Google Stadia has reportedly been demoted, but it might show up in your Peloton
source link: https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/4/22917999/google-stadia-white-label-peloton-bungie-capcom
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Google Stadia has reportedly been demoted, but it might show up in your Peloton Skip to main content
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One year after Google revealed it now saw Google Stadia cloud gaming idea as a mere “technology platform for industry partners” rather than a true rival to Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft, Business Insider is reporting that some Stadia gamers’ fears have come true: the entire Stadia project has been demoted within Google, and its new priority is to power experiences from companies including Peloton, Bungie, and Capcom rather than attracting more games to Stadia itself.
In fact, Peloton bike owners might have already experienced the fruits of those labors — BI reports that Peloton’s very first video game, Lanebreak, was actually powered by Google’s cloud gaming technology, now dubbed Google Stream. (That’s one way to put a game inside your exercise machine!)
But if you were hoping that Google Stadia’s own cloud gaming platform would pull itself out of its current precarious situation (where only Ubisoft is continuing to contribute its latest and greatest games), BI’s sources suggest that’s not likely:
Current and former employees said the priority was now on proof-of-concept work for Google Stream and securing white-label deals. One estimated about 20% of the focus was on the consumer platform.
“There are plenty of people internally who would love to keep it going, so they are working really hard to make sure it doesn’t die,” they said. “But they’re not the ones writing the checks.”
Two sources told BI that Google Stadia boss Phil Harrison now reports to Jason Rosenthal, Google’s vice president of subscription services, instead of directly to Google hardware boss Rick Osterloh. That’s a demotion for the entire Stadia division, though that’s perhaps not too much of a surprise: Stadia wasn’t meeting Google’s internal expectations, drastically missing sales targets, despite paying tens of millions of dollars per game just to secure ports for the platform, according to reports last year.
Peloton isn’t the only company that’s been quietly using Google Stadia as a white-label service: AT&T confirmed that its free browser-based access to Batman: Arkham Knight last October ran on Stadia tech. Capcom is in talks to do the same with web-based demos of its games, too, according to the new report. And Destiny developer Bungie, which Sony is currently buying for $3.6 billion, was looking to build its own streaming platform on top of Google Stream, according to BI.
White-labeling isn’t necessarily a bad fate for Google Stadia, as I wrote a year ago. But it’s a reason to think twice about buying a game on Google Stadia’s consumer cloud gaming platform when it’s ever clearer that Google’s heart isn’t in that part of the business. At least, not until some of the hard questions get answered.
Google spokesperson Patrick Seybold provided us with this statement on the matter:
We announced our intentions of helping publishers and partners deliver games directly to gamers last year, and have been working toward that. The first manifestation has been our partnership with AT&T who is offering Batman: Arkham Knight available to their customers for free. While we won’t be commenting on any rumors or speculation regarding other industry partners, we are still focused on bringing great games to Stadia in 2022. With 200+ titles currently available, we expect to have another 100+ games added to the platform this year, and currently have 50 games available to claim in Stadia Pro.
Later in the day, Google also subtweeted the report:
Peloton wouldn’t comment to The Verge.
Update, 8:14PM ET: Added Google’s new tweet.
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There are 90 comments.
And we’re supposed to trust them with VR/AR and potentially the Android Wear ecosystem.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 2:01 PM
When Phil Harrison got up on stage to announce Stadia, I knew it was doa.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 2:56 PM
Microsoft pretty much killed Stadia with the purchase of Bethesda and later Activision while dominating Google in cloud expansion. This was probably a very costly endeavor for Google and I don’t think google stream or whatever they will call it next will help them recoup the expenses.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 3:42 PM
The Stadia business model was awful. You were expected to buy all your games. Games that you don’t really own. Even if you buy the game, you can’t stream it in 4K unless you have a subscription. They had to up "given" games when people wondered what the subscription was giving you when Xbox Live Gold was giving you 3-4 games a month. People wanted the Netflix of gaming when paying a big subscription but you didn’t get any of that. The only "Netflix of gaming" currently is Xbox Game Pass.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 12:55 AM
Stadia has its problems, but it think the business model is fine. Despite not having a deep library, I don’t see the service shutting down any time soon. Any purchased games should be available for a long time. I wouldn’t put the risk as being much different than buying a movie from Google.
