Google Stadia has sunk. We explain why the ambitious cloud service stopped

You’ve probably heard from game journalists repeatedly that cloud gaming is the future of the game industry. The ability to play any game on a prehistoric laptop, with only a stable internet connection and a subscription to a particular service, is great! On paper, yes. The largest companies are putting millions of dollars into cloud gaming development, but for some reason, a significant portion of gamers are in no rush to ditch consoles with high-end video cards and switch to a streaming site. In this article, we try to understand why Google decided to leave Stadia and whether we really need these cloud services.

Common Cloud Gaming Problems

The pioneer of the streaming service is considered to be the OnLive platform, which was launched in 2010. It’s hard to believe, but cloud gaming has been around for over a dozen years. At that time, the Internet didn’t have the speeds we have today and the server technologies weren’t that advanced yet, which prevented OnLive from reaching its potential in the beginning. High-tech games in high definition required a wide data transmission channel with a stable connection and a constant high speed. Many ISPs were unable to provide such services, rendering the gameplay footage in SD quality, there was an annoying input lag.

OnLive Starter PackOnLive Starter Pack

After the initiative to develop cloud gaming, Sony acquired the Gaikai brand and launched its own PlayStation Now service. Since 2014, the company has not stopped improving its cloud platform, giving users the opportunity to try out exclusive products without buying a console. The problems with this service are exactly the same as those of OnLive: the stated 5 Mbps is not enough for a stable connection, limited number of servers, queues for use and low resolution at 720p. 1080p is relatively new and only in certain games. But these shortcomings did not deter the players. According to a Sony report, the Japanese managed to attract 3.2 million subscribers by the end of 2020. Since PS Now is now part of the PlayStation Plus Premium subscription, it can be assumed that the number of users of the cloud service will increase significantly.

PS Now menuPS Now menu

Following Sony’s lead, many gaming and near gaming companies have made efforts to launch their own streaming services. Handheld you can remember: GeForce NOW, xCloud, Amazon Luna, GameStream, Vortex. Services differ in subscription costs, number of games, required internet speed, server location and stability. But none of the platforms listed were able to open up cloud gaming one hundred percent. Every service is full of flaws that you have to put up with, or keep ignoring cloud gaming. The ideal streaming platform would be Google Stadia, but unfortunately it didn’t work out.

Revolutionary Google Stadia – Promises

The launch of Google’s cloud service at the end of 2019 was accompanied by a grand presentation with promises to give players the best streaming service without loss of quality and input lag. Powered by powerful Google servers, the cloud platform promised players a happy gaming future. A new era of video games in which the controller will be enough to enjoy the most technologically advanced games without worrying about hardware and constant updates.
The novelty was made even more appealing by the fact that you can run the service on a cheap smartphone, old PC, tablet or TV with minimal downloads and in 4K resolution. In addition, the service offered many features that were not available on other platforms: watching other people’s gameplay, inviting friends to the game and the voting function, which streamers actively use.

Google Stadia PresentationGoogle Stadia Presentation

The main distinguishing feature of Stadia was presented by Google Vice President Phil Harrison at GDC 2019. “Innovations such as physics and total destructibility can now be integrated into your games, and Google servers will process them,” he said from the conference stage hall. “Today, Battle Royales can have hundreds of players in one arena, and with our servers, this number can be increased to a thousand players.”

Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the games that has been on Stadia since its release.Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the games that has been on Stadia since its release.

It’s hard to say how much weaker Microsoft’s servers are, but their action Crackdown 3 with total destructibility turned out to be a dummy. The idea of ​​rendering physics on a third-party server was picked up by Dice veterans, and in August announced the multiplayer shooter The Finals with total destructibility. There is no exact data on whose servers the game’s physics will be processed, but Harrison spoke this week and said technologies developed for Stadia will become available to partners.

By all indications, Google Stadia was the perfect candidate for the best cloud service. It seems that what could go wrong?

Why Google Stadia Failed

Of course, all the promises made by Google during the presentation were not fulfilled at the launch of the service. The indicated 4K resolution remained only on paper. You need to buy games and link them to your account from your phone. You can’t play the game on a simple mobile phone, as Stadia only worked on Pixel smartphones. A Chromecast Ultra was required to play on a TV. And many restrictions that discouraged the desire to try Google’s cloud service.

