On February 1, after less than two years, Google will end its ambitious project to create large-scale video games as part of its Google Stadiums video game platform.
As a result, more than 150 game makers were fired by Google in Los Angeles and Montreal.
Some current and former Google employees are now talking about what went wrong at Google’s short-lived game development studios. “I question how much the board members above Stadia leadership understand what they have committed,” a current Stadia staffer told Wired. “The commitments made and too many commitments and the inability to fulfill those commitments.”
The former employees said it was difficult to hire staff, and they hit roadblocks with Google’s internal security teams while trying to access the technology needed to make flashy games.
It usually takes three to five years to make great video games, but Google reportedly started near zero in March 2019. By the time the majority of staff were hired, the pandemic apparently caused Google to freeze the most hires – with the exception of a few ‘strategic areas’, according to an email from Google CEO Sundar Pichai, to staff, seen by Wired.
“The studio was not yet fully formed and ready to produce games,” one staff member told the publication. “It slowed down and was a statement. We interpreted it as a lack of commitment on the part of Google to create content.”
Google Stadium leader Phil Harrison on stage at GDC 2019.
Google / YouTube
Criticism was that Google had no major first-party games ready for the launch of Google Stadiums in November 2019. Without any major exclusive first-party games and an otherwise flashy game series, critics and consumers alike will have a cool response to Google’s great gaming platform.
Sales figures apparently reflected the reaction: Google’s target sales numbers for the Stadia controller and monthly active users were missed by ‘hundreds of thousands’, according to a Bloomberg report.
Google has been developing the technology for video game streaming at the heart of its Stadia platform for many years. In 2019, a group of Google players at the Game Game Developers Conference in 2019 set out plans for the future of the platform, as well as the company’s intention to create in-house games.
At the time, Stadium leader Phil Harrison called stadiums ‘Google’s vision for the future of gaming’. But just last month, Harrison announced the closure of Google’s game development division. “Given our focus on building on Stadia’s proven technology as well as deepening our business partnerships,” he said, “we have decided that we will not invest further in bringing exclusive content to our in-house development team.”
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