Posted on Feb 6, 2022 | 9:30 AM
Gotta hand it to you Stadia fans.. no matter how bad things get, you are still positive!
Posted on Feb 6, 2022 | 10:23 AM
Stadia was dead on arrival. Games are full price and only available through stadia.
This might be fine with another company but nobody trusts google services to stay around anymore so who is going to put hundreds of dollars into a game library which is very likely just to disappear one day?
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 4:31 AM
Google killed Stadia with a bad business model, and showing off features that didn’t even exist, and still don’t.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 11:34 AM
Does anyone expect Google to be a leader in AR/VR at this point? Its likely going to be Meta vs Apple, but maybe Microsoft takes Apple’s spot.
I personally think Meta will take lead position for a few reasons.
1. Massive investment ongoing so much to the point people think it spells Meta’s doom (lol)
2. Starting from already having #1 consumer device at great price point (Quest 2) that sells near to the level of gaming consoles.
3. Existing Social Graph – Jump in and start having social experiences with friends you already have. Apple Game Center or something?
4. Buying biggest VR developers
5. Hand tracking and other software to power the controller-less future is far ahead of competition as far as we can tell.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 3:01 PM
You seem to have forgotten the Kinect? While discontinued, it does show intent and interest.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 4:44 PM
They are investing heavily on content tho… best hardware & software means nothing without content…
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 5:04 PM
Which is a shame because they had a number of WMR headsets. I love my Samsung Odyssey+ and HP Reverb G2 headsets. I think if they made them available on the Xbox, that would give incentive to the hardware makers to sell them and it would revitalize WMR on the PC.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 12:57 AM
What does Apple have? I’ve heard of this VR headset for like 5 years. I also remember when Apple was going to crush game consoles with the Apple TV.
The only thing they’ve done for gaming is create the mold for freemium trash. I’m not convinced they will even do VR yet.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 8:56 AM
Money, brand loyalty, the only not-completely-useless chip for wearables.
Apple never wanted to do VR, only AR. Which fits better with their "wearable glasses" thingy.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 10:19 AM
Yep, those three things are enough to let Apple take over any new medium. Not to mention the ecosystem synergies.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 5:58 PM
No one is going to be a leader in the metaverse, because nobody wants it. The only people pushing for it are companies.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 4:32 AM
Yeah that’s what I thought. Assume it would get announced on the bike if it ever is released.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 2:49 PM
The thing that excited me about Google Stadia was the cloud native games that wouldn’t be possible on a single machine. Now that Microsoft is working on cloud native games I don’t feel any need to care about Stadia at all. Once again Google proves they can’t be trusted.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 2:23 PM
they haven’t killed stadia and these are just rumors. people take rumors too seriously and think it’s real for a long period of time even if that rumor was debunked.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 3:05 PM
Stadia has been on life support since they closed their own studios a year ago and Google started mentioning white labeling. But a certain group of people are still running around saying it is still alive, it has a heartbeat, even though the doctor says the patient is brain dead. Just pull the darn plug.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 3:29 PM
Reminds me of Windows mobile users (i was one), with their eternal hope.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 11:56 PM
I was eyeing the Lumas phones I don’t need fancy apps or even any game, but when I found myself researching whether WhatsApp would work, I knew the ecosystem was dead.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 1:34 AM
Says they’re working on deals so others can use the tech. Shocking.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 6:58 PM
Which of "Stadia is doing badly" rumors got debunked?
The only bad thing that hasn’t happened (yet) is Stadia (the consumer subscription thingy) dying completely… but there were no rumors this is happening – only murmurs and shouts of the public that this is obviously going to happen.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 6:29 PM
Another step towards the grave…
This was widely predicted from the moment of Stadia’s launch. Like most Google ventures, this will be thrown away and scaled back further. Why can’t this company execute on anything for more than two years?
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 2:25 PM
When it launched I thought it had a chance.
But when they shut Stadia Games and let Jade Raymond walk a year ago it was clear that Stadia was over as a consumer service.
