Thursday, March 28

Google closes Stadia, its cloud gaming platform


Google has announced this Thursday that on January 18, 2023 it will close its Stadia cloud video game service, after it did not achieve the number of users and the “expected traction” that the company expected. Google made a very strong commitment to the streaming game, which allows you to enjoy the service in exchange for a monthly subscription and without a console or other hardware to support it. After three years it has been impossible for him to gain a foothold among the giants of the sector.

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The director of the service and vice president of Google, Phil Harrison, has explained that the company will return the money invested in games and controls of the platform through the Stadia store in mid-January. Your employees will be distributed to other divisions of Google.

“While Stadia’s approach to game streaming was built on a strong technological foundation, it hasn’t gained the traction with users that we’d hoped for, which is why we’ve made the difficult decision to begin winding down the service,” Harrison said.

The service was launched in closed beta in December 2018, being the first focused exclusively on streaming. It raised a lot of expectations but it was impossible for it to generate a community of players in a territory occupied by Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo and PC platforms such as Steam. After Google, the rest of the platforms have also opted for streaming video games, with Microsoft’s GamePass service being the most successful at the moment.

Google has highlighted in its statement that the technology developed for the service will be reused in fields such as augmented reality, YouTube or Google Play. The service, which had 400 games in development in November 2020, had been declining for months in users and dedicated projects and in August Google had to deny its closure.

“The underlying technology platform that powers Stadia has been proven at scale and transcends gaming,” Harrison stressed. “We remain deeply committed to gaming and will continue to invest in new tools, technologies, and platforms that drive success for developers, gamers, and gamers.” industry partners, cloud customers and creators.”



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