Google halts Stadia in-house Game Development, stops Further Investments

Google will not be developing further in-house games for its Stadia cloud-gaming platform owing to high development costs and time

Google has announced that it will not be going ahead with internal developments at its Stadia Games and Entertainment (SG&E) team. For gamers, this means that the Stadia studio has halted operations and customers will have to depend entirely on titles from other game developers and publishers.

The Stadia cloud-gaming platform provided a lucrative opportunity for gamers as all they needed was a stable internet connection and they could play their favourite games, without any dedicated hardware.

Google’s change in Stadia strategy

Google attributes Stadia’s exit from the cloud-gaming segment to rising development costs and the need to dedicate years of ground-up content creation. In a blog post to share the news, Phil Harrison, Vice President and GM, Google Stadia, mentioned that the move is the first among many to strengthen Google’s business partnerships and promote Stadia’s technical prowess.

To put it simply, Google wants external game developers and publishers to make use of its wide cloud presence and introduce games directly to gamers. “We see an important opportunity to work with partners seeking a gaming solution all built on Stadia’s advanced technical infrastructure and platform tools,” said Harrison.

Google is thus shifting its focus towards the Stadia platform by not making the games in-house, but providing this platform to allow developers to create content. “We believe this is the best path to building Stadia into a long-term, sustainable business that helps grow the industry,” added Harrison.

Way ahead for Google Stadia customers

The cloud-gaming market still seems a viable avenue for Google to operate in. It has thus assured gamers that while the parent company has stopped development, they can continue playing existing games on the Stadia and Stadia Pro and third-party will anyways be regularly introduced to the platform.

Instead of becoming another player in the cloud-gaming space, where the competition is already heating up, Google decided to become a technology service provider to game publishers and developers. This might be a smart move if the idea catches on. How the decision impacts Stadia’s transition is best left to further announcements.