Staff at CD Projekt Red are uniting with others in the Polish video game industry to unionise.
Stadia's death spiral, according to the Google employee in charge of mopping up after its murder
19.09.2023 - 13:38 / pcgamer.com
Google's streaming dream died in January this year: the Google Stadia streaming service joined a laundry list of projects the company has canned over the years. Google could open a Ben & Jerry's-style flavor graveyard for them all. We know the streaming platform struggled with market share since its release in 2019, and I never was a fan of its business model, but today we do have some insight into why Google closed Stadia down, from the person in charge of doing so.
A statement from a Google employee, Dov Zimring, has been released as a part of the FTC vs Microsoft court case (via 9to5Google). Only minorly redacted, the statement gives us a run down of Google's position leading up to Stadia's closure and why, ultimately, Stadia was in a death spiral long before its actual demise.
«For Stadia to succeed, both consumers and publishers needed to find sufficient value in the Stadia platform. Stadia conducted user experience research on the reasons why gamers choose one platform over another. That research showed that the primary reasons why gamers choose a game platform are (1) content catalog (breadth and depth) and (2) network effects (where their friends play).
»Publishers, for their part, have to devise where to spend their limited development and marketing energy, and which platforms to favor to reach the broadest audience."
This is where things get sticky for Stadia, and it shouldn't come as much of a surprise. If users go where the games are, and the publishers put the games where the players are, if you lose either the players or the games, you might lose it all.
«However, Stadia never had access to the extensive library of games available on Xbox, PlayStation, and Steam. More importantly, these competing services offered a wider selection of AAA games than Stadia,» Zimring says.
According to the statement, Google would also offer to pay some, or all, of the costs associated with porting a game to Stadia's Linux-based streaming platform to try and get more games on the platform. Still, in Google's eyes, this wasn't enough to compete with easier platforms to develop for, such as Nvidia's GeForce Now.
I get Google's melancholy, too. Stadia's business model never appealed to me much as a PC gamer. There was little reason for me to buy in on Stadia when I could subscribe to GeForce Now and access a good chunk of my PC game library without incurring extra charges. Even if you're locked into a console ecosystem, and expect to pay for your games again to move elsewhere, people will likely stick with the ecosystem they've built up. Not just for their game library but their friends and communities, too.
But alas, this is about why Google felt the need to shutdown Stadia, not why we all saw it coming.
«Lac
The website gametalkz.com is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
Top Authors
Popular Topics
gamingbolt.com
05.10.2023 / 00:39
Silent Hill: Ascension Launches October 31, According to Google Play Store Listing
Out of all upcoming Silent Hill projects, Silent Hill: Ascension is the one that’s piqued the curiosity of many the most, given the fact that it’s not a game, but rather a game in the form of a streaming series, where players’ (or viewers’) choices and actions will determine the outcome of the story. Earlier this year, Konami confirmed that it would be releasing sometime in 2023, and it seems that release is closer than some may have expected.
tech.hindustantimes.com
03.10.2023 / 04:57
The internet is really the ‘Google web’ and 10 things Satya Nadella said at Google’s antitrust trial
On Monday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella took the stand in the ongoing major antitrust trial of Google. He is appearing as a star witness for the US against Google. The trial's primary contention is that Google is using illegal and unfair practices to extend its monopoly in the market and is establishing a consumer behavior that makes it impossible for rivals to exist. Nadella, during his three-and-a-half hour-long testimony, mentioned a number of points to affirm the same and highlight the exclusive deals Google made in order to become the ‘default' option for consumers. He also claimed that the internet is really the ‘Google web'. Let us take a look at the 10 things Satya Nadella said during the antitrust trial.
gamesradar.com
29.09.2023 / 08:41
Sink your teeth into the Vampire The Masquerade: New York Bundle with its first-ever physical format release on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4
It's time to suspend reality and travel to the World of Darkness Universe with the Vampire The Masquerade: New York Bundle. Launched last year in digital-only format, the bundle – that pairs two games: Coteries of New York and Shadows of New York – now has its first-ever physical release on PS4 and Nintendo Switch. Better still, there is a limited Collector’s Edition that will be released at the same time that packs more punch than a wooden stake through the heart.
techradar.com
28.09.2023 / 12:07
Sega cancels extraction shooter Hyenas less than two weeks after its closed beta
It’s been confirmed today (Thursday, September 28) that Sega is canceling Creative Assembly’s multiplayer extraction shooter, Hyenas. This comes less than two weeks after the game’s closed beta period wrapped up on PC.
pcgamer.com
28.09.2023 / 11:39
Sega has scrapped Hyenas a mere 2 weeks after its open beta
A mere two weeks after wrapping up an open beta, Sega has cancelled Creative Assembly's zero-gravity heist shooter Hyenas.
tech.hindustantimes.com
28.09.2023 / 11:03
Even the Google Trial Is Talking Up the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce Rumors
ChatGPT doesn't know whether Taylor Swift is dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
pcgamer.com
27.09.2023 / 12:31
Cyberpunk 2077's redemption arc leads to the highest Steam player count since its disastrous launch
If at first you don't succeed, patch, patch, and patch again. You might already have noticed, but Cyberpunk 2077 is having a bit of a renaissance this month, on the back of its sweeping 2.0 update and yesterday's release of its (really rather good) Phantom Liberty expansion. In No Man's Sky-like fashion, Cyberpunk seems like it's finally making good three years after its disastrous launch, and hey, it looks like people are taking notice.
gamesradar.com
26.09.2023 / 11:45
Baldur's Gate 3 Shadowheart actor suffers the ultimate act of betrayal after her partner declares love for the half-elf's archnemesis
Shadowheart's actor has suffered the ultimate betrayal recently during a stream of Baldur's Gate 3.
gameranx.com
25.09.2023 / 19:43
Payday 3 Developers Looking Into Offline Mode After Its Rough Launch
Payday 3 just recently launched into the marketplace. It’s certainly had a following of players eager to try the game out. Likewise, the title is available on the Xbox Game Pass subscription service. So, there are plenty of players who are able to gain access to the title. However, very few are finding it to be a seamless experience. With the game requiring an always-online connection, the matchmaking service has failed to keep up, forcing players to deal with waiting for the services to be up and running.
gamesradar.com
25.09.2023 / 09:37
Bayonetta and Devil May Cry pioneer Hideki Kamiya is leaving the studio he helped build after nearly 16 years
Action game pioneer Hideki Kamiya is departing PlatinumGames.
pcgamer.com
21.09.2023 / 12:01
Dead Space creator leaves The Callisto Protocol studio to 'pursue new opportunities' after its sky-high ambitions fall through
The Callisto Protocol, intended to be a spiritual successor to Dead Space, didn't exactly have a smooth entry into the gaming atmosphere. While helmed by the creator of the sci-fi horror classic Glen Schofield, who joined Striking Distance Studios in 2019, things didn't exactly pan out as planned.