Google Stadia has since responded to the report, posting a Twitter thread explaining that the Stadia team is “working really hard on a great future” for the streaming service. It pointed towards 100 games added to the service in 2021, as well 50 games being offered to Pro subscribers, as proof it was far from over. It also vaguely promised more features coming soon, but didn’t elaborate on what to expect or when.
While it’s unlikely that Google will pull the plug on Stadia anytime in the near future, it’s become more and more apparent that Google’s gaming bet didn’t pay off as they had hoped.
Over the course of the last two years, Stadia has faced multiple lawsuits, made the decision to shut down its main first-party development studio with little warning, ran into issues with indie devs, and has seen key folks leaving the company. It was also revealed last year that after spending “tens of millions” of dollars to secure ports of big AAA games, like Red Dead Redemption II, Stadia underperformed at bringing in new subscribers and users by “hundreds of thousands.”
Google switching Stadia into a more commercial-focused product—one which is integrated into different experiences and demos for other companies—is probably a smart idea and a way to salvage all the tech and resources poured into the service. However, I’d recommend not buying any games on Stadia as that particular Google service now seems more destined for the graveyard than ever before.
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