Stadia, Google's game streaming technology, shocked the scene when it first broke out into the scene. They were poised to take the entire console war by storm but they ran into a monumental problem. The grandest success in the industry remains the creation of the next big game franchise. Naturally, Google wanted to put their best foot forward in the game creation space following the modest success of their streaming device. Unfortunately for companies like Google and Amazon, game development isn't as easy as throwing money at the issue. Google announced the closure of its two internal Stadia game studios following a change in company direction.
You can't win it all
The Stadia enjoyed success around the world but was noticeably devoid of first-party software. Unfortunately, players hoping for a Google-made Stadia game will never get the chance to play one. Google pushed forward with the decision to shut down its two Stadia Games studios based in Los Angeles and Montreal. The studio closures reportedly affect around 150 employees. The company promised to try and relocate the displaced talent. Google announced its new direction in a brief statement on its own site.
“Creating best-in-class games from the ground up takes many years and significant investment, and the cost is going up exponentially. Given our focus on building on the proven technology of Stadia as well as deepening our business partnerships, we’ve decided that we will not be investing further in bringing exclusive content from our internal development team SG&E, beyond any near-term planned games.”
Google decided to pour its focus and effort into the development and improvement of the Stadia. The company faces challenging competition from Microsoft's own streaming service. This could be why the big search engine giant chose to forego making games in exchange for focusing on its device development. Google's decision to close its studios and Amazon's recent struggles with its own game development is a sure sign of the true challenges of making video games. Rich companies need to take time and consider the repercussions of going into a massive industry with half-baked plans and ideas.
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