Google Stadia fails to capture consumer interest, gets refocused to businesses

[Humza]

In context: Google once had lofty ambitions for its Stadia game streaming service. However, numerous factors like a bizarre sales model, lack of compelling exclusives and latency issues prevented it from becoming the next big revolution in gaming. Although the signs had started showing within a year of Stadia’s public release, a new report has now shed light on how Google’s leadership plans to salvage what’s left of the service.

The shutting down of Stadia’s first-party game studio last year strongly hinted at Google’s faltering gaming ambitions with the service. It was also when Google announced that its focus would now be on Stadia’s underlying streaming technology, developing it as a platform to enable white-label deals like the one with AT&T that let wireless subscribers play/stream Batman: Arkham Knight for free.

Now, a new report from Business Insider has revealed that Google also pitched this service under a new “Google Stream” label to companies including Peloton, Capcom and Bungie. These licensing deals have led to Peloton’s first game for bikers called Lanebreak, which is currently in development. Capcom, meanwhile, is said to provide web demos of its future games powered by Google Stream. As for Bungie, the $3.6 billion Sony acquisition could be pivotal in deciding how (and if) this licensing deal goes through.

Given the vast amount of time and resources spent on developing Stadia’s underlying tech, Google apparently doesn’t want to retire this product to the infamous graveyard, at least for now. However, the company did go through a restructuring of Stadia’s executives and employees, with Stadia head Phil Harrison now reporting to Google’s VP of subscription services Jason Rosenthal, instead of the company’s Hardware SVP Rick Osterloh.

If you hear one thing, hear this: The Stadia team is working really hard on a great future for Stadia and cloud gaming.

We hope you agree, and we know the proof is in the playing.

— Stadia ☁️🎮 (@GoogleStadia) February 5, 2022

Google tweeted an indirect response over the weekend to the assurance of Stadia users. The company touted over 100 titles coming to the platform in 2022, alongside 50 games currently on offer to Stadia Pro subscribers.

Stadians can also expect “more feature goodness” to arrive soon, which will likely be awaited by a handful of hardcore players but won't do much at convincing more new gamers to join the platform.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/93284-google-shifting-stadia-focus-consumers-businesses-under-new.html

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Thus far, the only cloud gaming model I like is Nvida's wherein a regular $300 TV purchased from walmart can come installed with an app that allows you to play PC-quality game streams. Not sure how multiplayer will work on that tho.

After watching Onlive fail, I knew Stadia was doomed. A lot of country's have data caps and internet restrictions. The average person doesn't have unlimited high-bandwidth broadband.

I truly think Nvidia's model makes the most sense. A Regular smart TV + a gaming controller + internet makes the most sense.

I also find it ironic that during the height of the pandemic, when neither hardware (PS5, Xbox or GPU) were available) that Google couldn't sell this idea.

But when I think about it: I don't remember seeing any aggressive ads whatsoever since March 2020.

 

[psycros]

Thus far, the only cloud gaming model I like is Nvida's wherein a regular $300 TV purchased from walmart can come installed with an app that allows you to play PC-quality game streams. Not sure how multiplayer will work on that tho.

After watching Onlive fail, I knew Stadia was doomed. A lot of country's have data caps and internet restrictions. The average person doesn't have unlimited high-bandwidth broadband.

I truly think Nvidia's model makes the most sense. A Regular smart TV + a gaming controller + internet makes the most sense.

I also find it ironic that during the height of the pandemic, when neither hardware (PS5, Xbox or GPU) were available) that Google couldn't sell this idea.

But when I think about it: I don't remember seeing any aggressive ads whatsoever since March 2020.

I just found Stadia on my smart TV yesterday. While its running I can navigate it with a controller. Sadly, all the games look like mobile junk. The controller capability is nice but I didn't buy a 60 inch TV to play Raid: Shadow Legends.

 

[OortCloud]

Put down the flog Google, the horse is deceased, expired, passed-on, gone to meet it's maker...

 

[Sausagemeat]

The only thing Google is good at doing is collecting private data on people and selling it to the highest bidding corporation. I’d be interested in a cloud streaming solution if it could play my existing games. I don’t want to buy new ones for it, that’s absurd. On top of this I tried Stadia and it was a laggy mess. It’s got nothing on GeForce Now and I didn’t think that was all that great either.

 

[Bobbydpue]

Having to buy games only playable on their platform was never going to sell well. Especially with their previous failed efforts. They should work with NVIDIA and combine their work.

 

[Watzupken]

The only thing Google is good at doing is collecting private data on people and selling it to the highest bidding corporation. I’d be interested in a cloud streaming solution if it could play my existing games. I don’t want to buy new ones for it, that’s absurd. On top of this I tried Stadia and it was a laggy mess. It’s got nothing on GeForce Now and I didn’t think that was all that great either.

I agree that Google is only good at collecting private data. The rest of the businesses seems like an experiment to me. Unfortunately, Google don't have the tenacity to push forward, the moment they run into any hurdle. Most experiment fail because they tried, and the moment they run into any issues, they back away and give it the second class/ half hearted treatment. Then they fall back to their main business which is the cash cow. Even their hardware push feels very half hearted, e.g. Pixel tablet not selling well, they leave it to rot, then recently they want to try it again. Their Pixel phone is no better and the hardware seems like an afterthought over the years. If they don't push on, I don't see how they will make any inroads.
In this case, I think Nvidia went through a rough patch as well, but I don't think they gave up on game streaming services. They spend time to work with game developers and we can see that the service is actually gaining traction. But not Google.