When Google Stadia was first brought out there was some slight confusion as to what this service would offer. It was quickly assumed that this was Google’s attempt at a Netflix style service but for video games. However, that was cleared up to be unveiled that while players would be able to stream video games, they would have to pay a monthly fee for several features along with purchasing individual video game titles as well.
This was not the grand success that Google was hoping for and while the company was really banking on becoming a major player in the video game industry, it looks like Google is dialing back its expectations. Outside of owning a streaming service, the Google brand was also featuring their own first-party video game development studios to craft up unique titles for the streaming platform. Unfortunately, it looks like those studios will be closing down.
It was unveiled today that Google is shutting down their internal studios with the focus going away from developing titles. Instead, the service will continue on strictly for streaming and likely some potential for streaming exclusive rights for certain games that launch into the marketplace. This also means that several employees are either getting switched to other positions in the company or moving on to other studios that are hiring right now.
One of the more high-profile individuals from the company was Jade Raymond who was attached to Ubisoft for the Assassin’s Creed franchise before moving on to working at Google Stadia. Apparently, Jade Raymond had exited out of Google completely so we’re uncertain just where she will be moving on to next. In the meantime, it looks like those that are still using Google Stadia won’t have anything to worry about as the service will still be running without any problems. For now, it looks like the potential big competitor Google Stadia may have is Microsoft if they roll out their xCloud streaming service feature for additional platforms outside of smartphones.
Source: Kotaku