The worst thing is the people that are going to be hurt when they eventually shut it down for good will be the hard-core Google fans that bought into it.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 5:54 PM
Yeah, if you don’t have a first-party offering then you aren’t serious about competing with Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. Hell, even Valve puts out their own games every now and then. A lot of people brushed it off as unimportant, but Google not wanting to lay down the cash for their own studios was absolutely indicative of how committed they were to Stadia. And the fact that they even started Stadia Games to begin with suggests they knew they needed first-party to succeed, but then they gave up on it.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 7:25 PM
I thought the same thing.
If you can’t commit to making applications for your own platform then how can you expect others to.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 11:38 PM
Dear Google,
Please build a Pixel Box with expandable storage so I can download all of my Google Play games. That is all I want.
Thank you!
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 2:39 PM
Huh? You are aware that Android TV/Google TV devices have adoptable storage right? And that speaks nothing of smartphones and tablets that have up to 1 TB internal storage.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 2:52 PM
Yes and yes. I have about 181 android games. All of my games could not fit on my 128GB nexus and pixel phones. Currently, I do not have Pixel 6 Pro. On black fri 2020, I bought nvidia shield tv pro but I forgot why it didn’t work and returned it to amazon. A few days later, I bought galaxy note 10+ and galaxy s7 from microsoft with both having 512GB internal storage. This holds all of my games and even though I kept both devices I really dislike samsung’s skin on android. When the chromecast with google tv was announced, I bought it but this has problems too despite keeping the device. First, not all of my 181 android games are compatible. For example, a few of the FF and DQ games are not compatible. Second, the only way to expand storage is via usb but given that there are only one usb, I need to buy a usb hub. I wish it had a sd card slot. Finally, last year, I bought the first gen galaxy chromebook but this has problem too. It only has 256GB storage and even though I put a memory card in it, I can’t figure out how to install games to it. Not all of my 181 games work with it. A few of my sega games do not work.
Currently, the only solution I have is the pixel 6 pro and wait for google play on windows. But despite that, I still want a pixel box with a lot of internal storage.
I forgot to mentioned this in my post, I have been using stadia and actually like it. I am not paying for it. I get free trials. But I like stadia, ps now, xcloud. I use it so much more than my consoles. Hopefully, amazon put luna in amazon prime. I will never pay for cloud gaming though
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 3:13 PM
Ah yes, another service google is going to cancel before it even has the chance.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 2:45 PM
Oh, it had a chance. It tripped on the starting line. The flat, painted on the ground starting line.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 8:19 AM
I was downvoted to oblivion on Reddit two years ago when I said it would end like this.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 2:47 PM
We’re you in the /google subreddit or /gaming one? Because one is full of google fanboys.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 4:59 PM
And that’s honestly so baffling to me. Like, I get people not wanting to be negative. But considering Google’s track record, it was always more likely than not that Stadia would end up on the back burner and eventually phased out.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 7:28 PM
The sentiment here was very fanboyish as well. Thought I was taking crazy pills… google the data mining advertising monolith wanting to get into video games, why would this be a good thing for anyone?
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 8:48 PM
Honestly out of all the big tech companies, the only one that seems to understand games is Microsoft, and that’s probably because they have gaming roots that date back to damn near the beginning of the video game industry (early 80s).
All these other companies just want to swoop in with algorithms and models to curate freemium junk that preys on addictive personalities.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 9:04 AM
It was weird how different the comments were here vs Polygon.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 2:26 PM
I made a sarcastic comment on Twitter when a bunch of old games that most people have probably played were announced as coming to the service and got dogpiled by a bunch of Stadia Stans saying how I don’t understand cloud gaming and that Stadia is the best thing in gaming with a great and constantly growing catalog of games. At this point, those that are invested in Stadia are more so than Google themselves.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 7:10 AM
If you’re petty enough, you could necro-reply to some of them with some of these links and a "how ya like me now?"
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 8:21 AM
The problem is that I don’t see how Google Stream makes it either.
1. Microsoft (Azure) and Amazon (AWS) offer identical services and have lots more customers already.
2. If you are a major studio or platform you already have this i.e. EA+, Ubisoft+, Nintendo Online or you can well afford to have the more established Azure or AWS build it for you.
