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Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus

kotaku.com

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

#511

Post by ThatGeoGuy »

ehsankia wrote: post #476
speby wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 the…

They shipped Outcasters and just today Journey to Savage Planet. Admittedly I believe both those games may have been in development before the studios were acquired, but they are both first party exclusive Stadia games.

Journey to Savage Planet is neither first party nor exclusive. It has Switch and PS4 ports. You'd be on the mark for Outcasters though.

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

#512

Post by ece »

drusepth wrote: post #463
ece wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are all things that consoles and existing game stores do extremely well already, and the last two are net deficits for Stadia if you have an ISP or router that's not up to the job. Amazon Luna, GeForce Now, Shadow, running Parsec in the cloud and paying by the minute, xCloud, and PS Now all better Stadia by offering game subscriptions or more features or are more sustainable by being cheaper in the case of GeFo…

>the last two are net deficits for Stadia if you have an ISP or router that's not up to the job. If we're speaking in net good/bad, I'd wager the last two end up being net positives when you consider how many people think their ISP/router isn't up to the job (and therefore don't try Stadia at all) compared to how many actually aren't up to the job. The minimum speed Stadia requires is 10 Mbps, or 35 Mbps for 4K strea…

Latency is important as you say, and I would say that it's highly variable depending on the router and ISP you have. This Google mesh WiFi update made a huge difference for me: https://support.google.com/wifi/answer/10087384 and it was only made last September.

Connection speeds have improved since Stadia launched, but you will almost certainly go through a 1TB cap before the month is over if you have 2 TVs streaming 4K. This is really the main reason people considering Stadia might still say no, and there aren't a lot of ISPs left without caps: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/08/at-le... People could just pay an extra ~$30/month for unlimited internet, but that will pay for a console in a year or two.

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

#513

Post by enos_feedler »

oivey wrote: post #473
KaoruAoiShiho wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just go read /r/stadia or the /r/games thread covering this, yes people are convinced by this and there's many comments talking about how they can't stand the UX on GFN. Too inexperienced to use technology is a strawman, the real comparison is do they prefer the benefit of the better UX more than they fear the amorphous dangers of lock-in. The answer is easily yes.

Do a handful of posts on the tiny Stadia subreddit justify the massive investment Google has made to create yet another App Store? Is the market of people who use Apple Mail because they don’t know how to register a Gmail account large and profitable enough for them to justify the investment? The problem isn’t just lock in. There are also less games on Stadia. The lack of available games is directly due to Google’s s…

There are less games on Stadia because we are just over 1 year into a 10 year platform growth story. Just because Google is Google doesn't mean they don't suffer from the same chicken and egg problems that startups have. Especially when the market is over 1T and has incumbents like MSFT and sony. Give it time.

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

#514

Post by WillPostForFood »

delecti wrote: post #409
5d749d7da7d5 wrote: post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Titan was the most premium card available and probably not representative of a typical build.

Sure, but it also remains the defining example of "ludicrously expensive graphics card". The card below it, the GTX 780, was $650, which is still more expensive than any current generation consoles. Meanwhile the current top and 2nd tier GeForce cards (3090 and 3080) have MSRPs of $1500 and $700, which are more expensive, but not outrageously so. I just don't think it's accurate to paint a picture of the market from…

In 2013 you could drop to the mid-tier GTX 770 for $399 and get more performance either Xbox one or PS4.

I don't think you are wrong, just more lenient in your definition of affordable. It is compounded by the supply constraints, and markups over retail we are currently seeing. I can buy a 3090 right now on amazon, but it is $2,450, 5x the console price. Titan was ~2x console price.

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

#515

Post by aeturnum »

Reason077 wrote: post #202
aeturnum wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given Goog's history on this, I read this announcement as them soft-killing Stadia. They aren't going to admit defeat, but unless they put real resources behind paying people to use it, they aren't going to see any use of it as an API and are effectively mothballing it.

I hope not. The Stadia platform is fantastic: the best streaming user experience out there. It’s just that much of the Stadia Pro content is mediocre, and the paid titles tend to be expensive. (Compare to GeForce Now with it’s awkward, clunky UX but near-unlimited library of content via Steam)

Yah...I just don't see that developers have much incentive to use Stadia? Like, you can't rely on an established 'Stadia playerbase' right now, so there's no natural incentive for studios to integrate with it. Other platform owners solve this by paying for exclusivity or something, but as mentioned above, reports say that Google wants to pay insultingly small sums of money for that work. Unless that changes...no one is gonna use it.

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

#516

Post by p1necone »

enos_feedler wrote: post #513
oivey wrote: post #473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do a handful of posts on the tiny Stadia subreddit justify the massive investment Google has made to create yet another App Store? Is the market of people who use Apple Mail because they don’t know how to register a Gmail account large and profitable enough for them to justify the investment? The problem isn’t just lock in. There are also less games on Stadia. The lack of available games is directly due to Google’s s…

There are less games on Stadia because we are just over 1 year into a 10 year platform growth story. Just because Google is Google doesn't mean they don't suffer from the same chicken and egg problems that startups have. Especially when the market is over 1T and has incumbents like MSFT and sony. Give it time.

All the other gaming platforms have Fortnite (or insert other popular game) on them, why not Stadia?

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

#517

Post by myko »

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.

I played ~200 hours of Cyberpunk on Stadia. Ran like a dream.

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

#518

Post by p1necone »

enos_feedler wrote: post #510
oivey wrote: post #473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do a handful of posts on the tiny Stadia subreddit justify the massive investment Google has made to create yet another App Store? Is the market of people who use Apple Mail because they don’t know how to register a Gmail account large and profitable enough for them to justify the investment? The problem isn’t just lock in. There are also less games on Stadia. The lack of available games is directly due to Google’s s…

Actually, yes. I am a professional investor with a product-driven thesis. Sub-reddits are one of the most honest, representative samples for the quality and love for a product by the market. I bet millions on this.

I'd get some of your Stadia feedback from outside the Stadia subreddit specifically - it seems to either be filled with sycophants, or has a mod team that removes anything negative (or both). Sentiment elsewhere on reddit is completely different.

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

#519

Post by p1necone »

enos_feedler wrote: post #508
gsich wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not possible with Stadia. You have to buy the games again to stream them. Why? Probably less latency/better quality with a PC.

Is Cyberpunk better on a PC or better on Stadia? I've heard it's the best to play on Stadia.

Cyberpunk on Stadia is the PC version, it's just running on hardware in a server farm somewhere, rather than under your desk. Afaik they didn't make any meaningful Stadia specific changes to it.

Obviously it depends on how well your local hardware compares to Stadias server farm too.

The PC and Stadia versions are much better than the PS4 and Xbox One versions though - those do not run well at all.

I suspect the actual PS5 and Xbox Series X versions will be relatively similar to the PC/Stadia version, but they haven't been released yet - you can only play the last gen console versions via backwards compatibility.

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

#520

Post by selectodude »

h0l0cube wrote: post #390
lumost wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the really confusing part to me. For most of the major metro's of the world cloud gaming is completely feasible on today's internet. Playing on servers in NYC from Boston works flawlessly as a casual gamer, and really opened up the possibility for me to enjoy AAA titles. Most studios have to target a variety of hardware, stadia exclusives could have allowed studios to focus exclusively on top end experiences…

It seems in recent times, Google product development is always backwards. They never fully commit to anything, with the mind that if they see an up-tick in adoption, they'll invest in it. But maybe if they put more than a cursory effort into anything new, they might provide something valuable and generate another revenue stream. But perhaps they're just too comfortable with the loads of cash coming from ads?

Google basically has Dutch disease.
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