What did Google offer for the developer to bring the game to Stadia? Almost nothing. The figure was in the tens of thousands. For reference when Microsoft/Epic approaches the studios for games on their platforms they front the entire development cost. Sometimes millions of dollars…

> when Microsoft/Epic approaches the studios for games on their platforms they front the entire development cost We once had a Microsoft rep come visit us to get us to publish our upcoming mobile games for Windows Mobile Tablet notreallysurewhatwasthatanymore. When we asked what kind of support they were ready to provide, they offered to lend us a device for a few weeks. Of course it's not representative of how thing…

As an independent person without a company, Microsoft gave me a free Windows Phone just for expressing interest in developing an app for it. These sorts of developer incentives kinda come and go, depending on the platform and how much they're investing in it.

Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus

#219

Post by offtop5 » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 10:00 PM UTC

hobofan wrote: post #184

williamdclt wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know absolutely nothing of game dev, but adding cameras to the scene doesn't sound like it would be the most complex aspect of developping a video game?

Enabling that for in-browser/mobile spectators without needing to install the game wouldn't be exactly trivial, though.

Why.

Twitch plays Pokemon worked fine .

Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus

#220

Post by readyoubestbook » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 10:00 PM UTC

Google seems to be best in creating - or buying and scaling - a platform to let "creatives" make "things". They simply time after time seem to confirm that they just can not be "creative" themselves but they do build great technologies.

And from a technical perspective Stadia does makes sense, you just seem to be making an interactive YouTube?