3. If you are an indie studio it is way cheaper and simpler to just publish your games to Steam or Epic and agree to have it listed on Nvidia GeForce Now.
Can someone tell me what problem there is that Google Stream is supposed to solve? Because I really don’t. It really seems to be a solution in search of a problem.
Stadia’s best avenue was always to stream Android games. They could stream Android games to non-Android devices using the browser. They could stream Android games to Android TV/Google TV devices using an app. They could even stream Android games to inexpensive Android devices that lack the horsepower to provide a good experience or run them at all.
Now that Google Stream is a subscription service, they have the opportunity to do that with Google Play Pass. Make it a formal Apple Arcade competitor. Except that where Apple Arcade’s hook is hardware good enough to last-gen console games, Google Play Pass can stream Fortnite, Genshin Impact etc. as good or better. As the games would be streamed instead of downloaded, that would solve the piracy and fragmentation issues, allowing them to go after games that are currently only on iOS. And since they are getting subscription revenue, that would address the "freemium wasteland" that is 99% of Android mobile gaming.
Other than that, Stadia is a problem in search of a solution. If they aren’t talking to the publishers of Google Play Pass games about allowing them to be streamed – Google has the APKs and can handle the porting themselves – then yeah go ahead and pull the plug and write refund checks to everyone that has purchased Stadia games because they aren’t trying.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 3:09 PM
Google Stream isn’t a subscription service for consumers I don’t believe.
It’s a cloud service provided to third parties to run their games on their streaming service (or say like Ubitus who do the streaming of most Nintendo Switch cloud games).
So really, it’s more of an additional function of Google Cloud Platform, so to speak (not exactly). Just like you can run compute, big data, SQL, etc. You can now run your game on it, then you provide that to your customers with Google just being the backend.
Stadia streaming tech is actually pretty decent. Although, I wonder if maybe it was so seldom used that of course it ran perfectly fine.
I can see them intruding in the business that Ubitus is in, and offering a service to stream high-end games to low-end platforms, like the Switch, or mobile. The publisher/game maker take ownership of all the customer relationships and Google just sit’s in the backend and serves it.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 3:29 PM
Google Stream is just renaming Stadia, right? Last time I checked you still how to write specifically to take advantage of Stadia. It isn’t just plug and play a PC version of the game. Google was paying to port games. So unless that is changed it seems to me if Xbox just offered a similar ability to put up demos (which seems the biggest sell for gamers) and doing so takes none or very little work as it does now with XCloud and Xbox (and internally they are doing something similar with PC games) that Google Stream idea would die as well. Sure, something like Peloton where the user doesn’t notice (no downloading software, setting up controllers) it is all handled as part of the device you are using already. That may work But I don see that enough of that type of client to keep Google interested supporting the server up keep and advancing the tech over time like Xbox or hopefully PS will do.
Plus, Ubisoft (which has been behind Stadia from the get go) is isn’t doing well at all. I can see Xbox, SIE, or Tencent (who owns 5% already) coming in and buying them up. You already see those cacks in the Guillemot family wall happening. A wall hat until recently had always been adamant about not selling Ubisoft. But with 40% its value gone in the last year. They may see this is the best time sell or maybe they can hope NFTs save them /s. And none of those three companies (Sony, Microsoft, Tencent) are going to be buying into Google Stream.. I just don’t’ see the sell on white labeling. At least when it comes to the gaming space. Maybe it works elsewhere. Maybe I am not seeing the bigger picture here.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 4:09 PM
I’m not saying this is at all going to be successful. Just saying what their doing.
Also, Stadia name is sticking around (for now) so it’s not a rebrand. It’s more of a pivot. The Stadia infrastructure would be repurposed for this b2b use case.
They are probably going to court Ubitus users if I had to guess, or publishers that are yet to do the cloud game thing on the Switch as an alternative to using Ubitus to bring games there.
If they can offer their services for a better price, then I can see some jumping to their backends.
And yeah, the games are native for Stadia, however, now that it’s just a backend platform, it could expand to offer Windows based platforms to stream from since their data centers already offer Windows VMs. In the end it’s irrelevant to the user as long as it works. They just have to develop the hooks for it and b2b customers can pick that one.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 9:20 AM
Other than Ubisoft, not many left that will give Google money to be able to stream their games.
