That Google made games for Stadia never made sense and they finally realized

Google Stadia has proven to be one of the most advanced video game streaming technologies, being one of the best platforms to enjoy titles like Cyberpunk 2077 (even on your mobile). However, it is a platform that is still young and of course was susceptible to all kinds of changes.

Today we know that many gamers might be shocked, and it is that Google has decided to cut back on what would be one of the key pillars for many gamers, but if we think coldly about it, it doesn’t not too many. a lot of importance.

Google will stop investing in its own developments

Google launched Stadia in 2019, a year before the arrival of next-gen consoles. The platform diffusion video games arrived loaded with ambitions, with big promises in its integration with YouTube, the ability to share games with a single link, and developer tools that would make great games possible.

One of the highlights was the creation of a self-developed studio through which they would create exclusive titles for Stadia. Over the months, Google has achieved that the creation of video games is very expensive economically, and the cost of these developments is increasing exponentially. As a result, they have decided to stop investing in their own studio, which will finalize the active projects and, in the end, they will be transferred to other teams within the company.

Stadia will not have games First party developed by the company itself. For the traditional gamer this is a terrible situation, because historically these types of games are the ones that have the greatest responsibility when it comes to a gamer opting for one console or another. What at first seems like something very negative, on the other hand, is a wiser decision than it seems.

The magic of exclusives and their zero impact on the cloud

When Google entered the video game industry, it wanted to start from a consolidated base, which is why they created their own studios. Nintendo consoles are sold for Nintendo games, and so are PlayStation and Xbox. In order to sell many consoles (and reduce the game sales of each of them), it is necessary to have games that you cannot play on other platforms.

This model works great on consoles because, having to invest hundreds of dollars in one, it ends up committing and playing everything on that console for several years. A rule that seemed unalterable in the gaming world but that in the diffusion video games don’t make a lot of sense.

One of the advantages of cloud gaming is that the barrier to entry is ridiculous. You can take your mobile, TV, or old computer and the most you’ll have to buy to play is a controller (or not even that, if you’re playing with a keyboard, mouse, or controllers you already have at home) . Likewise, the absence of a barrier to entry prevents the strategy of exclusive functions.

The best possible case for Google with an exclusive title is that it sells relatively well and see you later. A clear example is Gylt, which you can access Stadia, buy it, play it and when you spend it never open Stadia again in your life. Yes, it is true that Google made a profit by selling the game, but such exclusivity does not bring the benefit it would bring to a console.

Why focus on what you can’t do when you can direct your resources to empowering what you’re already good at?

In 2021, we are stepping up our efforts to help video game developers and distributors leverage our platform technology to deliver better games. We see this as a great opportunity to work with our partners to find a gaming solution based on Stadia’s advanced development infrastructure and tools. We believe this is the best way to turn Stadia into a long-term, sustainable business that helps the industry grow.

This post from Google clearly shows us that since its launch, they’ve tried to build a whole ecosystem of games to realize that they don’t have to follow the conventions of the video game industry. Google is an Internet service company, not a video game company. Its strength and meaning in the industry is to offer the most advanced platform and tools possible that allows those who already know how to make great video games to devote themselves to this, to create great video games. They could go Microsoft’s way, but it would take decades, and they couldn’t get their hands on the dozens of studies Microsoft has purchased over the years.

In the end, games like Cyberpunk 2077 did a lot more for the Stadia expansion than Gylt or Orc Must Die 3, which are fun games but don’t play in the same league.