Google made the surprise announcement on February 1 that it will close its own Stadia game development studios. But the news was not just a surprise for Stadia customers; it was a blow to the Stadia development team, which was told just a week earlier that the studios were ‘making great progress’, according to a report by Kotaku.
‘[Stadia Games and Entertainment] has made great strides in building a diverse and talented team and establishing a strong range of exclusive Stadia games, ‘said Phil Harrison, vice president at Google and general manager of Stadia, in a January 27 statement. email to the staff provided by Kotaku. The email promises more news about the Stadia Studios’ strategy and goals for 2021. But instead of new development goals, Harrison announced a few days later on February 1 that the studios would go on strike altogether.
The biggest question – both from outside observers and from Stadia team members – is what has changed. Harrison’s blog post announcing the closures, for example, cites ‘exponentially’ rising costs to ‘create best games’ as a factor. But given Google’s $ 1.4 billion market capitalization, it’s hard to think that this was the only reason to close the company’s game development studios altogether, especially since they had so little time to prove themselves.
In a Q&A with staff on February 4, Harrison apparently admitted that Google’s executives already knew the shutdown would come when he sent the email to praise the team’s progress. Kotaku also reports that Harrison mentioned Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda and the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic in various ways as factors in the shutdown.
Either way, one thing is clear: by shutting down its studios before they even managed to send any major exclusive parties to Stadia, Google has shown not only its staff but also the world that it does not is as serious about his game initiatives as it once appeared. And finally, it’s a disappointing thing to see, both for Stadia’s future and for the wider industry.