Google is shutting down Stadia • Hacker News Board

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#171

Post by eis » Thu, Sep 29, 2022, 4:43 PM UTC

jedberg wrote: post #40

Google's reputation for not supporting things long term is finally starting to affect them in noticeable ways. Developers didn't onboard because they were afraid it would get shut down. It got shut down because no one onboarded.

Yup and at least my friends and family are extra cautious when it is a service where you "buy" something which can be taken away from you at any moment.

Google is building a too strong reputation of an unreliable company. Doesn't help when an AI is in charge of banning people from accessing their critical stuff like emails and stored files.

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#172

Post by Zamicol » Thu, Sep 29, 2022, 4:43 PM UTC

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #33

lol, props to Google for refunding the costs of the hardware, games, and DLC, though. I might've actually bought one, except that I didn't want to be stranded with an outlay of hundreds of dollars for a bricked streaming device. If I'd known up front that they'd have refunded my costs (or even a percentage of them) if they shut down the service in some timeframe, I'd have totally bought one.

Exactly! Google doesn't get this. Google has a commitment image problem. As a consumer I've not seen them address this with the seriousness it deserves.

Since they won't commit to their products, their customers are reluctant to commit as well.

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#173

Post by coldpie » Thu, Sep 29, 2022, 4:44 PM UTC

yellow_lead wrote: post #81

vyrotek wrote: post #43

Just a couple of months ago. "Stadia is not shutting down. Rest assured we're always working on bringing more great games to the platform and Stadia Pro." https://twitter.com/GoogleStadia/status/1552989433590214656

So that was a lie

Yes. Stadia execs lied to their own employees. It's a pattern for the company.

This call was followed by a contentious Q&A where the Stadia boss was confronted about his email from just the week before which suggested anything but a wholesale shutdown of the studios. Harrison expressed his regret over the misleading statements made in his previous email, according to four sources with knowledge of the call. When asked what changed from the week prior, Harrison admitted nothing had and told those on the call, “We knew.”

https://kotaku.com/stadia-leadership-praised-development-stu...

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#174

Post by Cyberdog » Thu, Sep 29, 2022, 4:44 PM UTC

wnevets wrote: post #79

The reality is streaming is the future of gaming for a huge number of gamers. Stadia's business model would have never worked out but the tech does works. Stadia was always going to run into the problem Netflix is going through now, the big IP holders will create their own streaming platforms rather then sharing the revenue with a third party.

"A huge number," maybe, in the sense that the majority of the world's gamers today only play games on their phone, but not the ones spending the most money. People who will pay extra for 144hz 4K monitors or multi-rollover keyboards with obnoxious lighting aren't going to throw the benefit of those things away for a platform that introduces 100-200ms of lag in the game and creates fuzzier graphics than the graphics card they already own is capable of.

The market for this tech is very downmarket. If you try to sell it to the hardcore gamer audience, as Google tried to do, they're going to see right through this.

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#175

Post by the_snooze » Thu, Sep 29, 2022, 4:44 PM UTC

scarmig wrote: post #99

jedberg wrote: post #40

Google's reputation for not supporting things long term is finally starting to affect them in noticeable ways. Developers didn't onboard because they were afraid it would get shut down. It got shut down because no one onboarded.

It's a bit of a conundrum: every company is going to shut down products. What's the best way to launch new, risky things? Startups can simply go all in on the product, and if it fails, the company dissolves, though people rightly are hesitant to go with a fly by night startup for exactly that reason. I'm not even sure that Google has shut down more products than an equivalently sized company. But it's certainly shut…

>What's the best way to launch new, risky things?

Slow-roll invite-only launch to establish a core user base, work out the bugs, show staying power, and build from there. Exactly what Google did in 2004 with Gmail.

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#176

Post by drcongo » Thu, Sep 29, 2022, 4:44 PM UTC

falcolas wrote: post #28

This is a great example of why you can never trust PR statements. They outright lie. We're not working on X. We won't shut down Y. Bald faced lies. Edit: Missed that they're doing refunds. That part's good. EDIT2: Why I'm calling it a lie: These decisions are not made on a whim. They're made months if not years in advance. A public company making public statements about how you're not shutting something down while yo…

This is also a great example of why you can never trust Google.

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#177

Post by cl0ckt0wer » Thu, Sep 29, 2022, 4:44 PM UTC

zinclozenge wrote: post #68

That's honestly too bad. I used it to log into Destiny 2 to buy items that were on rotation when I wasn't able to be at my desk to do so, like traveling or already in bed and too lazy to go downstairs.

well you can still use parsec

https://parsec.app/

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#178

Post by rany_ » Thu, Sep 29, 2022, 4:44 PM UTC

yellow_lead wrote: post #81

vyrotek wrote: post #43

Just a couple of months ago. "Stadia is not shutting down. Rest assured we're always working on bringing more great games to the platform and Stadia Pro." https://twitter.com/GoogleStadia/status/1552989433590214656

So that was a lie

I doubt the social media guy even knew. They were posting promotional tweets just 2 days ago.

Source: https://twitter.com/GoogleStadia/status/1574790973443522566

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#179

Post by danso » Thu, Sep 29, 2022, 4:44 PM UTC

jjulius wrote: post #14

Heh, the comments in this thread[1] are hilarious in hindsight. >Stadia will exist by the end of the summer. You don’t have to believe me. Like I said feel free to come back to this thread in October.[2] [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32276188 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32278402

Well, those comments were responding to a July 2022 article stating: "Google Stadia denies the recent claims online that it would be shutting down its services by the end of the summer, promising more games to come."

So technically, the commenter was right, as Stadia did survive the summer and will be operational for a whole 3+ months!

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#180

Post by Hamuko » Thu, Sep 29, 2022, 4:45 PM UTC

kikki wrote: post #2

While inevitable, I am impressed they are refunding all purchases, including hardware. That can't be cheap.

>That can't be cheap.

Yeah, seriously.

I bought Cyberpunk 2077 on Stadia when it released. It was 60€ new, but there was a 10€ discount available at the time. I believe it was if you had never purchased anything on Stadia before. So, only 50€ for Cyberpunk 2077 on Stadia.

Then everyone who ordered Cyberpunk 2077 on Stadia could also get the Stadia Premiere Edition for free (retailed "normally" for 99€), which includes the Stadia Controller and a Chromecast Ultra (alone worth about 50€).

I actually sold my Chromecast Ultra for about 40€ shortly after I got it since I didn't really need it, which brought my purchase of Cyberpunk 2077 down to 10€ with a free USB controller on the side.

And now I'm getting a 50€ refund?