Google shutting their internal game dev studios, focusing directly on Stadia tech

One thing that is swept under the rug is how Stadia creates division. There was and is no reassurance from Google that they won't make Stadia successful at expense of local play. By that I don't mean they should allow local play on Stadia, I mean them getting exclusivity for games like Epic. Or doing anything else that's not third party exclusivity that won't erode availability or freedom to play games locally. But who cares about others as long as I get what I want right? Stadia is great! I can stream wohooo! Look at my controller in my gym bag! Wohoo!

In my opinion ensuring others are not negatively impacted by Stadia should be a concern by Stadia fans, but it does not seem like it. They largely don't care, and so I don't care. Division among gamers. Driving industry forward. Yeah right...

Just curious... In what is it any different than buying a PS4, XBox or Nintendo Switch? Why should it be more damaging? Imo it's a Linux console in the cloud. It's not a PC. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see why...

EA just announced they're putting FIFA on Stadia in March. Interesting timing...

EA just announced they're putting FIFA on Stadia in March. Interesting timing...

Yeah... But... Where is NHL21?!

I don’t understand the reasoning to talk about Stadia on this site. Yes, I know that it’s running on a version of Linux, but those enhancements aren’t going upstream and it won’t encourage game developers to use the Stadia code in porting to Linux.

If they are getting into licensing, that means the licensing of proprietary code for which google already took open code and closed it down. Also, you are losing ownership of your game to play an interactive video on their closed source hardware and Chrome browser.

I don’t understand the reasoning to talk about Stadia on this site. Yes, I know that it’s running on a version of Linux, but those enhancements aren’t going upstream and it won’t encourage game developers to use the Stadia code in porting to Linux.

Honestly getting sick of replying to this. We will write about anything, on Linux as long as it relates to gaming on this platform. Does Stadia work on Linux and is it a supported service? Yes. So we cover it. Same reason we cover Wine, Proton, Emulators, Game Engines and everything else.

Don't like it? Block the Stadia tag in your profile settings here or stop reading them.

and also have more local server access points

*cough*

I have a really super local access point for my games. It's called a SSD. The latency is absolutely fantastic, I tell you!

*cough*

Ahem. Anyway... I really also fail to see how Google basically burying what Stadia was meant to be would somehow be good news for fans of cloud gaming, but they seem to argue as if it somehow would be. Denial mode much? The simple truth is more likely that Stadia is dead in the water and Google is cutting their losses. Games tailored for cloud computing would have been the ONE selling point for cloud gaming. Like Super Massive MMOs with photo-realistic graphics. Stuff that just won't run on your own PC, ever. Otherwise there is like -zero- point in cloud gaming. Who wants to play World of Warcraft on a smartphone anyway, or why would I hog my bandwidth if I can install the same game locally and for the same price? People are going to continue having gaming rigs at home, so really, what's the point? Cloud gaming is more likely to become the next VR: A big hype touted as the future of all things, that ends up sitting in a very small niche.

.. Otherwise there is like -zero- point in cloud gaming...

Have you tried buying PC hardware lately? PS5? Xbox Series? Prices have skyrocketed if available at all... These "PC component crisis" are becoming quite common stuff. That's an area where cloud gaming might become attractive.

Still I wonder why Google didn't launch Stadia on Android TV first, though.

Personnally I really do like the idea of not having to buy a new console every couple of years, be it Stadia or not.


Last edited by Mohandevir on 2 February 2021 at 6:09 pm UTC

Actually, "Creating best-in-class games from the ground up takes many years and significant investment, and the cost is going up exponentially."

Translation: Making AAA games costs money.

Google must have been really shocked to find out. It was such a well-kept secret that making AAA games costs money!

And...I dunno. EA and Ubisoft seem to be quite successful making AAA games and Google is 100 times (or 1000?) richer than these two companies combined. *shrug*

Have you tried buying PC hardware lately?

Actually yes. Last Christmas. And spontaneously decided that my old PC will serve me well for another year. I know that -right now-, gaming PCs are almost impossible to buy.

But unless you're trying to say that the pandemic (which is ultimately the root cause for this) will become permanent, this is not relevant for the future of cloud gaming vs local gaming. The hardware market will eventually return to normal conditions.

Have you tried buying PC hardware lately?

Actually yes. Last Christmas. And spontaneously decided that my old PC will serve me well for another year. I know that -right now-, gaming PCs are almost impossible to buy.

But unless you're trying to say that the pandemic (which is ultimately the root cause for this) will become permanent, this is not relevant for the future of cloud gaming vs local gaming. The hardware market will eventually return to normal conditions.

Pandemic is a factor for sure, but not the only one... Cryptomining is another one, precisely at this moment and there were issues with the CPU supplying chain at Intel long before the pandemic... It was exacerbated by it, no doubt, but can you promise me there won't be another pandemic in the near futur?

There was also an incident that destroyed a memory manufacturing facility a couple of years ago... RAM availability and prices skyrocketed too. These phenomenons are happening a lot more frequently lately.

This said, I'm just showing what kind of stuff could make for a good argument for cloud gaming. I'll be the happiest guy when everything will come back to normal, but who can say with certainty when it will really settle?

In the meantime, I was still waiting on a RX5600 to show up somewhere... Decided to wait for the RX 6700, but I'm not holding my breath. All this makes cloud solutions attractive, nonetheless.

Edit: The thing is not to know if the pandemic will last... It created a window of opportunity to cloud gaming. Once a habbit is acquired, it's hard to get rid of it. Cloud gaming will never replace my PC, I like that thing too much, but I personnally heard about Stadia from 2 PS4 users who bought the Stadia Controller with the Cyberpunk deal and who have been totally satisfied. I never ever mentionned it (Stadia) to anybody, because I am careful about it, even if I like the concept. Google doesn't need a Stadia Gaming studio to achieve that. Even more true when you consider the Cyberpunk fiasco.


