Google announced that it is shutting down Stadia Game Entertainment, its in-house Stadia game development division due to the high costs involved in developing games that attract users.
In 2019 Google launched its gaming streaming platform Stadia with the idea that Stadia would let gamers play top-tier without needing to buy and own expensive computers or dedicated gaming consoles.
Instead, all games would run on cloud servers in Google's data centres, and a video feed of the game would be broadcast to the user's device of choice such as a desktop, laptop, tablet, smartphone, or smart TV.
"Creating best-in-class games from the ground up takes many years and significant investment, and the cost is going up exponentially. Given our focus on building on the proven technology of Stadia as well as deepening our business partnerships, we’ve decided that we will not be investing further in bringing exclusive content from our internal development team SG&E, beyond any near-term planned games". Phil Harrison, Vice president of Google Stadia said in a blog post.
Harrison also said that Jade Raymond, head of Google's Stadia Games and Entertainment, would be leaving the company to pursue other opportunities. Over the coming months, most of the SG&E team will be moving on to new roles.
Stadia saw a surge in users last year after the tech giant gifted two months of free access to its premium version to gamers sheltering at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.