Google Stadia, since its announcement, has divided the gamer community. For some it represented (or would still represent) the future of gaming, for others instead it showed itself immediately, right from its existential premises, a project too far beyond the present times. The reality is that the cloud gaming idea of Google it had to collide with a decidedly adverse panorama, made up of few (almost none) exclusives of real importance, a catchment area not 100% ready - also due to the technological state of its countries - to exploit its full potential, and a fierce competition, consisting of alternatives that are establishing themselves as industry leaders, see Microsoft products, and possible future competitors on paper that are virtually superior.
Now, the news has arrived that could decree an awareness that comes from Google itself. The American company, in fact, seems to have decided to close its internal development teams. A choice that leaves no room for speculation, but which heads towards a very specific path that sees the American giant no longer interested in working on exclusives for his platform. A surprising decision, which opens up to different scenarios regarding the future of Google Stadia, but also that of videogame streaming in general. Could it be the first failure of a project destined for closure?
Not only. Is it precisely the mechanism and concept of cloud gaming that is, at present, a real chimera, or is it the proposal born by the same companies and software houses that is not able to offer the correct realization of the game in streaming? And, if so, is it the gaming streaming that remains a chimera, or the business model that doesn't work? All-digital consoles, such as Xbox series s and the readerless version of PlayStation 5, how much can they still monopolize the digital market by slowing down the spread of the videogame world exclusively in streaming? As usual, let's go in order starting from the news and examining the possible consequences.
Google staff lowers the shutter
During the evening of February XNUMX, Google announced the closure of the internal development teams of its Stadia platform. To communicate the decision was Phil Harrison on the company's official blog through a long post, which highlighted the reasons that led Google to abandon the path of developing exclusives for its platform. Indeed, it seems that the success of products also available on PC and consoles like Cyberpunk 2077, combined with the increasing presence of exclusive features in these products has convinced the company to invest in this kind of collaborations with third-party companies, thus stopping to invest large sums of money for the development of exclusives.
We can try to draw the first conclusions already. The Cyberpunk 2077 case has given, in the last period, a decisive change to the situation of Stadia. Just taking advantage of the bad launch of the game CD Project Red on the other consoles, in fact, Stadia was able to show its potential, so much so that in the first days of the game's release, and most likely still today, the version for the Google console was considered the best on the market. Yet, despite the visibility and attention of users, it seems that Google has decided not to push the accelerator, but to accept a simple collaboration. Not only that, also from the hardware point of view, it does not appear that the company has plans to integrate next-gen functionality at the moment, such as those introduced by Dualense di Sony, on its own platform.
Specifically, the two development studios located in Montreal and Los Angeles, where about 150 employees worked, will be closed. Among the prominent characters who will therefore leave the company we also find Jade Raymond, a veteran of the gaming industry with experience in Ubisoft ed Electronic Arts. A decisive change of course, which sees Google willing to abandon the fight for exclusives, to focus exclusively on a streaming service proposal. At this point it is natural to ask the because of such a choice.
The reasons behind the closure: let's make some assumptions
No more exclusives on Stadia. A surprising news… but really so much in the end? Let's think about it. The first reflection we can make is that linked to the general panorama of the videogame market. Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft have dominated the market for many years now, and entering a cake that has already divided its slices is nowadays almost impossible, so much so that even the main protagonists have had to reinvent the way to participate in the party. If on the one hand we have Nintendo, which is betting everything on its decades-old trademarks and onexclusive of portabilityon the other hand we have one Microsoft pushing on Game Pass to counter the queen of exclusives, Sony. From this point of view, the choice of abandoning a road that was already inaccessible at the start could be partly acceptable: we tried, but for the moment nothing is done about it.
And here comes the second question. How much of this choice depended on an inaccessible market, and how much on the game mode proposed by Google. Leaving aside the ancient duel between physical and digital, when, to date, I can buy the title of the moment on any platform, Does it really make sense to play streaming when I can buy it on my console or PC? And again, since it is not an exclusive that we are talking about, what leads me to choose where to play a title? The how. I can choose whether to buy it in the store and play it on my PlayStation 5, I can buy it digitally on my Xbox Series S, I can decide to take advantage of my Game Pass subscription and play it on Xbox Series X, or I can rely on the secure and consolidated Steam ed Epic Games Store.
Or? Or there's cloud gaming. Let's close the circle and go back to the starting question. Can Google Stadia assure me the best "how"? If we take a second of our gaze from what is wonderful happening in the world, and focus on our home at the moment, we will a country that is currently unable to support streaming gaming at all latitudes. The pandemic has shown it terribly, we are not yet able to hold a continuous and powerful connection if we are many to use it, assuming and not granted that the fiber has arrived at our home. But above all, even if we were in possession of the best configuration and, we reiterate it, leaving out the question of whether the physical or digital format is better, Would it really be better to buy a game at full price to play it in streaming, when at the same price I can have it physical or otherwise own it digitally? We leave this question to you. When asked about the fate of Google Stadia, however, the future will answer.
