This week, Stadia became the center of attention in the worst possible way, with Google ending game development in less than two years. This has led many to wonder whether Google Stadia is “dead” or not. The short answer is no, Stadia is not dead, at least not yet.
Stadia Games and Entertainment is dead, unfortunately
In a formal announcement, Phil Harrison of Stadia shared that Google was shutting down its Stadia Games and Entertainment division and halting the development of original Google video games.
Some feel that Google is moving away from making its own games for Stadia as a sign that the gaming service is short of life. If Google isn’t going to make games for its platform, why else would anyone?
Following that thought, the announcement was an understanding of his initial concerns about relying on Google to create a gaming platform, pointing to Google’s story of “killing” beloved products. For simplicity, people see the closure of Stadia Games and Entertainment as the beginning of Stadia’s death.
Undoubtedly, the death of Stadia Games and Entertainment is a major blow to Stadia’s reputation and from which Google will have to fight tooth and nail to recover. However, Stadia as we know it is definitely not dead. Throughout the announcement, Google made it clear that Stadia is not dead and will bring a wide variety of games from third-party companies.
What does this mean if you are a current or future Stadia player? You can continue playing all your games on Stadia and Stadia Pro, and we will continue to bring new third-party titles to the platform.
Stadia, the island, is alive and well
In November, Google’s Jack Buser shared Stadia’s roadmap for 2021 and beyond, including 400 games scheduled to launch for Stadia. At most, the original games from Stadia Games and Entertainment, made by Google, accounted for a small handful of that total. With that in mind, the next year or more of Stadia’s releases will be no different than they would have been if Stadia Games and Entertainment had not been dissolved.
Of course, it remains to be seen how other developers and publishers treat Stadia between the success of Cyberpunk 2077 and the lack of original Google games. In the meantime, however, nothing is changing for the average Stadia player. New games are still coming, the friends you made are still here, new features are still being developed and the games you bought are still ready to play. Stadia is not dead, at least not today.
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