Google Stadia - Before the studios closed, Stadia executives would have congratulated them and promised them a bright future - News

News business Google Stadia – Before the studios closed, Stadia executives would have congratulated them and promised them a bright future

Unfortunately, on February 1st, the representatives of the Google Stadia brand shared sad news with us: The development studios run by Jade Raymond would close their doors and leave a total of 150 developers behind. The aim of this drastic measure not surprising? Realign Stadia development as a platform by working closely with publishers and developers. But, surprisingly, today we learn that Stadia executives praised their in-house development studios for “making great strides” just a week before the terrible news broke.

Shared by our colleagues, according to sources near the studio KotakuDevelopers came as a big surprise when Google announced the closure of the two Stadia studios on February 1st because Phil Harrison, Vice President and General Manager of Google Stadia, had emailed the entire team just a few days earlier to congratulate the “great progress” of the two studios.

Stadia Games and Entertainment has made great strides in building a diverse and talented team and building a strong line of exclusive games for Stadia. We will shortly confirm the investment framework for SG&A expenses, which in turn includes the SG&A strategy and key goals and results for 2021. Email sent January 27, 2021 by Phil Harrison, according to sources shared by Kotaku

Phil Harrison is telling the public exactly the opposite about information that has been against the brand’s true goals for the past five days.

Building top-notch games from scratch takes years and investment, and the cost is growing exponentially. Given our willingness to build on Stadia’s proven technology and deepen our business partnerships, we have decided not to invest in exclusive content from our in-house SG&E development team beyond the games that are planned for the near future. Phil Harrison on the Google Stadia Official Website

According to the various sources, the developers learned of the news just minutes before the official announcement was broadcast. The information would have been distributed via an internally available email and then via a conference call.

A few days after announcing the closure of both Stadia Games and Entertainment studios, Jade Raymond decided to leave the company, speaking into Kotaku’s microphone to announce that the decision was obviously very difficult.

I’m proud of the team we’ve put together at Stadia Games and Entertainment and the groundbreaking work we’ve done on exclusive games for the platform. It was a tough decision to take on a new opportunity and I will forever be grateful to this team for everything we have learned and achieved together. Jade Raymond, former director of SG & E.

However, according to the various sources, developers had to wait until February 4, 2021, almost three days, to share their confusion and frustration during a call with Phil Harrison. Kotaku announced that the call would have been followed by a “question and answer” call between the developers and the Google Stadia vice president, where several developers dared to ask, “What could have happened in a week?” Unfortunately, the answer would be “nothing”. According to the sources, Phil Harrison would still have admitted knowing the fate of Stadia Games and Entertainment Studios when he sent the first email on January 27, 2021.

For developers, the reason for making such a choice is related to several factors. The first was also publicly announced on February 1st by Phil Harrison. The latter pointed out that investments were far too important. The second reason that Google Stadia would have closed its two development studios is because of the recent acquisitions of Microsoft (Bethesda Softworks). Microsoft does not start from scratch to design exclusive productions, as it is based on known licenses. After all, the final reason for this choice would obviously be the current pandemic that continues to weigh the wheels of our dear developers.

Good news, according to the sources, Google is currently looking for work for SG&E studio workers by moving them to other areas of the company. Also note that despite this bad news, there won’t be much of a change for players as the service continues to expand its catalog in 2021 (more than 100 games are expected for this year) and that both titles are developed at Stadia Games and entertainment will not be canceled. These will be released in the near future.