“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,” the statement said.
Among the impacted is Jade Raymond, who appears to be moving on from Google. There are 150 people affected but it sounds like many will simply move around. Hopefully none are let go.
There’s a lot to unpack here. I think it’s safe to say that Stadia’s lukewarm reception has a lot to do with this.
In-house exclusive content from Google will never see the light of day, which is a bit of a shame considering that it would have likely been a high-pedigree title(s) aiming to be a system-seller.
It also might speak to Microsoft’s head start in this area, even when disregarding of their recent acquisitions to grow exclusive content. The next Halo, Hellblade, Forza, etc were all going to appear on MS’s streaming service and here is Google trying to create their first title.
Edit: I had some bits in here about “Google bowing out” but that’s an incorrect take on this news, on my part. This could easily mean that Google sees buying exclusives as a more cost effective approach. It’s hinted in the wording.