While the moniker “Killed by Google” is well-deserved, it is also excessive. Google may have a huge graveyard of services left behind in its 24-year history — my colleagues still mourn Google Reader and Google+ — but it almost always takes the bones of one killed project to start up another. Google Wallet evolved into Android Pay, which became Google Pay. Google Wallet again. Its messaging apps are the same. It has been the leading company in software recycling up to now.
StadiaDespite the fact that it was a high-profile disaster, there is another example: The consumer service die in early 2023The white-label Immersive Stream for Games spinoff will not cease, however. Google has already sold cloud gaming services to AT&T and Peloton and tried to Google Stream to be soldSeveral game publishers such as Bungie and Capcom received the lease earlier this year. It’s not clear if the experiment succeeded but it is highly probable that Google will make more from B2B leasing cloud gaming servers than it does from Stadia Pro subscriptions or 30% reductions in game sales.
Although this news falls directly into Google’s MO, it doesn’t make it any worse for its partners or less damaging to its image. Google will refund users. That’s something many failing brands are unable to afford. It also hurt indie developers by its secrecy, “everything’ messaging up to the announcement. Here are just a few:
After weeks of paperwork, preparations, and weeks of work to bring Donut Dodo (Sir Lovelot) and Sigi into Stadia, we were able to complete the onboarding process at Google yesterday. However, the bad news is that Stadia will soon be closing. Sad. @4Scarrs_Gaming #Stadia pic.twitter.com/pLc19oAtu4September 30, 2022
I’M SO HAPPY TO SEE MONTHS GOING INTO THE BIN AGAIN. I SURE DO LOVE GAME DEVELOPMENT.https://t.co/DUpBtof8tpSeptember 29, 2022
Google had no other reason to conceal Stadia’s imminent shuttering. Google will reimburse customers for all purchases. So keeping it secret didn’t increase their profits. Now IGN reports(opens in a new tabStadia developers are working hard to find ways to transfer save data and purchase information.
What I find interesting — and I’m merely speculating here — is that Ubisoft might have gotten special consideration from Google. Ubisoft+ packages on Amazon Luna and Stadia are two of the many ways it has been investing in cloud gaming. Ubisoft suddenly ended its cloud gaming business in September. Stadia was cancelledLuna would get a cloud-based version of Assassin’s Creed: Mirage. Although this move didn’t make sense at the time it seems that Google gave Ubisoft notice of Stadia closing due to their close relationship.
So why hide their plans? Google may have wanted to maintain the facade in order to sell Stadia to other companies and to collect valuable user data until the end. Or as Anshel Sag, a senior analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, speculated, “it seems like some of these decisions depend on a single person making up their mind about a project,” blindsiding everyone — including Stadia’s own employees — with snap judgments.
It doesn’t matter what the circumstance, it almost guarantees that console game developers won’t trust Google again. MobileDevelopers will happily continue to put the best mobile gamesOn the Play Store. If they are invited to join Google’s other, upcoming gaming project in beta, Google Play Games for PCIt would be unfair to question Google’s support for the project.
“There are so many projects that the company has shuttered that ultimately make it difficult for anyone to partner with the company in any new projects, and I believe that it’s hurting the Google brand long term,” Sag argues. Google can kill and regurgitate its own projects, but it’s not okay to be a flak when it impacts other companies’ bottom lines.
Google’s top executives may not care as they’re engaged in an internal project cutting spree. In the past few weeks, Google has been awash in Google Its Pixelbook 2 Chromebook was canceledAnd Seven projects were shut down at its in-house R&D unit Area 120, which had a reputation for incubating fun ideas that weren’t always profit-focused. Google will instead be focusing on a “Simplicity Sprint,” encouraging employees to focus 20% more efficiently on existing tasks while simultaneously freezing new hires.
This trend is not popular with Google employees. One employee asked Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, why Google execs were “nickel and diming employees” while “Google has record profits & huge cash reserves,” according a recording. CNBC(opens in a new tab. Pichai replied that employees shouldn’t always associate fun with money and blamed the economic downturn. He also ignored questions about pay cuts for executives.
Last February, I wrote about Google killing Stadia Games & EntertainmentIt perfectly demonstrated “Google’s commitment problems” Google needed to be aware that game development takes years. However, its executives closed it down after only 17 months. This was because their huge investments in third-party exclusives such as Cyberpunk 2077 or Red Dead Redemption 2 did not immediately yield huge profits.
Stadia was able to endure despite the lack of exclusives thanks to a loyal userbase that believed it performed better than cloud gaming services like Game Pass Ultimate or Luna. GeForce Now. It was technically capable of succeeding with better marketing and leadership, but it failed to capitalize on a huge, demoralizing opportunity.
What else will Google stop committing to as it reduces experimentation in favor for sure investments? Google will decommit to other commitments? New AR glasses powered by cloudGet software support from companies who saw Google Daydream and Stadia end abruptly? If you are a new customer, Pixel TabletAnd Pixel NotepadIf you don’t sell them in large numbers, will Google abandon your products like it did with its Nexus tablets and Slate tablets?
Even if Google remains firm on its future projects Sag believes that Google isn’t “in the very best place with consumers confidence across all its products” and that its “struggles for consistency.” [will]It will only make things worse for them. Even if Google employees believe in a struggling company, an impatient executive could be watching and poised to strike. Google’s tech-savvy users know this better than any average consumer.
Believe it, but this Editor’s Desk slot originally was taken by a post listing all our staff’s hopes and fears for the upcoming Google Pixel Event which will take place on October 6. Pixel 7And Pixel Watch. Staff are particularly excited about the watch, which was delayed for half a century before finally reaching the stage.
Google still intrigues me. I will post my list closer to the event. However, as a Stadia founder, I cannot deny the fact that this news has dampened our excitement. I’m curious to see if the next Pixel Watch will not have the same freedom.
