In November 2019, Stadia was released, Google’s cloud gaming platform that promised to take us straight into the future and allow us to enjoy any release anywhere in the world. The only requirement was to have a device with a screen, gamepad or touch panel and an internet connection. But from that same day many already gave up on the gaming leg of the technological giant. Has that moment come now?
A bumpy road
It is true that in these nearly two years and eight months the path of Stadia has been, to say the least, quite bumpy. And that is due to two essential issues that those from Mountain View have not been able to manage correctly: on the one hand, the catalog of games, which has not grown as expected at the rate of the many novelties that reached the market; and on the other the change of strategy after a few months where it seemed that they were scrapping the building that was put into operation at the end of 2019.
To the second belong the closures of the studios acquired in the moments prior to the launch of the platform, the refusal to continue collaborating with developers who were focused on Stadia and who ended up launching their creations on other platforms (such as The Quarry or Hideo Kojima’s next project) and the departure of some industry stars who had signed on to run the divisionas Jade Raymond, one of the creators of the franchise Assassin’s Creed.
Stadia is not shutting down. Rest assured we’re always working on bringing more great games to the platform and Stadia Pro. Let us know if you have other questions.
— Stadia ☁️🎮 (@GoogleStadia) July 29, 2022
The fact is that this buzz continues to be heard throughout the industry and proof of this was the tweet of a user who on Twitter came to ask Google if it was going to close Stadia. The response was immediate and from the cloud gaming service they categorically stated that «Stadia won’t close. Rest assured, we’re always working to bring more great games to the platform and to Stadia Pro. Let us know if you have any other questions.”
Stadia not closed yet?
Although the answer could leave us calm, the truth is that we cannot expect another from Google either since the only alternative to that blunt refusal would have been silence. What has been sounding for months is that those from Mountain View are not going to throw away all the effort made and believe that they have an important gap in the future of streaming video games.
By far Stadia is, of all existing systems, the one that works best, not only in latency and response but also in image and sound quality. Both in the case of Sony with its remote game and Microsoft with Xbox Cloud Gaming, no matter how good quality they have they do not reach what Google offers with that 4K broadcast of the Pro subscription. So if more news does not land on the platform at the rate users need… what future awaits it?
Stadia seeks companies that cannot invest millions in cloud gaming see in their technology a way out, not just to offer specific games, but flat rates that bring together all their releases. Ubisoft already does it and Electronic Arts too, so we should not rule out that in the near future more and more alternatives of this type will continue to appear.
Stadia does not close at the moment but it is also true that Google should share with its many users and fans the plans it has for the future because, as long as it does not do that, the shadow of the closure will continue to hang over its head (and more so with alternatives such as Amazon Luna).
