A handful of months ago, Google terminated it’s Stadia product, initializing a bitter end to Google’s attempt at cloud gaming. Now Google is copping to the big fail, but with a caveat that they’ll parlay aspects into a new era.
In an interview with Axios, Jack Buser, Google’s Cloud director who was on the hook for the flop, said that Google is committed to gaming, but more in a way that helps people build.
“It was at that moment when we basically had to make decisions about Stadia that we realized that at Google Cloud, we are at our best when we’re helping other people build this stuff, not necessarily building it ourselves,” he said.
“We are not offering that streaming option, because it was tied to Stadia itself,” he went on. “So, unfortunately, when we decided to not move forward with Stadia, that sort of offering could no longer be offered as well.”
There’s a lot to unpack here.
First, its not often you hear a mega-giant corporation essentially lay down for its competition. That’s a bit of an overdramatic sentiment, however, Amazon and Microsoft continue to dominate the cloud gaming space while Google retreats. Clearly, Google couldn’t compete with them. And they know it.
But at the same time, it’s equally refreshing that Google knows which lanes it belongs in.
Shutting down Stadia wasn’t an easy feat. Google was on the hook to refund customers, not just on service related billing, but also for device purchases. Stadia had a rocky five year run, and though the service wasn’t top tier in its class, it was Google so there were lots of customers.
So what’s up now for Google?
Well, they’ll leverage the old Stadia platform to offer live gaming services. Because, that’s what they’re good at. The cloud services will be used by publishers this time. Google has already worked out deals with Embracer Group and Niantic.
Oh, if your someone who still has those Stadia remotes, maybe keep them around. They’re bluetooth and you’ll likely find some sophisticated uses for them down the road.