Unfortunately, all the promised capacity of Google servers was not enough for the stable operation of Stadia. All the same input delays, image pixels on a fast connection and low image resolution in general. But the biggest disappointment was the lack of a cohesive library of games. Google employees were so passionate about creating a cloud service that they forgot to add at least some important projects.

Google Stadia menuGoogle Stadia menu

Instead of developing exclusive products that could push Stadia to the masses, Google actively overspend and bought up famous titles from other platforms, such as red dead redemption 2, The Division and the latest NBA 2K. At the same time, blockbusters bought for eight-figure sums were still not enough, so the service was filled with indie projects.

The unreasonably high cost of a subscription caused waves of hatred. On Twitter, players complained about the lack of blockbusters, as they could easily launch “turkey meat” on weak hardware. Google hastily bought all kinds of games, hoping to win the favor of hardcore players, but this did not prevent the company from a gradual outflow of users.

Stadia was full of mobile gamesStadia was full of mobile games

The situation with the lack of exclusives had to be corrected by the newly formed studio. Google even managed to recruit former Ubisoft producer Jade Raymond, who is responsible for the series. Assassin’s Creed. She was named head of the game studio Google Stadia Games and Entertainment. But in two years, the studio never developed anything and was suddenly closed in 2021. Other Stadia exclusives from third-party developers were just other indie projects that moved to other platforms after the cloud service closed.

Gylt was originally a Stadia exclusive, but the game will move to consoles and PC after the platform closes.Gylt was originally a Stadia exclusive, but the game will move to consoles and PC after the platform closes.

Google failed to capitalize on the pandemic, against which players began to spend more time playing video games. Google Stadia couldn’t compete with more serious competitors in the form of Xbox Game Pass and PS Now. Even less visible cloud services were able to get their share of the pie, as Stadia was increasingly depleted.

Microsoft continues to bombard subscribers with new gamesMicrosoft continues to bombard subscribers with new games

As competitors multiplied the exclusive offers on their platforms, Google Stadia users got Pac-Man Tunnel Battle, horror about a little girl Gylt and Super Bomberman R. With these games, Google tried to keep hardcore gamers on its platform. This, of course, was not enough. And let the promised 4K and the services announced at the beginning work after some time, but what good is it if there are simply no games to use these technologies.

The sudden death of Google Stadia

On September 29, Google announced the impending shutdown of its Stadia cloud service. The company was unable to stop the outflow of users. Google promised to refund money on equipment (branded gamepad and Chromecast) and games, and keep access to the game library until January next year. The Stadia development team will be disbanded after the final closure and redistributed to other divisions of the company.

And then there was a scandal. Due to the closure of the Stadia store, developers of exclusive projects have lost the opportunity to sell their games. As it turns out, Google hadn’t bothered to notify game studios that the platform was about to shut down. The head of studio No More Robots on Twitter said his team is finalizing development on the game for Stadia and that the release would be in November. Now he does not know what to do, and he is also sure that they will not be paid for the work done.

A message from Mike Rose, CEO of No More Robots, on TwitterA message from Mike Rose, CEO of No More Robots, on Twitter

Many users started to speak out that cloud services are an absolute failed idea, which is difficult to implement clearly, even with the incredible power of Google. This is partly true, but according to Newzoo analysts’ calculations, 24 million people were using cloud gaming by the end of 2021. Therefore, it is too early to write off the technology.

***

Due to the lack of experience in the gaming business, Google drove its ambitious cloud service to the grave in a few years. Stadia could really be the revolutionary leap that streaming platforms need. The IT giant had all the necessary technologies and computing power to give the end user an excellent image without significant input lag. At the same time, the company completely forgot about the most important thing – for the sake of what, in fact, this platform is created. Gamers want new games, not 4K resolution and secondary functionality. Without a sizable library of video games and appropriate exclusives, Google Stadia proved unviable – and, of course, ended up in the graveyard of ambitious projects. Amen.