MS, Sony, Ubitus (Nintendo) either already use or will use Azure. Luna and GFN both use windows. Activision Blizzard and Bethesda are out of the picture. EA is content being part of GamePass and GFN.
Indie studios won’t give money to Google to stream when they can simply get on GamePass or PS+ Spartacus and have Sony and MS stream for them while also compensating the indie studios.
Japanese studios are much more likely to simply join either Spartacus or GamePass as seen with Square Enix and Sega.
Epic won’t touch Stadia or Google Stream. Epic and everyone else is simply content with letting Nvidia GFN handle the streaming for them at no cost to those devs.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 12:29 AM
Peloton is a good example to be fair. Stick a cheap, basic tablet on the bike that can run an Internet browser on kiosk mode. Then run the actual bike software up in the cloud on demand on more powerful machines and just stream the video output to the users browser. Saves on manufacturing costs on the bike by using cheaper hardware, and makes software updates simpler as they’re all done server side instead of to every bike. Makes ongoing upgrades easier too, no need to replace everyone’s bikes, just update the server machines.
Keeping the software server side also stops people hacking and modifying it, so you can enforce that subscription model a bit more easily 
I’m not aware that any other big company offers this as a service yet. Microsoft do it with their own Cloud Gamepass, but don’t think the closest they have is virtual machines, which is a different approach than this.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 3:46 PM
Azure is already white labeling for Ubitus, which provides the ray traced Cloud games for Nintendo Switch. And Sony Cloud will be running on Azure also, with custom PS5 server blades.
And Netflix is more likely to use Amazon Luna backend, because Netflix isn’t going to be stupid enough to not provide Native PC versions of any AAA games they fund the development of.
And Bluestacks is already doing streaming of android games.
Only way Stadia could succeed was if Google gets over their ego and started to use Windows. Even if they wanted to use Linux, then Google needed to provide native local downloads.
Setup a PC storefront, that provides windows and Linux versions for local play, then tie that licensing into streaming, charge $5 month for 1080, and $10 for 4k, then build another $10 sub with content. Bundle into a $15 tier like GamePass Ultimate.
That is the only way Stadia barely stood a chance, since they shit down the Cloud Native games, by providing local versions for Windows and Linux, like how Steam does.
They’re finally bringing Google Play Games to windows, could’ve done that with Stadia as well, the PC userbase would’ve been much more willing to try.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 12:13 AM
Tell me again why I should pay Stadia for another license to Ark that I can’t use to play on my clan server because Stadia doesn’t support mods.
Meanwhile, Geforce Now is successful just being a portal for folks to play their Steam library on a potato, with mod support.
Seriously, Google?
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 3:50 PM
If nothing else, Stadia was the best place to play Cyberpunk at launch.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 4:34 PM
Google is actually crapily brilliant in this way. Part of the reason why they keep making record profits is because they know when to cut off a dead limb and let it go. Smart business. Consumer nightmare and seriously f**** them for continuing to do stuff like this. I bought into Stadia, mostly because it came with Cyberpunk for free, which I was going to buy anyway so it was like getting a free console (and a new Chromecast) with a game purchase, but I did like it for as long as I used it. It’s a shame they can’t do better because the tech works surprisingly well. It was probably the best way to play Cyberpunk at launch.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 4:56 PM
Thing is, a lot of the stuff Google cuts off could have been successful if they had the endurance to support it for an extended period of time, which very few companies can even afford to do. If Microsoft had Google’s attitude, they probably would’ve packed it up after the original Xbox got blown out by the PS2, and there would’ve been no Xbox 360. But really, its even worse than that, because at least Microsoft knew they needed a platform-seller like Halo to even have a chance at moving the needle. Google threw in the towel on their Stadia Games studios before producing even a single game. It’s like they take one look at how insanely lucrative their ADs business is and ask themselves…"oh wait, why are we bothering with this again?"
