Google Stadia Dev Worried about Stadia’s Future?

Google Stadia is finally available to the public and for many people across the globe … it’s a mess. To make matters worse, Google has a long and well-documented history of launching new services only to shut them down a few months or years later. And with the launch of Stadia now officially here, one has to wonder if Google will do the same thing it has done to so many other projects.

One game developer has acknowledged the prevalence of concerns about that history among her fellow developers while also downplaying their seriousness, considering Stadia’s potential.

“The biggest complaint most developers have with Stadia is the fear that Google is just going to cancel it,” Gwen Frey, developer of Stadia launch puzzle game Kine, told GamesIndustry.biz in recently published comments. “Nobody ever says, ‘Oh, it will not work,’ or ‘Streaming isn’t the future.’ Everyone accepts that streaming is pretty much inevitable. The biggest concern with Stadia is that it might not exist.”

“Working in tech, you have to be willing to make bold moves and try things that could fail,” Frey continued. “And yeah, Google’s canceled a lot of projects. But I also have a Pixel in my pocket, I’m using Google Maps to get around. I only got here because my Google Calendar told me to get here by giving me a prompt in Gmail. It’s not like Google cancels every fucking thing they make.”

Google has made similar arguments in the past. Stadia Director of Product, Andrey Doronichev, said in July that Google’s commitment to Stadia is comparable to services like Gmail, Docs, Music, Movies, and Photos. “Nothing in life is certain, but we’re committed to making Stadia a success … It’s OK to doubt my words. There’s nothing I can say now to make you believe if you don’t. But what we can do is to launch the service and continue investing in it for years to come.”

Worries over Stadia’s continued existence aren’t exactly academic for potential consumers, though, since Google is primarily asking players to pay full price for Stadia games that only exist on Google’s servers. Anyone who similarly bought games for streaming service OnLive years ago knows what can come of investment if the service goes under.

Google has the chance to make something special and build a foundation for the future, but deep down I can’t trust them. Their track record is too big to ignore. Do I want to see it succeed? Yes. I am grateful for Google Drive because it makes it easy to share my documents with my coworkers here at GamingLyfe, or hold my music while I move to another computer. Being able to search the internet easier with their own browser and search engine is also good, and using a Google Pixel feels way nicer and charges better with the USB cable I have, than me going out to own an Apple product.

They shouldn’t want this to go under like Google Map Maker, Chromebook Pixel, or Google Nexus. They will want to make sure this is successful by expanding on what they have already launched with, but change how they provide the games to players. All the games that have launched with the platform are already cheaper in other places, and all of them (minus the Stadia exclusives) can be played through Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Now. Lastly, they need to fix the lag ASAP — not within a year or two like they’ve said. If these and other issues aren’t fixed, then you can add it to the “Google Graveyard.”

Written by
A survivor of the 16-bit console wars, fan or horror films, and pro-wrestling. Lover of all things Sega.

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