Google has exited the Stadia services, but it is not completely out of the games industry. The company is now focusing on supporting live-service games by providing Cloud infrastructure. Additionally, Google has acknowledged that its previous efforts to create a cloud gaming platform independently did not succeed.
Jack Buser, the director of games industry solutions at Google Cloud, spoke to Axios and revealed the company’s new gaming strategy. Instead of creating its own consumer-facing platform, Google is offering bundled Cloud services to live-service game publishers. Despite its failure with Stadia, Buser stated that Google is still “absolutely committed to games.”
Google’s move to support live-service games indicates a shift in its approach to the gaming industry. The company’s previous efforts to create a standalone platform were not successful, and it is now focusing on providing support to existing game publishers. This new strategy is a departure from Google’s previous attempts to enter the gaming market independently.
“It was at that moment when we basically had to make decisions about Stadia that we realized that at Google Cloud, we are at our best when we’re helping other people build this stuff, not necessarily building it ourselves,” Buser told Axios.
He also added, “We are not offering that streaming option because it was tied to Stadia itself. So, unfortunately, when we decided to not move forward with Stadia, that sort of offering could no longer be offered as well.”
The cloud gaming journey of Google with Stadia ended on January 18th of this year, with hardware and Google Play-related purchases refunded in 2022. Despite this, old Stadia controllers may still be useful. While they cannot be used on Google’s platform, a Bluetooth update can make them functional elsewhere.
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