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 7:35 PM
Stadia is a triple stinker. No exclusives, a ridiculous pricing model and the knowledge that Google would not commit to it overshadowing it. It doesn’t matter if Stadia tech is better than Geforce or XCloud (personally Geforce and XCloud worked great for me when I tried them), when the pricing model sucks and the future of the service was always in doubt.
I still don’t think Game streaming is viable as a main platform. It’s more of a compliment IMO because the marketing of being able to game on any device, anywhere, at any time is a flat out lie. Even with 5G phones, game streaming at good quality is questionable considering the data plans tied to service and the spotty nature of 5G itself. Bad internet, bad cloud gaming experience. No internet, no gaming at all. If anything, game streaming (and the current console shortage) inspired me to re-invest in WinPC gaming and Linux gaming. But still, Google didn’t even give Stadia a serious chance to succeed.
One man show indie developers have shipped some good games over the years, yet multi-billion dollar Google couldn’t get their shit together to ship ONE title before shuttering their games division? It didn’t even have to be a AAA God of War styled title. Google should have started small. They own Android for crying out loud. Hundreds of millions of users world wide and how many people sink hours in mobile games on a daily basis? Mobile gaming is a bigger market than PC and console combined yet Google never thought to leverage their Android user base and that market to develop games for it that could easily be enhanced for Stadia?
The pathetic Stadia pricing model is an easier fix than not having any original, in-house content. Even Apple’s gaming service has exclusives and some of them are good. MS learned the hard way about the consequences of not having a strong IP catalog and good in house development. RIP Stadia, I won’t miss it.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 6:30 AM
Game streaming have certain requirements to be met, which is something current services fail to advertise properly: a data center relatively close to you, fiber, and ethernet, if you meet this, it is indistinguishable from a local console or pc.
New TV’s, such as LG C2, are coming with game streaming services such as GeForce Now, pre-installed, you just connect a keyboard / mouse or a gamepad to the TV. Honestly, as long as this configuration works for you, a console or a gaming pc can be by passed.
Also, the close by data center and fiber, are becoming more and more commonplace, and ethernet-like latency might be matched by WiFi6e and WiFi7, which is also on its way. I do think this will be the future for a good chunk of the market going forward…
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 5:11 PM
I remember arguing a year ago with a bunch of fanboys about how Stadia was dead because Google and they didn’t want to believe it. Here’s the article for all of those folks that want to be reminded of how their faith in Google has let them down, again. https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/10/22167303/cyberpunk-2077-ps5-console-google-stadia#534317825
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 5:26 PM
A surprising (?) number of people in that thread only commented on Google-related stories.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 7:03 PM
Oooooooh…the Business "Insiders" got the "inside" scoop from former Google employees, that Google’s making deals. 
"Google’s working on deals with Peloton , Facebook Portal & Bungie… just like Samsung, AT&T, & LG."
Then we get an official statement from Google:
"While we won’t be commenting on any rumors or speculation … we are still focused on bringing great games to Stadia in 2022," said Patrick Seybold, a Google spokesperson via the BI report.
Idk, unless Google makes an official statement like "hey guys, as of yesterday, we were putting 100% of our effort into Stadia, but today, we’re knocking it down to 20% and for good." I’m thinking this is just another hack job Stadia piece for clicks.
Way ta kill it Vergie.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 6:55 PM
How very 1984 of you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. The shit is dead. It basically never lived, they quite literally can’t give it away – their free controllers and multi-month free subscriptions and free chromecast ultras have moved the needle from 0 to… 0.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 8:34 AM
You honestly think Google would put out a statement saying they were knocking consumer support down to 20% as they pivot towards B2B? Why do you have faith in Google? What have they ever done to earn that faith? The writing’s on the wall and you choose to not see it.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 2:32 PM
If Google did not have so much advertising revenue pouring in, it would be a failing company. They have not actually developed a successful product in years. The company has no discipline, no attention span, and no focus.
There are some really talented people there but they need new leadership.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 7:31 PM
Did Google even try? For someone like me, who gets to play two maybe three games a year, being able to play games without making a hardware commitment, is a dream come true.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 9:24 PM
Not surprised Google didn’t commit hard enough to Stadia, but I am thrown by all these comments (here and elsewhere) of people saying they don’t understand why Stadia was made. Like at this point Amazon (Luna), Microsoft (Gamepass), Sony (PS Now), NVidia (GeForce Now) and Nintendo (using Microsoft’s infrastructure) all have game streaming services off the ground in some capacity. Can you really not understand why Google tried this first? Hindsight is 20/20, why are you surprised still?
