Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google is shutting down Stadia

theverge.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 1001 posts

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#241

Post by kyrra »

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

Googler, opinions are my own. I don't work on Stadia.

From what I saw, the Stadia team was working hard on product improvements and adding new games still. So a careful parsing of the sentence is that the Stadia team was still working towards the goals of expanding the service, as the shutdown decision wasn't made yet or told to the team yet.

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#242

Post by faefox »

Feels like the writing was on the wall almost as soon as they launched. It seems telling to me that Stadia couldn't get any traction even during one of the most protracted GPU shortages/crypto manias in history; connectivity requirements and lag issues aside, I think a lot of gamers just aren't interested in outsourcing the hardware side of things the way these corporations might expect. Building and maintaining your "rig" is a big part of the appeal for the PC gaming crowd that renting time on an anonymous server in a datacenter somewhere just can't match.

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#243

Post by wil421 »

9wzYQbTYsAIc wrote: post #157
yellow_lead wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So that was a lie

After negative news, it’s pretty safe to assume thr opposite when PR / Marketing says something like “we wont be shutting down” or when a CEO says “there wont be any layoffs”. If you read between the lines, those kind of announcements can usually be a good indicator of the appropriate “time to adapt”, whether that be to prepare for a layoff or to start buying IP on a survivable platform.

A company I worked for moved from the Suburbs to downtown in the city I live in. Local news broke the story right when the deal was signed with the building contractor. For weeks on end they denied it, until they didn’t. Surprise we were always lying to you!

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#244

Post by andrewmcwatters »

yamtaddle wrote: post #39
andrewmcwatters wrote: post #6

laughing-tom-cruise.jpg We all saw this coming years ago when it was first announced.

I wonder if Google's tried to study & put some numbers on how much harder it is for new products of theirs to take off, due to their reputation, and decided it's not worth the cost to fix, or if they just don't care to even find out.

I think you're probably spot on about the latter. Besides, attempting to find out if their reputation has been damaged in a measurable way wouldn't get anyone promoted. :)

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#245

Post by pkulak »

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.

I actually bought one of their controllers, and it's quite nice. I'm pumped it's free now. Works great on Linux.

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#246

Post by hinkley »

coldpie wrote: post #173
yellow_lead wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 aske…

I'm sure there's some sort of doctor-like logic going on in some heads where you tell the patient everything is going to be fine because the surgery goes better if they aren't freaked out before the anesthesia hits.

But with team dynamics getting thrown in I think that narrative sounds noble and glamorous but has little to nothing to do with reality. Instead it's an equal part "I can save this" and "we aren't gonna save this but we need people to stay to help with an orderly shutdown", and the Mushroom Treatment (keep them in the dark and feed them bullshit).

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#248

Post by timmg »

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

I mean, it was probably a lie. But, also, things may have changed. It's not like Google didn't just go through a big hiring freeze and budget process.

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#249

Post by ALittleLight »

It's funny, when Google lied and said they were always going to be working on Stadia, were in it for the long-haul, etc - they lied because they knew they needed people to believe in the service to use it. Of course, people knew they were lying and didn't believe in the service and didn't use it. If Google had told the truth - "We're trying Stadia, it might shut down, and if it does complete refunds on everything" - people would've believed Google and would've tried out the service and they wouldn't need to shut down.

Re: Google is shutting down Stadia

#250

Post by solaarphunk »

It turns out that if you run an ads monopoly and cloud oligopoly, very few other businesses you try building will turn out to be worthwhile maintaining. I wonder if Google cut 75% of its workforce and their long tail of products, if their stock price would go to the moon because they would be ultra-profitable.
Post reply on HN