Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is free on Stadia Pro, Head of Product at Stadia leaves

What a mess: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/05/stadias-vp-and-head-of-product-leaves-google/

So there is no longer any Justice at Google. Well, no big surprise.

To be fair, they announced a while ago that they aren't developing any more products. So like, what do they need a head of product for?


Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 4 May 2021 at 7:06 pm UTC

I'm wondering if the advertised "looking for partnership" couldn't translate into some form of Steam Linux/Proton games on Stadia, eventually.

One may dream...


Last edited by Mohandevir on 4 May 2021 at 10:57 pm UTC

The real problem of Stadia is the business model.
Nobody is willing to pay for a service where you need to buy your games anyway (without even possessing a copy of them).
The Stadia pro offert is not as appealing as the Game pass from Microsoft.


Last edited by Spyker on 5 May 2021 at 7:44 am UTC

The real problem of Stadia is the business model.
Nobody is willing to pay for a service where you need to buy your games anyway (without even possessing a copy of them).
The Stadia pro offert is not as appealing as the Game pass from Microsoft.

But those aren't really comparable, because Stadia doesn't require a subscription, whereas Xbox Game Pass does. With Xbox Game Pass, you can't use it at all without paying a subscription, and you lose access to everything the moment you cancel your subscription. And, the price is the same whether you play one game on the service or 100. With Stadia, you can sign up for free, pay for just the games you want individually, and keep them indefinitely (or unless and until Stadia goes offline, which I think is the real danger of these game streaming services).

I personally find individual purchases a lot more appealing, just because when I've had subscriptions to other entertainment services in the past (like Netflix), I find myself constantly asking "am I using this enough? Should I spent more of my limited free time using this to justify the subscription price?" I find I have an easier time judging whether I want to make a one-time purchase on a game. So for me, Xbox Cloud gaming's "you must subscribe to enter" requirement makes it look less appealing than other ways to game.

That doesn't mean I'm really excited to spend a lot of money on Stadia games, though. Copying a post I made on another website:

I think the most concerning thing about Stadia is that the world's largest ad company has a marketing problem, in which an awful lot of people think Stadia's business model is a lot worse than it actually is.

Some people prefer buying games individually. Some people prefer subscription-entertainment, where they pay one subscription price with a bunch of stuff included. Stadia recognizes that and gives potential customers a choice: you can either pay a subscription and get some games included (but you lose them if you cancel your subscription), Or you can buy games individually and keep them as long as Stadia exists. Yet somehow, a myth has cropped up that Stadia requires customers to both subscribe and pay for games individually: a substantially worse proposition than what Stadia actually offers. It's completely bogus, yet somehow a lot of people believe Stadia's pricing model is a lot worse than it actually is.

Which means Stadia has an advertising problem. If only there was a multi-trillion dollar ad company that could help them! Oh, wait, there is. Google is the one company that ought to be able to turn around any advertising failure. The fact that Stadia has an advertising problem, IMO, means the higher-ups at Google aren't taking it seriously. And that means I'm hesitant to spend much on games on Stadia, because I am concerned it won't stick around long-term.


Last edited by RandomizedKirbyTree47 on 5 May 2021 at 10:20 am UTC

Oh, nice! I have it on Steam already, thanks to the Gold rated ProtonDB report. And yeah, it still feels a bit weird not having the game running locally, and being depending on an online service, requiring a working Internet connection.

But same was true with Steam in the beginning. It felt so weird not having a physical copy anymore at hand, and only being able to download it from the Internet. Now we don't want to have it otherwise.

Internet connections are getting better and better, I remember starting with an 33.6k modem, improving to 56k, ISDN, DSL-light (384kbit/s), 6mbit DSL to 100 mbit cable and now 300 mbit fibre. And with fibre I didn't have any problems so far. Sure, there are enough people having issues.

Yeah, it's not for everybody, but for a lot of people of the modern world. And I like it. Stadia has worked well for me, except that one issue, where I wasn't able to get 1080p, which is fixed again. And I know I'm supporting Linux game development at least indirectly with it. Hopefully this will benefit Desktop Linux gaming eventually.

