Stadia Was Right to Close Their Internal Studios

 Stadia’s first two years on the market have been less than stellar. Before Google launched the cloud-based game streaming platform, there were plenty of hopeful headlines and curious, speculative editorials. To their misfortune, the biggest headline that could be drummed up about the platform was their recent closure of their internal game development studios. Way back in February of 2021, Google announced that they would be shutting down development of Stadia exclusive games, that they would instead be focusing on their partnerships and using third parties to bring games to the platform.

In hindsight, that might not have been a terrible idea. Stadia isn’t courting gamers. Not really. During their initial launch, they spent plenty of time bragging about it, but the truth is that (most) gamers are never going to prefer cloud platforms to local hardware. Cloud is a nice thing when there aren’t other options, but a real gamer that actually spends money on the hobby will make sure they have a gaming system in their lives most of the time. This means Stadia will remain a casual interest for gamers, and perhaps a light investment from casual gamers

So if Stadia is going after casual gamers, who don’t pay attention to the industry or the latest titles coming out, why have internal studios developing games for a platform most people aren’t interested in most of the time? Better to pay a well-known developer a lump-sum of cash for a well-known game and then use the accessibility and convenience of Stadia as a selling point for someone to be able to play their favorite game anywhere. It’s also the path for getting the casual gamer, who will only have heard of the biggest titles in gaming. Even if you don’t play video games, you’ve heard of Assassin’s Creed and Red Dead Redemption 2. A casual player will recognize those names, realize they can play right away without any hardware investment, and give the game a whirl on their home computer. That wouldn’t happen with an internally developed, Stadia exclusive game.

Google has the best cloud gaming platform. Tech enthusiasts and websites have concluded as much. So for serious gamers who want to be able to play on the go, Stadia is the best option. Their path forward is to position themselves as the sometimes-necessary service for hardcore gamers, and the easiest go-to option for the biggest AAA titles for casual gamers.

Stadia’s path forward is courting third parties to bring ports of their games to Stadia, and Stadia’s development budgets should be allocated ton incentivize those developers. Its the path of least resistance, and for Google, likely the path with the highest return.