It comes as absolutely no surprise to anyone who has been paying even the smallest amount of attention that Google Stadia has been struggling to keep itself afloat. More bad news came for the streaming service today, as Kotaku announced that Google is shutting down its internal development studios for the platform, which means two studios (in Montreal and Los Angeles) will both be shuttered, affecting some 150 developers whom Google intends to seek homes for elsewhere within the company.
What does this mean if you’re a current or future Stadia gamer? You can continue playing all your games on Stadia and Stadia Pro, and we’ll continue to bring new titles from third parties to the platform. We’re committed to the future of cloud gaming, and will continue to do our part to drive this industry forward. Our goal remains focused on creating the best possible platform for gamers and technology for our partners, bringing these experiences to life for people everywhere.
While the Stadia service will continue, the focus now appears to be on partnering with other developers to bring out games for the platform, and woe betide many hopes of platform exclusives. Sources familiar with Stadia’s game development have cited the environment as being similar to Amazon’s own development efforts, which those with non-mayfly memories will note having also been revealed as something of a disaster; our condolences to any developers who don’t find a new home within Google’s corporate structure.
