Google Stadia died due to Microsofts Bethesda acquisition

[Gizmo_Duck]

Developers at Google’s recently formed game studios were shocked February 1 when they were notified that the studios would be shut down, according to four sources with knowledge of what transpired. Just the week prior, Google Stadia vice president and general manager Phil Harrison sent an email to staff lauding the “great progress” its studios had made so far.

Mass layoffs were announced a few days later, part of an apparent pattern of Stadia leadership not being honest and upfront with the company’s developers, many of which had upended their lives and careers to join the team.

“[Stadia Games and Entertainment] has made great progress building a diverse and talented team and establishing a strong lineup of Stadia exclusive games,” Harrison’s January 27 email read, according to sources. “We will confirm the SG&E investment envelope shortly, which will, in turn, inform the SG&E strategy and 2021 [objectives and key results].”

“Creating best-in-class games from the ground up takes many years and significant investment, and the cost is going up exponentially,” he wrote.

In his Thursday Q&A with staff, he pointed specifically to Microsoft’s buying spree and planned acquisition of Bethesda Software later this year as one of the factors that had made Google decide to close the book on original game development. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is a nearly trillion-dollar company and roughly on par with Microsoft when it comes to revenue and profit, according to a 2020 survey by Forbes.

Stadia Leadership Praised Development Studios For 'Great Progress' Just One Week Before Laying Them All Off

 

[Diondon]

Google is puss. No more no less
Anyway it's been fukk Stadia

 

[42 Monks]

Yeah, that's why Stadia died

 

[Family Lives Matter]

It died because it was shyt no long drawn out article will change that the death clock had started the moment it was released and nobody wanted it

 

[xXMASHERXx]

It's not dead but definitely should have anyone who invested into it concerned. Microsoft buying Bethesda should have no affect on what Google is doing with Stadia. Google has dobe the same thing they have done with all their past products/services. Failed to support it properly and then prematurely pull the plug

 

[humminbird]

They realized they didn't want to pony up the cash to make this a higher chance of working
this is probably why all of google's projects fail imo
they're going to have to change that model eventually

 

[iceberg_is_on_fire]

They realized they didn't want to pony up the cash to make this a higher chance of working
this is probably why all of google's projects fail imo
they're going to have to change that model eventully

They realized how much they were going to have to spend to keep up and decided to cut their losses now.

 

[DaSk8D00D]

They realized how much they were going to have to spend to keep up and decided to cut their losses now.

Mf’s saw how a major player just ponied up $7.5 billy to bolster their library that’s already exponentially bigger than Stadia’s and said “hold up, we gotta be out here like that?”

They musta really thought Crayta was gonna be the next roblox or something to carry them through the early stages

 

[TheGodling]

They realized they didn't want to pony up the cash to make this a higher chance of working
this is probably why all of google's projects fail imo
they're going to have to change that model eventually

From what I have once read about Google a lot of these "failed" projects are more or less alternate data acquisition projects. Google makes all its money from ads and selling data. Projects like these are used to further finetune the algorithms used on Google Search, Youtube, etc. by logging how the consumer uses different services. If one of these projects actually picks up they'll develop it further, and if it doesn't pick up fast enough with the consumer they kill it since the initial goal of data acquisition is already obtained.

 

[iceberg_is_on_fire]

Mf’s saw how a major player just ponied up $7.5 billy to bolster their library that’s already exponentially bigger than Stadia’s and said “hold up, we gotta be out here like that?”

They musta really thought Crayta was gonna be the next roblox or something to carry them through the early stages

They didn't want those problems. They had to fall back.

 

[iceberg_is_on_fire]

As a side note. Id Tech 7 is currently optimized for Stadia. I would like to note for the record that they thought that Bethesda games were going to be on Stadia’s platform. I don't think they have that same belief now.