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 10:17 PM
It was made because ignorant corporate suits thought that game streaming was the future.
Game streaming is a complimentary service that can be useful, but it will fail as an entire platform for the foreseeable future.
This was and has been clear as day to me since it’s announcement.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 11:01 PM
I’d argue that game streaming is very likely the model of the not too distant future, but Google went about it the wrong way. But by white-labeling the service they might find a way to be the invisible backbone of that future.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 8:51 AM
You really think it’ll be the model? Most of the country and world still don’t have the infrastructure. Not to mention, games that rely on low latency (shooters, fighters) are a joke on the cloud.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 2:35 PM
Yep, only way it stood a chance was if Google setup a PC storefront and offered native windows and Linux versions in addition to the Stadia license.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 6:43 PM
The genuine sad part is Stadia is actually quite excellent technically. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love Xbox GamePass, but the general consensus(and my experience) is that Stadia runs laps around it technically. It actually offer real 4K relatively high bit-rate streaming while there are certain games(especially "next-gen" ones like Forza or Halo) I don’t even bother with on GamePass because playing at 720p medium with a meh bit-rate just ruins the experience
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 10:25 PM
1080p, it streams at 1080p… and even at 4K, Stadia has the worst graphical performance with the softest image.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 8:43 AM
This is the main point IMO. This seems to get overlooked in all the Google hate, which I have no problem with. I bought into it via free hardware promotion as a side console for remote locations. Nothing more. And have been reasonably pleased with it that respect but constantly disappointed in image quality.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 12:22 PM
Even the 1080 free tier is very blurry compared to xCloud 1080
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 6:45 PM
Performance clearly must vary with geographic location because for me, Stadia performance was abysmal. I am not alone if you look at any message boards.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 2:12 PM
And that’s the main difference between Apple and Google.
To Apple, technology itself is not enough. It’s there to serve the end experience, not fill out a spec sheet.
Google had this great piece of tech they wanted to show the world, and rushed it out the door without thinking about whether it was something people even wanted, or how to properly market it to their users first.
That’s what these companies need to realise. Customers don’t want tech. They want neatly-packaged solutions ready to use out of the box.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 8:19 PM
If anyone wants to succeed in the gaming world, they need to either have an established name aka Sony and Nintendo or go the route MS is going by making a streaming subscription service however Google needed to make moves like MS is making by buying all the big publishers since if you don’t have developers, you need to buy one quick. Sadly for Google, MS jumped first on the opportunity and now Stadia is gonna enter Google’s graveyard of cancelled products soon.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 12:58 AM
This is what it should have been to begin with. The tech is really good but the market just isn’t ready for a streaming only platform yet.
Their first port of call should be the ESA. Imagine an entirely online E3 where you the gamer gets to play ALL of the show floor demos for a nominal fee of $25 for a 3-day pass. Because the titles would be streamed there is no risk of dataminers uncovering secrets and because the tech is platform agnostic even companies like Nintendo might be tempted to get in on the action, even if it only streamed to Switch consoles.
Google supplies the entire backend, devs just port t get demos over. Sony went cap in hand to Microsoft to set up an Azure platform for their forthcoming rival to Gamepass but they could just as easily have licencesd the tech behind Stadia.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 3:19 AM
Sony couldn’t have used Google Stream for the backends because PS+ Spartacus service would be using custom PS5 server blades. MS will actually be installing those PS5 server blades into Azure, just like they are doing for the custom Series X blades for xCloud.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 6:48 PM
Google seems stuck in this loop of forgetting they’re actually really good at B2B business models but really crap at selling things to consumers. Over and over they release an innovative consumer product with no plan for how to get consumers to actually pay for it and then they shut it down.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 8:22 AM
I don’t know if I will ever try a new Google product. I’m happy with gmail, but anything else they launch has no appeal to me. I know it’ll just get killed after a few years.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 2:17 PM
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