Google Stadia has shut down its two in-house game development studios to reportedly focus solely on third-party development for its streaming platform. Google's game streaming console was released just over a year ago, and while those with good internet connections alike have found its controller and game performance acceptable, the itself has failed to secure a serious foothold within the video game industry.
Google Stadia was released in November 2019 and boasted that it would "revolutionize" the gaming industry through its streaming technology. Players could stream games on a number of devices, removing the need for a physical game library and a bulky home console or PC. Stadia's streaming capabilities show promise, but Google has found it difficult to place the digital platform alongside industry titans such as the handheld Nintendo Switch and Microsoft's ongoing cloud gaming service, xCloud.
In a report by Kotaku, it was revealed that Google plans to shut down both of its internal game development studios in Montreal and Los Angeles. The company's plan is to shift towards relying exclusively on third-party development, allowing developers to create games for Google's service rather than making any more in-house. Various projects were said to be in the works at these studios, but it now appears as if these games will never see the light of day.
Google Stadia has used various marketing strategies in an attempt to become more relevant. A recent move was to give free controllers to YouTube Premium subscribers, a measure that ultimately doesn't appear to have born much fruit. The platform's lack of success has been speculated to be caused by any number of factors, with some arguing that there is no real need for a streaming-only platform since mainstream consoles like the Xbox and PlayStation have their own streaming services, Project xCloud and PlayStation Now.
However, Google has shown that it has no intention of giving up on Stadia, as it's making moves to add services such as Ubisoft+ to the platform. Many see some promise in the technology, as the tough-to-run Cyberpunk 2077 actually performs better on Stadia compared to next-gen consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Despite this, Google Stadia will have some competition in the future as Amazon looks to launch its cloud-gaming platform, Luna, in the next year.
Sources: Kotaku
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