Last week's news about Google killing off its cloud gaming service Stadia might come as a shock to some people, but none could be more surprised than game developers themselves. This is especially true considering that just months ago, Google denied rumors about it looking to shut down Stadia. Now that the news is official for Google to terminate Stadia on January 18, 2023, some developers were scratching their heads and wondering why they just heard the news at the same time as the public did.
On Twitter, many developers were voicing their frustration right after learning about Google's abrupt decision last week. Indie developer Tom Vian from London-based studio SFB Games tweeted, "Tangle Tower was due to launch on Stadia in 2 days, and this article was the first I heard about it shutting down," while linking to the news published by The Verge.
Others, like Mike Rose from No More Robots and Rebecca Heineman from Olde Skuul, replied to the tweet with the same level of distress, having planned to release their games on Stadia in November. In a separate tweet, Mike also showed his disappointment for not getting any notice earlier: "Hours later and I still have no email from Stadia, and no clarity on what's happening with our games, deals, anything. Really would have been nice if they'd told partners, or even got in contact with us by now."
While most of the commotion on Twitter came from indie developers, some major established studios were also caught off-guard. Sony-owned Bungie, the studio responsible for the Destiny franchise, also stated on the help section of its official community forum that it didn't get any heads-up from Google regarding Stadia's shutdown. The statement was a response to a user asking about the possibility of transferring their Destiny 2 progress from Stadia to other platforms.
For most developers who had already signed on to publish their titles on Stadia, the frustration certainly rings true considering that they have invested time and resources into getting their games available for the cloud gaming service. On top of that, Stadia's shutdown also means that developers are losing one potential source of revenue, which one developer admitted was very viable when compared to other streaming services. The stakes are even higher for studios that publish their titles exclusively on Stadia, such as Tequila Works, which has since announced that its horror adventure game GYLT is coming to other platforms.
Stadia's demise is clearly not a good sign for the future of the cloud gaming landscape. However, it could also mean that Google is the one that doesn't get cloud gaming quite right, as rival services like Xbox Cloud Gaming seem to continue gaining traction. Not only that, lately the demand for cloud gaming also appears to be moving upwards bearing in mind that Logitech and Razer are both making a cloud-enabled handheld gaming device.