TITLE
Stadia’s Shutdown: The History of Google’s Doomed Project, From Those Inside and Out
AUTHOR
Rebekah Valentine
PUBLICATION
IGN
YEAR
2022
ARTICLE TYPE
Article
FROM THE ARTICLE
Google Stadia’s announcement back in 2019 was full of big promises for what the tech company – then largely an outsider to the business – called the “future of gaming.” It was to be a streaming platform that would span multiple devices, allowing players to access games across hardware they already had in their homes without buying expensive console boxes. It would integrate with YouTube, allowing capture, streaming, and sharing as well as the ability to jump straight from a YouTube video of a game into an instance of that same game. It was promised to be more powerful than the PS4 and Xbox One combined, with the word “teraflops” tossed around gleefully demonstrating its supposed power. These promises were massive ones for a company with hardly a gaming credit to its name, but they were backed not just by money and power and tech prowess, but also by storied developers like Jade Raymond, major studios like Bethesda, indie darlings like Tequila Works and Typhoon Studios (via acquisition), and engine creators like Unreal and Unity.Now, not even three years after launch, the “future of gaming” dream is dead, and numerous projects, jobs, partnerships, and promises with it. What happened here? How did the ambitious promises of a company with plenty of money to spend, superb technology, skillful developer talent, and everything to gain come crashing down so quickly and so dramatically? We spoke to a number of employees and developers who worked with Stadia to find out.
COMPANIES MENTIONED
Google
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Dylan Cuthbert
Mike Rose
Brandon Sheffield
PLATFORMS MENTIONED
Stadia
TOPICS MENTIONED
Business