Google is shutting down Stadia • Hacker News Board

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#221

Post by jedberg » Thu, Sep 29, 2022, 4:51 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…

> I'm not even sure that Google has shut down more products than an equivalently sized company.

AWS has shut down I believe only one service in its entire existence (SDB). And only when they had a viable alternative (DynamoDB) and helped their biggest users make the move.

I can't recall any Apple service that has been shut down without an alternative. They've certainly cancelled hardware programs, but that doesn't break your existing hardware. And they give plenty of warning for iOs phase outs. They pissed some people off by dropping support for old apps, but only after most of the big ones had been converted.

And Microsoft is the king of long term support. How long did they keep supporting DOS in Windows? Or 32 bit programs. Or Windows 2000!

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#222

Post by sascha_sl » Thu, Sep 29, 2022, 4:51 PM UTC

pearjuice wrote: post #52

"Stadia is not shutting down. Rest assured we're always working on bringing more great games to the platform and Stadia Pro. Let us know if you have other questions." - Jul 29, 2022 https://twitter.com/googlestadia/status/1552989433590214656

Likely written by a support rep who definitely wasn't in on todays announcement.

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#223

Post by solardev » Thu, Sep 29, 2022, 4:51 PM UTC

Google's product strategy..

Google: We're going to launch a fancy new product in an already-crowded field, not market it at all, and everyone will jump on board and love it!

Everyone else: No way, it's a PITA to port to, and knowing Google, they're going to sunset it soon.

Google: No we won't, we're fully dedicated to this thing

Everyone else: No way, they haven't added meaningful features in years and they're going to sunset it soon.

Google: We're shifting our focus but we're still fully committed to this thing.

Everyone else: No way, they never cared about the home gaming segment and they're going to sunset it soon.

Google: We promise, we're in it for the long haul.

Everyone: No way, they're going to sunset it soon.

Google: Sorry, there's no way we could've seen this coming. We devoted an entire month of resources to this project and thought that was enough! Sadly it hasn't met our expectations. We're not sure why more publishers and players didn't get involved, but we're going to have it to shut it down.

Everyone: No shit, lol.

At least they're giving refunds.

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#224

Post by jamiek88 » Thu, Sep 29, 2022, 4:51 PM UTC

josefresco wrote: post #186

Rebelgecko wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironically, I bet if that Stadia would've done much better if it had launched with the promise of "if we do shut it down, we'll refund all your purchases"

Yes! I timidly used the service knowing that Google might kill it. If they promised me a refund I would have probably spent a couple hundred dollars on content, controllers and a pro membership.

Yes it was a decent investment to get started, too much for a whim.

I seriously thought about it but ended up scoring an Xbox and game pass and my main reason was I have to buy the games at full price for Stadia and google will deffo shut it down sooner rather than later so too risky.

Game pass is amazing for someone who isn’t a hardcore call of duty type gamer! I’ve been away from gaming since playing tiger woods on the OG Xbox so being able to play so many different types of games is awesome.

I like forza horizons!

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#225

Post by asdajksah2123 » Thu, Sep 29, 2022, 4:51 PM UTC

Zamicol wrote: post #172

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.

Yeah, I'm not using any new Google products unless it's for a one off use.

And I'm reconsidering the existing services I'm dependent on as well.

GMail, for example. While I have no doubt GMail will continue to exist as long as email exists, Google's spam blocking (not just filtering...blocking, where the email doesn't even make it to the inbox), has become far too aggressive. And the frequent UI changes are becoming unsustainable.

Also, the nagging suspicion that Google is having silent data loss issues across their products is not helping either.

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#226

Post by mrguyorama » Thu, Sep 29, 2022, 4:51 PM UTC

canadianwriter wrote: post #208

yellow_lead wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So that was a lie

Like... maybe? Why does it have to be a lie instead of incompetence? They may have totally thought that back then, then changed their mind?

It's Google. Everyone knew the second Stadia was announced that it would die. It wasn't even a particularly good example of a game streaming service. If you work for Google and were convinced that Stadia was secure for the future, you should reconsider the reality you live in.

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#227

Post by oramit » Thu, Sep 29, 2022, 4:51 PM UTC

I was expecting there to be some satisfaction at this news as I (and many others clearly from the comments) predicted this would happen. But honestly it just feels kind of sad at this point. Google used to be, at least from an outside perspective, one of the most innovative and forward thinking companies, constantly releasing new and interesting products. Not everything was good, of course, but I was always eager to give things a try.

Now Google is a paint-by-ads corporate behemoth. I've been burnt so many times that I'm now skeptical of every new thing they release instead of excited. I hate feeling that way, especially because Stadia itself is so technically impressive, but how else can I feel?

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#228

Post by MrWiffles » Thu, Sep 29, 2022, 4:51 PM UTC

dougmwne wrote: post #198

I am more entertained by this than I should be. Back when Stadia launched I was in a Reddit thread saying that the blatant double-dip business model of subscriptions + purchase stunk and that I had no faith in Google to not shut this storefront down shortly. I was immediately roasted by a flock of obvious astroturfers telling me that this was an absolutely serious move by Google to dominate the console games market a…

> This company is a bloated rotting carcass. The regulators should chop it up and feed it to the seagulls.

Hey man, there's no need to be cruel toward animals here! ;-)

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#229

Post by dilap » Thu, Sep 29, 2022, 4:52 PM UTC

Rebelgecko wrote: post #139

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.

Ironically, I bet if that Stadia would've done much better if it had launched with the promise of "if we do shut it down, we'll refund all your purchases"

That's a promise you can only keep if almost no one buys anything, though. :-)

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#230

Post by matt123456789 » Thu, Sep 29, 2022, 4:52 PM UTC

dekhn wrote: post #74

When I rejoined Google (working in the hardware division), my managers tried to get me to work on stadia and I refused (this was shortly before it launched). I looked at it, said "this won't be successful, and google will eventually get rid of it". My managers simply couldn't understand that. They said "the leadership thinks this will be successful and we should build it" and then I realized they were sheeple.

Highly paid sheeple whose paycheck and continued employment is probably correlated with their ability to oversee a technically successful execution of the designs of higher-ups. That sounds like the line that I would use if I had to build something so that I could get paid, even though I might agree with you personally.