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Rumor: Google Stadia May Be Getting Shut Down

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Re: Rumor: Google Stadia May Be Getting Shut Down

#561

I avoided checking Stadia out in the first place as I thought they'd end up shutting it down after prior experiences. This seems a difficult branding loop to break, but does them no favors.

It really doesn't! The common responses you hear in these types of threads include "I didn't even try it; because I knew it would get killed." And of course, this results in lower turnout, and eventual death of the offering. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy at this point. So what's Google to even do? * They could burn money and keep the offering afloat to "prove" they are serious (seems to be the case with Stadia). *…

They’re past the point of it being “hidden”. At this point Google cancel culture is a popular meme for consumers. That’s a major reason many people refuse to even try Stadia. Due to their history with consumer product cancellations, everyone just assumes a cancellation is around the corner.

Other companies like Amazon and Sony are also no stranger to product cancellations. The major difference is that when Amazon or Sony cancels a product, they will refund early adopters the cost of the product. Google isn’t willing to do that.

Re: Rumor: Google Stadia May Be Getting Shut Down

#562

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Mandate keeping the servers open. Awful idea. Great way to permanently move all content services to subscription based as nobody in their right mind would ever commit to keeping up servers for the rest of eternity for every game or movie they create.

You didn't read the rest of the comment. I'm not talking about things like multiplayer games, I'm talking about things like being able to download the stuff you purchased (purchased, not "licensed") in perpetuity, or at least for a reasonably long period of time, rather than just when the company gets bored. That is not an unreasonable ask, especially considering the high degree of control society grants them over th…

>I'm not talking about things like multiplayer games

What is and isn't a 'multiplayer game' isn't so clear cut. Neither is the reason why 'multiplayer games' should be exempt from this.

But let's leave that aside, the problem is that there isn't a simple, clear-cut legislation to fix this. Instead you would need to create a big regulatory and enforcement framework, along with a technical framework defined and built by the publishers .. and even then it isn't so clear-cut that this is enough. And yes, all this would raise the barrier of entry for indie developers who now would need the equivalent of 'regulatory approval' to release their games.

Given that this would take an enormous amount of effort to pass, only to satisfy a small number of video game aficionados, it's hard to see why any government would expand the effort and political capital to do it.

Re: Rumor: Google Stadia May Be Getting Shut Down

#563
post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Goolge Stadia twitter account is saying the rumour is false: https://twitter.com/GoogleStadia/status/1552989433590214656

Google's denial takes nothing away from the credibility of this rumor. Google isn't going to deviate from their own preplanned PR campaign on any product's demise just because a rumor leaked. That doesn't mean this rumor is true, only that the denial has no informational content for evaluating the rumor. Yet on the other hand, if Google really wanted to refute the rumor , they'd say "It's not true, we have a firm roa…

According to this comment on Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/wb4jl6/comment/ii5d...:

- Stadia signed multimillion deal with EA for Fifa23 and is taking preorders for this game.

- Stadia takes preorders for another game releasing in Autumn.

- Stadia announced expansion to Mexico later this year.

- they are recruiting new staff.

Re: Rumor: Google Stadia May Be Getting Shut Down

#564

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Mandate keeping the servers open. Awful idea. Great way to permanently move all content services to subscription based as nobody in their right mind would ever commit to keeping up servers for the rest of eternity for every game or movie they create.

You didn't read the rest of the comment. I'm not talking about things like multiplayer games, I'm talking about things like being able to download the stuff you purchased (purchased, not "licensed") in perpetuity, or at least for a reasonably long period of time, rather than just when the company gets bored. That is not an unreasonable ask, especially considering the high degree of control society grants them over th…

I think you are missing the unintended consequences of mandating servers stay open if games are purchased. The way to avoid that permanent liability is to just get rid of purchases and force all games into a subscription.

Re: Rumor: Google Stadia May Be Getting Shut Down

#565
post #440

Yeah, that's just an unsubstantiated rumour and doesn't even make sense. Stadia updated their ToS literally a few days ago with clarifications around payments, asking for a refund on recently bought games (to align with EU rules), etc. Why would they do that if they plan on shutting the service within a month?

because they expect everyone who recently bought a game to try to return it once they announce the end of life for stadia?

Re: Rumor: Google Stadia May Be Getting Shut Down

#566

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I just noticed Amazon Drive is going away. No more uploads after 2023 January, no more access for non-photo/video files some time toward end of 2023. Years ago I got tired of the mess that was Google Picasa and transferred all photos, videos, and most important docs to Amazon Drive. Now I need to find yet another service.

It seems when it comes to cloud storage, you best bet is going with a company who's main product is cloud storage, and not just an afterthought or value-add like it was for Amazon. Or build your own NAS is you have the time and experience.

Amazon had a short period where they offered unlimited storage… and a few people took advantage of it too much so they stopped that. The product never really took off as a value add (too many other services).

Amazon is also known to kill products but only ones no one uses.

Re: Rumor: Google Stadia May Be Getting Shut Down

#568

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing wrong with that. You owe nothing to the company. The company won’t be loyal to you, why should you be loyal to it?

Until someone looks in that employee's wake and sees one dumpster fire after another and the employee being the common denominator. These people aren't just jumping from hype space to hype space, they are torching each of those projects to extract short term gains to the detriment of the teams under them.

Appreciate the sentiment, but if any employee does indeed have a track record like that, its on the company for hiring someone like that in the first place.

The real question is, why is the market so inefficient at sifting through bad employees, especially near the top of the ladder? The fact that this exec has been able to jump from one dumpster fire to another, often with a promotion, tells me that there’s something broken about the way senior execs are hired.

Re: Rumor: Google Stadia May Be Getting Shut Down

#569
post #427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It helps that Valve is privately owned and thus less likely to chase growth over other things. Hopefully when the current owners age out the new leadership will continue as it is.

Honestly, I have no idea what the hell Valve is chasing. They don’t need to chase growth, it comes to them :P

valve is worried about being made irrelevant by Epic Game Store, by whatever facebook uses to distribute games, by amazon, etc.

There are plenty of companies who already run or could run a competitor to steam, and slowly they could eat their lunch. Epic Game Store bought exclusives and gives away coupons to bolster their market share. IF everyone starts burning cash for market share, Valve will have to figure out a new way to compete.

Until then its sort of business like normal.

Re: Rumor: Google Stadia May Be Getting Shut Down

#570

I really liked the idea behind Stadia as someone who doesn’t buy many consoles or own a computer suitable for gaming. I don’t like the idea of never owning games but I could accept it as someone who essentially never buys them otherwise. But I expected this to happen and I didn’t feel like dealing with the hassle of getting accustomed to a service and watching it get shut down.

You should try Game Pass. There are always trial deals where you get 3 months for <$10.
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