Last edited by Mohandevir on 2 February 2021 at 7:37 pm UTC

Have you tried buying PC hardware lately?

Actually yes. Last Christmas. And spontaneously decided that my old PC will serve me well for another year. I know that -right now-, gaming PCs are almost impossible to buy.

But unless you're trying to say that the pandemic (which is ultimately the root cause for this) will become permanent, this is not relevant for the future of cloud gaming vs local gaming. The hardware market will eventually return to normal conditions.

And I guess the other side of the coin is that more people have mid sized PCs at home again now.

And I guess the other side of the coin is that more people have mid sized PCs at home again now.

And developers must optimize their games for these mid range hardware.

Have you tried buying PC hardware lately?

Actually yes. Last Christmas. And spontaneously decided that my old PC will serve me well for another year. I know that -right now-, gaming PCs are almost impossible to buy.

But unless you're trying to say that the pandemic (which is ultimately the root cause for this) will become permanent, this is not relevant for the future of cloud gaming vs local gaming. The hardware market will eventually return to normal conditions.

And I guess the other side of the coin is that more people have mid sized PCs at home again now.

I don't know about that... Maybe. Thing is, the problem comes from ressources used in the fabrications of many components... If I got it right, the same ressources are also used in many other electronic appliances, so part of the available ressources might not even have been used to produce PC components. Time will tell...

RIP, Stadia.

and f*ck you Goolag altogether!

Why the hate? Out of all the big companies, Google is the most respectful of open source, and the only big company that always supported Linux with their tools.

I challenge people to actually TRY the other options... There are many,.

Seriously... Is there one of those many streaming solutions that can run on top of a Linux host? Because personnally, a streaming service that relies on a Windows host machine (GeForce Now or Luna) is a no-go. There is no way I'm going to give my Steam Linux sales to Windows.


Last edited by Mohandevir on 2 February 2021 at 9:22 pm UTC

I don’t understand the reasoning to talk about Stadia on this site. Yes, I know that it’s running on a version of Linux, but those enhancements aren’t going upstream and it won’t encourage game developers to use the Stadia code in porting to Linux.

Honestly getting sick of replying to this. We will write about anything, on Linux as long as it relates to gaming on this platform. Does Stadia work on Linux and is it a supported service? Yes. So we cover it. Same reason we cover Wine, Proton, Emulators, Game Engines and everything else.

Don't like it? Block the Stadia tag in your profile settings here or stop reading them.

Also, you cover browser-based games that aren't "streamed" and use HTML5/WebGL/WebAssembly to run the game locally. Why? Because web browsers run on Linux, and hence you can play browser-based games on Linux. Why would people expect Stadia, which also runs in a web browser, to be treated differently?

.. Otherwise there is like -zero- point in cloud gaming...

Have you tried buying PC hardware lately? PS5? Xbox Series? Prices have skyrocketed if available at all... These "PC component crisis" are becoming quite common stuff. That's an area where cloud gaming might become attractive.

I suppose. On the other hand, where I live bandwidth keeps getting more expensive. I could spend a bunch of $/month just playing the damn games, which would add up to the price of a better computer surprisingly quickly.

It's the whole business model that is the problem. They are offering people a opportunity to RENT games at retail prices, plus a monthly subscription on top..

No, they aren't. They're giving you the choice between "renting" games for a one time fee (the same way Steam and any other DRM store does)

I could have sworn that all the games I play on Steam have been downloaded to my computer, backed up to an external hard drive, and are willing to play when I'm offline, albeit after a brief gripe. Hence I would still have them if Valve somehow imploded and for all practical purposes I own them. How exactly is this "renting games for a one time fee"?

Stadia never helped linux . Could never understand the hype.

There are several things about Stadia that are potentially good for Linux.
First, Stadia doesn't care what OS you use--Linux is exactly equal to all other platforms when it comes to playing Stadia games. If Stadia were the only gaming platform, Linux would have exactly zero barrier to entry on the gaming front. To be clear, I still really don't want that to happen, as I am deeply suspicious of the streaming model for games and don't want it to take over.

Second, Stadia itself, at the server level, is Linux. That means:
2a) For a game to be on Stadia, developers had to develop it on Linux and
2b) The game has to be, somewhere out there, running on Linux.
This means developers are learning to develop on Linux and Google has a motivation for Linux to be a good development platform and for games to run well on Linux--for drivers to be fast and smooth, technology to be solid, developer tools to be first rate etc. All these things have implications for game development on Linux in general and for consumers using Linux to run games.

So my opinion about Stadia has stayed pretty much the same through its existence to date: I think it would be good for Linux if Stadia was successful enough to create a substantial Linux game developer base and contribute to boosting Linux developer technologies, drivers and so forth, but bad if Stadia was so successful it ate the world.

Actually, "Creating best-in-class games from the ground up takes many years and significant investment, and the cost is going up exponentially."

Translation: Making AAA games costs money.

Google must have been really shocked to find out. It was such a well-kept secret that making AAA games costs money!

And...I dunno. EA and Ubisoft seem to be quite successful making AAA games and Google is 100 times (or 1000?) richer than these two companies combined. *shrug*

They have established studios.....

That is the point people keep missing, because they just have to get their bit in on Google. Creating and maintaining a game studio, one big enough to do costly AAA titles is a huge and extremely messy thing that just isn't Google. Clearly so. Yes others can do it, because they have a long history and started off making smaller games and scaling up.

I'm no huge fan of Google overall (I'm even moving away from gmail after being with it since the start!), despite liking Stadia, but the overwhelming urge people seem to have to just not think things through about commenting on it is either ignorance or just plain stupidity to make a dig at GOog.