Reports by Bloomberg and Wired detail just how unprepared Google was for the messy organic unpredictability of the games industry.
Both reports reveal a deluge of issues that lead to the demise of Stadia’s in house development studios, with developers constantly fighting for recourses and support within the entrenched structure of Google.
According to the reports, developers were left without much needed promised investment that was first suggested. Even the allure of the Google-sized paycheck and a crunch-free atmosphere struggled to fulfil Google’s five-year plan of a 2000 strong workforce.
The deep-rooted structure of Google’s infamously long hiring process didn’t accommodate game development skillsets at first, with development performance than benchmarked against UX and Visual designers, that didn’t account for game development staples like fun.
Once hired, developers were struggling to surmount Googles rigid structure, with sources detailing roadblocks on fundamentals in game making, withholding use of certain development software due to security issues.
Publishers saw no such trouble according to Bloomberg’s report, with Google shelling out tens of millions of dollars for games like Red Dead Redemption 2 to come to stadia. A figure that shocked game development veterans.
Jason Schreier, Bloomberg writer and author of the report went on Twitter, bemused at the absurdity.
Pay $20 million to Ubisoft to port Assassin's Creed and The Division
or
Pay $1 million to 20 small developers to each build something cool, betting that at least one of them will be a hit like Stardew Valley or Valheim
¯_(?)_/¯
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) February 26, 2021
Ultimately, both reports note Stadia’s dismal sales reports, with Wired’s report charitably saying that it didn’t meet internal expectations, while Bloomberg noting that the company overproduced so many Stadia controllers, that it ended up giving them away for free.
Both Wired and Bloomberg’s reports are well worth a read for yourself. For the time being, the platform will live on without any of Googles potentially promising titles.