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Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus

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

#321

Post by hackcasual »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #195
bastawhiz wrote: post #185

I'm dumbfounded at Google's lack of planning on this. I tried Stadia, and they had (have?) so few games that they seem to have neither search nor pagination on the list that you can play. None of the games are ones that I care about. It feels like they could have—at the cost of short-term profit and pride—partnered with Valve and shipped something mind-blowing. But instead we're left with a bunch of AAA games that fe…

Everyone knew this was a bad idea, and the truly curious thing is, how does anyone who greenlit this on any level still have a job? Stadia had a narrow set of interesting use cases around features deeply integrated with Google products: Zero of them were ready for launch, and I think all but one are still unavailable today. The value for gamers is debateable at best, but exclusive titles would be the only serious way…

Phil Harrison oversaw the PS3, XBox One, and Google Stadia. He's like a reverse oracle

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

#322

Post by speby »

rco8786 wrote: post #198

This is totally the right move. I am a (very happy) user of Stadia. If you haven't tried it, you really should...it's an amazing piece of tech. I can find myself with 20-30 minutes worth of downtime during the day, fire up Cyberpunk 2077 or Hitman or Assassin's Creed in moments from my browser *on a macbook* and play at high settings with no noticeable lag. Obviously you need a strong, steady internet connection for…

I am with you. I think the actual use case for a casual gamer is absolutely there, running and playing decent games from many different devices, without having to invest in and own a more expensive PC equipped with higher end internals (graphics, etc.).

I am worried about Google's ability to actually execute and make this successful, however (And that does give me hesitancy to buying some of the games that are on there, because they aren't transferrable to somewhere else if Stadia is shut down).

For one, with this in-house studio model, they haven't even shipped a single game yet and they're pulling the plug on the approach. That just seems like giving up before they've even tried. But Ok...

As others have said, the single biggest issue with Stadia is not that it doesn't work wonderfully (it does), it is the extremely limited catalog of games available that needs to be addressed. If they can successfully address that, then they really do have a pretty sweet offering that will be tough to beat.

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

#323

Post by [deleted] »

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.…

[deleted]

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

#324

Post by jankeymeulen »

mdoms wrote: post #286
cheeze wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stadia is supported in 21 countries though. A majority of NA and EU. Totally feel for you, but similar to anything that requires a decent internet connection, NZ and AUS get left in the dust

NZ has excellent internet speeds.

Stadia needs low latency to a Google DC. There are plenty of such DCs in the US and Europe, but not in NZ.

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

#325

Post by Traster »

I think this just reinforces the fact that Google isn't a content company. They aren't producing video games for the same reason that Cobra Kai is now a Netflix production. Google doesn't have what it takes to adapt to a new market and actually adapt. Can I view the exact pixel your eye browses to whilst playing a video game and use that to sell you incontinence pads? No. Well then Google isn't interested. This is unfortunate, because this is exactly what killed Intel. Funneling tonnes of cash into businesses they didn't understand and then failed in because they had no idea how they were going to capture any more value from their core market that share holders had already accounted for.

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

#326

Post by ahelwer »

015a wrote: post #271
bastawhiz wrote: post #185

I'm dumbfounded at Google's lack of planning on this. I tried Stadia, and they had (have?) so few games that they seem to have neither search nor pagination on the list that you can play. None of the games are ones that I care about. It feels like they could have—at the cost of short-term profit and pride—partnered with Valve and shipped something mind-blowing. But instead we're left with a bunch of AAA games that fe…

> partnered with Valve and shipped something mind-blowing I tend to agree. In these cloud game streaming wars, Steam is a reservoir of totally untapped crude oil. Its the largest and most active western game platform, period, its beloved by its users, and Valve hasn't even remotely signaled an intention to compete. Companies and products like Steam are one in a million; Stadia, Luna, GeForce Now, xCloud, PSNow, are n…

The 2008-2017 period was great for PC gaming. Now graphics cards alone cost as much or more than an entire console. The prices only seem to go up. Game streaming has the opportunity to dramatically decrease costs. I think it will work.

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

#327

Post by filoleg »

oivey wrote: post #289
mdoms wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes they are? Their latest flagship game literally only works on their hardware.

Are you talking about Half Life: Alyx? It works on basically any VR headset as far as I know. I think they just need to be SteamVR compatible which basically everything is.

Just to confirm, you are correct, it works on almost any mass-market headset (probably on all headsets period, but I cannot verify that myself).

So far, I can confirm for a fact it works on HTC Vive, Valve Index, Oculus Rift S, and Oculus Quest 1/2 (in wired mode connected to PC, just like the other headsets, or using VR Desktop for wireless; I tried both and stuck to playing it with wireless).

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

#328

Post by notyourday »

bastawhiz wrote: post #258
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone knew this was a bad idea, and the truly curious thing is, how does anyone who greenlit this on any level still have a job? Stadia had a narrow set of interesting use cases around features deeply integrated with Google products: Zero of them were ready for launch, and I think all but one are still unavailable today. The value for gamers is debateable at best, but exclusive titles would be the only serious way…

It's only been a failure because of the lack of games. The tech (at least to me) feels fine. Which is honestly the worst part—it _could_ be a success but the business side is broken.

> It's only been a failure because of the lack of games. T

... which makes shutting down gaming studio part of it even weirder.

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

#329

Post by oivey »

enos_feedler wrote: post #292
oivey wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m unsure how Nvidia’s approach is worse. On GeForce now you can play games from Steam or Epic, right? Isn’t Stadia the same except you are locked into only Google’s store? That’s pretty significantly worse.

I'll repeat what I said: "the value prop needs to focus on the job at hand: playing a _specific_ game which happens to be your favorite game you play mostly. Thinking of it as some kind of a gaming platform is not the way." By considering Steam and Epic, you are already looking at this from the perspective of a platform. I am simply saying Stadia is better if the game you love is already there. NFL Madden is the late…

Madden isn’t available on GeForce Now apparently, but besides that I don’t think you’ve explained why Stadia is better. On Stadia and GeForce Now, you pay a subscription fee and pay for the game. Is it something about the Stadia hardware that makes it better?

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

#330

Post by enos_feedler »

SkyPuncher wrote: post #317
partiallypro wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but Microsoft also shutdown retail stores in part because of the global pandemic, a few other companies followed.

And, those retail stores gave people an opportunity to play with and become comfortable with their surface form factor.

Expensive way to achieve that goal, IMO.
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