While cloud gaming is slowly becoming a thing, it has experienced a minor setback today.
Google’s cloud-based service Stadia has officially closed its internal studios and will no longer develop internal games in the future. In fact, it never even got a game out the door.
Kotaku was the first to cover the news and this was followed by an official announcement from Google.
While the technology is “proven and works to scale,” the reasoning behind the decision is due to cost and the company’s decision to focus instead on supporting its partners over the long term:
“It takes many years and significant investment to build the best games from scratch, and costs are rising exponentially. Given our focus on building on Stadia’s proven technology and deepening our business partnerships, we have decided that we will not invest further in bringing exclusive content from our in-house development team SG&E beyond all planned games for the short term. “
“We see an important opportunity to work with partners looking for a gaming solution that is all built on Stadia’s advanced technical infrastructure and platform tools. We believe this is the best way to build Stadia into a sustainable company for the long term that helps the industry grow. “
Industry veteran Jade Raymond, who has signed up with Google for game creation, will continue to pursue other opportunities, while Google says it will find the rest of its talented team positions within the company.
Cloud gaming made its way to the Nintendo Switch in the west not long ago, with the release of Check. This was followed more recently by the release of Assassin 3.
At the end of its statement, Google says it remains “committed” to the future of cloud gaming and will continue to contribute to move this industry forward.
“Our goal remains to create the best possible platform for gamers and technology for our partners, and bring these experiences to life for people around the world.”
Have you been surprised by this news at all? Let us know in the comments below.