So yeah, it's just a matter of getting used to it. All we want, is to play games, right? We don't own games really anymore for already a long time. Exception are games on GoG and itch maybe, but you still have to download them and their stores don't have an as high user count as e.g. Steam.

I hope that Stadia will be a success in the long run, though I also like GeForce Now, where I can play the games I bought on other stores already (even though not all of them by far). But mostly the ones my friends are playing and are "protected" by EAC. So, I'm using the best of all worlds and what's working on Linux ;)

Theres is no difference between the Stadia model and the Playstation's, except that Stadia doesn't require you to pay 500$-600$ upfront for the hardware that you will probably change when the new generation comes out, every 5 or 6 years. Still, the Playstations are the most sold consoles. The PS5 is even outselling the PS4, atm.

Like it was said in another post, for me too, the real issue with Stadia is if it goes offline... The subscription model is nothing that's not been done elsewhere and successfully (same as PS+).


Last edited by Mohandevir on 5 May 2021 at 12:27 pm UTC

Will Google leave the Stadia spigot on just enough for game owners to access their games? Will game owners be able to download their games just before Google pulls the Stadia plug? Or will Stadia just not be there one day, a sign on the Stadia door that says "Gone Fishing."?


Last edited by Nanobang on 5 May 2021 at 12:38 pm UTC

Will Google leave the Stadia spigot on just enough for game owners to access their games? Will game owners be able to download their games just before Google pulls the Stadia plug? Or will Stadia just not be there one day, a sign on the Stadia door that says "Gone Fishing."?

Lol! Your guess is as good as mine.

I'm just wondering what could be done with a Stadia build, whitout the api and some way to run it?


Last edited by Mohandevir on 5 May 2021 at 12:43 pm UTC

Which means Stadia has an advertising problem. If only there was a multi-trillion dollar ad company that could help them! Oh, wait, there is. Google is the one company that ought to be able to turn around any advertising failure. The fact that Stadia has an advertising problem, IMO, means the higher-ups at Google aren't taking it seriously.

To be fair, google has an advertising problem for all its products (so I don't think it means a lack of seriousness). Yes, it's an advertising company, but that means they have the infrastructure to get other companies' ads to people. It doesn't mean they know how to make ads themselves.

A bunch of other people also left:

Among the hires is Corey May, former head of creative services and publishing at Google Stadia, and former Stadia general manager Sebastien Puel, who is also a co-founder of Haven Studios.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-05-05-six-additional-staff-leave-stadia-to-join-haven-studios

I'm just wondering what could be done with a Stadia build, whitout the api and some way to run it?

Maybe "we" could implement some kind of "Stadia-Runtime" that can be used in any distro.

I'm just wondering what could be done with a Stadia build, whitout the api and some way to run it?

Maybe "we" could implement some kind of "Stadia-Runtime" that can be used in any distro.

I have no doubt that the Linux community would find a way, but would Google ever consider this before pulling the plug? I was thinking about the other 98% (total guess) of Stadia users that know nothing about Linux. What would be in it for them?


Last edited by Mohandevir on 5 May 2021 at 8:18 pm UTC

I have no doubt that the Linux community would find a way, but would Google ever consider this before pulling the plug? I was thinking about the other 98% (total guess) of Stadia users that know nothing about Linux. What would be in it for them?

Ah yes, I forgot about that.
But hey, maybe it'll work under WSL too:)

As far as I'm aware, the interfaces for Stadia aren't public knowledge, and are probably NDA'd by Google. So nobody can really create a Stadia runtime that way.

Even if SDL2 is used and some non-public branch provided, there's still likely a few things Stadia specific. A game wouldn't be binary compatible on a desktop.

Buzzkill!

As far as I'm aware, the interfaces for Stadia aren't public knowledge, and are probably NDA'd by Google. So nobody can really create a Stadia runtime that way.

Even if SDL2 is used and some non-public branch provided, there's still likely a few things Stadia specific. A game wouldn't be binary compatible on a desktop.

Yeah, but that was just mentioned in the eventuality of Google stop caring about Stadia and shutting it down, then maybe they'll lift the NDA's and open the specs.
I really don't know, just throwing random thoughts in the air.