Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus • Hacker News Board

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

#161

Post by Thaxll » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 9:28 PM UTC

offtop5 wrote: post #37

wlesieutre wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They didn't really build their own engine, they bought a re-licensable license to CryEngine, rebranded it to Lumberyard, and started their engine work from that. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160209005740/en/Ama... This sale is speculated to have saved Crytek from bankruptcy, as they were failing to pay their employees at the time. Lucky for Crytek, and Amazon was probably thinking "man, we got a great dea…

I never understood why Amazon rolled another engine. Unreal and Unity are both fantastic. Let your dev teams pick from one of those two and be done with it. Unless your doing something really special theirs no reason to build an engine( if your goal is shipping games )

UE is a generic engine, it's not good at specialized games like open words.

Unity is pretty much none existent in AAA, it's mostly a mobile engine.

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

#162

Post by lrae » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 9:29 PM UTC

Jare wrote: post #131

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…

> when Microsoft/Epic approaches the studios for games on their platforms they front the entire development cost We once had a Microsoft rep come visit us to get us to publish our upcoming mobile games for Windows Mobile Tablet notreallysurewhatwasthatanymore. When we asked what kind of support they were ready to provide, they offered to lend us a device for a few weeks. Of course it's not representative of how thing…

Yeah, not sure where the idea comes from that Microsoft fronts like the entire development cost for ... for what even? As a publisher? Sure, maybe.

For games coming to Game Pass? No.

Same for the EGS, it's not like they front all those games. (Most exclusivity is bought way later in the process.)

But the original comment is pretty much Windows Phone back then. To this day I have no idea why Microsoft was so cheap and didn't even try to get developers on their platform. Rip Lumias, some of you were some great devices.

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

#163

Post by rektide » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 9:31 PM UTC

I can't help but feel like any big software platform company that's not trying to get good at virtual worlds, gaming, virtual space is making a huge mistake.

It's hard as heck. One can do all the things, and keep turning up with un-fun games. Games require magic, in a way few other things do.

But I also think these big companies have some of the best chance of creating something special and better. They keep reaching for better scaled universes, better scaled worlds, and I think this ambition is really key. Better scaled worlds is what's important, is what we need to be up to. Lots of simulated agents, lots of space, lots of players, all in virtual space.

EVE Online seems to be really running up into the wall, these days. It feels like there's such basic fixes for some of this stuff (allow modules to be set-to-go online while in warp), but the huge grid filled with players, the massive time-dialation.... it's a real cluster $@#@#$[1]. Few others have tried to be anywhere near as cool. We all get some little shells, shards, and the bigger total us never happens.

[1] https://www.pcgamer.com/how-eve-online-commandos-pulled-off-...

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

#164

Post by ketzo » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 9:31 PM UTC

AlotOfReading wrote: post #17

ketzo wrote: post #7

I think this might get the “oh, Google shuts down another area after a few years, color me surprised” crowd going, but for me this is totally the right move. There are a LOT of videogame developers out there. Many of them are quite good at what they do. The cloud gaming space, while much better than it used to be, has plenty of room for improvement — it’s not remotely mainstream yet, and there’s still time yet to min…

I agree that they didn't need this in the first place, but this is the venture they started last March [1]. What changed for them in those 10 months that wasn't an obvious trend before? [1] https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/4/21164801/google-stadia-sha...

That... is very interesting. I didn't realize the timeline was that short; I was assuming the game studio had started around the same time Stadia had (multiple years ago).

First thought: it's probably pretty hard to start a new game studio during COVID? That article is dated March 4, oof.

But yeah, that's weird.

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

#165

Post by rodgerd » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 9:32 PM UTC

klipklop wrote: post #66

I don't believe Google has the right culture to make compelling video games anyways. Maybe at best a super safe mario clone for children. Anything remotely controversial will have half the staff protesting threatening to quit.

That is true. Google alt-righties would riot at anything that was controversial in a gaming sense (like having women as protagonists).

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

#166

Post by agentdrtran » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 9:35 PM UTC

eecks wrote: post #132

breakfastduck wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get the point you're trying to make, but actually your example is one where I wouldn't mind. I'd rather my bad health not be the central profit driver for someone...

Aren't health insurance companies losing money by paying out? It's in their interest that their paying customers stay in good health.

alternative, it's in their interest to make paying out as difficult and byzantine as possible.

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

#167

Post by senkora » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 9:36 PM UTC

williamdclt wrote: post #158

senkora wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw a talk about Lumberyard once. The really special things they wanted to do were integrate it tightly with AWS and Twitch, which enabled some neat features like letting people spectate games and move their own camera around the field to do so.

I know absolutely nothing of game dev, but adding cameras to the scene doesn't sound like it would be the most complex aspect of developping a video game?

Imagine a Twitch livestream with tens of thousands of viewers, and each one is able to independently move a live camera to get the view they want. The complexity comes from scale.

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

#168

Post by WhatIsDukkha » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 9:36 PM UTC

czhiddy wrote: post #24

I was looking forward to seeing some of the games that would have only been possible on Stadia's architecture. Imagine a Battlefield-style game with a larger map and over 500+ simultaneous players. Hopefully the games that SG&E do finish showcase what's possible when a developer targets Stadia's strengths.

Planetside 2 (2012) has 1200 players per continent ie one giant map with zero loading screens.

Very active subscriber base and developer even in 2021.

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

#169

Post by ballenf » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 9:37 PM UTC

scep12 wrote: post #49

crucifiction wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason they don’t push this is because Stadia, like a lot of things, is just a side project at google. It does nothing to drive significant new ad revenue, so it’s never going to get this kind of deep pocket investment.

Then why do it at all? What would possibly justify such a large investment of capital if Google didn't believe it to be a potentially nontrivial contributor of future revenue?

When you have Google's resources and talent, you probably need a reason not to do these kinds of things. If a product has a decent chance of generating revenue or building out consumer profiles or reaching a new demographic and doesn't undermine the ads business, it has a shot of being pursued.

For gaming, I bet you could make a strong case that Google needs another hook into younger users who will stop using Google search the second their phone changes default search engines. Kind of an insurance policy.

The psychological profiles of users that could be built are also kinda terrifying. Hopefully that's not a part of the business case for Stadia.

Finally there's a case to be made for synergy with Youtube and its efforts to compete with Twitch.

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

#170

Post by SR2Z » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 9:38 PM UTC

crucifiction wrote: post #45

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.…

The reason they don’t push this is because Stadia, like a lot of things, is just a side project at google. It does nothing to drive significant new ad revenue, so it’s never going to get this kind of deep pocket investment.

There are like 700 full time engineers working on it. That's not a side project.