This is what Google does - and why I would never invest in Stadia. If something isn’t an instant success they simply can it and move on.
Google is crazy with its consumer level products, if it does not take off amazingly right away they just shut it down asap.
As a consumer be very careful buying anything from Google
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It’s why I’m anxious using YouTubeTV as the live TV solution for me, my parents, and my sister’s family. Their recent scuffle with Roku is causing enough headaches. I’m hoping they work something out and no one accidentally removes the “YTTV App” off their Rokus in the meantime.
I did underestimate their activity with Stadia. I figured they’d at least do a platform update to newer GPUs to be a little more on par feature wise with consoles. Maybe the lack of components placed additional crunch on them as well.
if MS still operated the way it did a few years ago with Xbox having a sheostring budget then there was room for Google to come in and do damage. However, MS went all in on gaming and the rest is history, Bethesda was a nail in the coffin for these new entrants.
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I was a huge Stadia fan at one point, standing up for it on Twitter and Reddit, etc. But when google essentially said they were not focusing on Stadia as a console competitor and more of a service for sale to other companies I knew it was GG.
This, along with other little bits here and there finally coming to fruition of proof of Stadias decline. I was expecting 2-6 years originally but now I’m expecting 1-3 years.
from what I hear, Stadia is still the best streaming service from a technical and infrastructure POV, it’s just that Google had a shitty business model to sell you on it and they overpromised. Absolutely no one was asking for 4K streaming when competitors were still figuring out 1080p and being conservative with their approach.
And as usual, when shit hits the fan and if the venture doesn’t work out immediately, Google just pulls the fucking plug. There’s a whole website dedicate to stuff Google’s killed over the years now, it’s crazy. Imagine if MS gave up on Xbox in 2016-2017 and went the route of Sega or whatever. Instead they evolved their very philosophy and offering and are now heading into a generation strong with 23 and growing studios. That required leadership and resolve, something Phil and Satya had to figure out and put their foot down on. Google didn’t have that, they had Phil Harrison instead, someone associated with two horrible console launches that almost killed both of em (PS3 and XBone).
Google didn’t support Stadia enough and fucked over its developers by killing the first party division so soon. But at least, now they seem to have come to grips with what Stadia’s true strengths are and pivoting the business to being a B2B tech provider instead which is IMO the best case scenario now for Stadia to survive and thrive.
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I’ve always though that buying full priced games with no local copy (disk or download) is a total fool’s errand, buying them from Google, honestly lmao. I’ve little to no empathy for who fell in this trap, Google is a well known bad company for consumer products outside 2-3 exceptions (and as the proverb says, the exception is not the rule), so don’t complain, if you make your own bed, you must lie in it.
Seems like six people are going to Jade Raymond’s Haven studio after leaving Google. Very interested to see what this game turns out to be and if Jade can get back to what she was when with Ubisoft.
Not surprised with the news. Stadia is a sinking ship and Jade Raymond already knows these people so it is probably a “hey we are working on something cool here, do you want to come and work on it.”
I think so with Sony backing her and I have said it before but she really needs it what with her two previous projects getting cancelled. It’s not necessarily her fault they were of course, but a 3rd one and the association can stick with you.
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Agree completely. I do believe that this is Jade’s best shot since she was at Ubisoft. Sony will back her and Haven way more than EA or Google ever did.
Yeah unlike the previous two publishers, Sony is a lot more competent and more set what they want so they are unlikely to suddenly pull the plug because they want a different style game or scaling back like Google lol.
The only problem is that it is going to be a while before we see this game lol.
What happened to Shannon Studstill?
I wonder if the music in the stadia building has “abide with me” on loop.
You mean its not just paid advertisements for Indeed/Monster?
In 2019 Stadia seemed like a real threat to the consolidated game companies like Nintendo, PS, Xbox etc. and look at how things are going now…
the situation of Google Stadia is very sad now. 
Some of the talent there was/is good. Hope Xbox can get a few of them. Both on the platform and the studio side.
I think Stadia has lots of potential though even without their own studios. Having tried it I can say the experience is quite ahead of xCloud so far, maybe them expanding to 1st party was a mistake.
Hoping the best for Jade and her team, she’s been pretty unlucky in the last few years with game development.
It looks like Google is trying some new things to keep Stadia being relevant.
For individual games, there’s a new 85 percent revenue split for titles sold after 1st October up until the end of 2023, and up until the first $3m earned. This is similar to both Google and Apple’s app store policies, which also take just 15 percent of the revenue cut compared to the industry standard 30 percent, up to a certain threshold.
Stadia will now share 70 percent of its Stadia Pro revenue - whatever that may be - with developers whose games are added to the service’s catalogue from now on. Payouts will be made per “session day”, meaning per calendar day a particular user boots up a particular game.
Google will also pay out a flat $10 for every player who goes on to subscribe to Pro after clicking on a developer’s “Click to Play” affiliate link - although it will only pay out after a game has accrued at least $500 via this method.
