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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

#521

Post by bogwog »

Google doesn't know how to compete. They're used to just releasing something and having hundreds of millions of customers overnight. It seems like if that doesn't happen, the leadership immediately blames the product rather than themselves.

This is the main reason I hate Google. They're one of the largest corporations in the world, they have immense resources and power to move the human race forward. Yet they don't. Some might attribute it to laziness, or stupidity. And maybe it's both, but those are symptoms, and the root cause is the lack of competition allowed to fester by the flaccid noodle that is our government.

Break them up already!

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

#522

Post by mdgrech23 »

awill wrote: post #421
h0l0cube wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Bingo. Ads making so much money has destroyed Google, because they can make mistake after mistake and still be profitable. Most companies think this is good, but it's actually a curse. When decisions don't have consequences, people don't care. Google doesn't care if Stadia fails. What surprises me more is why people trusted Google enough to invest in Stadia in the first place. Had they let you import Steam games (lik…

I bought one. I do feel like I made a mistake. Used it only a handful of times. The only way i can justified my purchase is I got the founders edition and paid maybe $100 for the chromecast ultra, the controller and 3 months of Stadia so considering i can still use the chromecast I chalk it up as maybe a $50 loss.

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

#523

Post by bogwog »

mywittyname wrote: post #121
eulers_secret wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's an article I read the other day on this: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-just-anything-except-g... My favorite quotation: (context: Frazzini is director-lvl) "[...]the team cringed as Frazzini struggled to differentiate between hyper-polished conceptual footage and live gameplay[...]". I am awe-struck, my only response is: LOL My second favorite tidbit was about their game "New World", in which players "…

> Could you imagine working in an industry for a decade, and then being in this position? Negotiate for fat RSUs because they need your industry experience. Placate the dumb boss long enough for stock to vest. Use stock gainz to finance a studio with former competent team mates. Sell successful IP back to AMZN. Retire to building goofy kids games.

But then the studio will rarely, if ever, release games. And if they do, they'll probably be so bad they'll need to be recalled!

...wait a minute

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

#524

Post by de6u99er »

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.…

You can call me old-school but I prefer to play on PS5 and Switch. If I only have 20min time, ai wouldn't even bother start playing.

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

#525

Post by h0l0cube »

mckeed wrote: post #486
h0l0cube wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Probably because the last product they put full commitment into was Google Plus.

Well now I'm curious to know how Glass is doing.

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

#526

Post by dodobirdlord »

aeturnum wrote: post #177
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…

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.

The article says that they’re reassigning 150 people who worked on internal games. If they were betting the future of the platform on the number and quality of games that can be turned out by 150 people, then this never made any sense. Major game studios are hundreds or thousands of people, so this is just Google admitting that nobody in-house can come up with any good games. I don’t think it says much about the future of the platform one way or another.

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

#527

Post by potatoman22 »

drusepth wrote: post #487
ehsankia wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nvidia literally throws you in a VM, where you have to log into Steam and use it as a computer. You & I may be gamers or computer users, but normal people don't want to deal with that shit. It also again assumed you have a Steam/Epic account to begin, or else that's another layer you have to deal with. With Stadia, you press one button and you're in the game 5s later. It also has deep integration, allowing friends li…

I've silently listened on Discord to two different friends trying to get GFN working (for Among Us) in the past couple weeks. It's crazy how hard it can apparently be to install and set up for the average person.

I just downloaded it, booted it up, signed in, and it launched my game.

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

#528

Post by lutte »

ilikehurdles wrote: post #419
dfgdghdf wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Valve can do this stuff because they are a private company. Gabe has publicly stated that he does not believe in game streaming services, because he thinks computation is best done at the edge.

If Valve fully backed cloud gaming, that would have downstream effects on publishers and PC gaming as a platform. Who would sign on to publish a competitive, reaction driven game if the market is segmented between the high-latency cloud where anyone can play, and physical hardware only purchased by a relatively diminishing market? The audience for tactical precise shooters, MOBAs, RTSs, etc would deteriorate and with…

Moreover Valve's hardest push in the past years was in VR. They are literally the only major (not indie or AA, and not doing a bad port of an already existing game, like Bethesda) developer to make a full game's worth of content for the platform that makes full use of the platform. Alyx was a breath of fresh air for anyone who wanted something out of VR that didn't feel like an incomplete experience.

And VR is inherently incompatible with the design goals of cloud computing. The slightest of latencies destroy the illusion in VR. Valve is not going to support a world that doesn't encourage people to own the hardware necessary to run VR.

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

#529

Post by asiachick »

ramphastidae wrote: post #503
mckeed wrote: post #495

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Android, G-Suite, even YouTube (though that is also advertising)

Huh? Android is OSS. YouTube has never posted a profit.

It hasn't?

https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/3/21121207/youtube-google-al...

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

#530

Post by enos_feedler »

redisman wrote: post #353
enos_feedler wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least they are winding things down faster. Google announced the studio in mid 2019 and shutting it down in early 2021. Microsoft decided retail stores were a good idea in 2011, and only closed them off last year. My bet is that Google is learning this mistake faster, no doubt with MSFT as an example.

Making a new game takes at a minimum a year for a simple game, more likely 2-4 years. So no, that is terrible planning on their part once again.

Obviously the planning was bad. This is about what you do when you’ve made bad plans. We’ve all made bad plans and we generally stick with them longer than we really should. I know I have.
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