Google wants you to know Stadia is still "alive and well"
"I'd tell any non-believers to take notice of how we're continuing to put our words into action."
Despite a recent flurry of exits and changes at the top, Google is keen for us to know that Stadia is "alive and well" and "focused on delivering value for [its] partners and on behalf of [its] players".
"We're well on our way to over 100 new games launching on Stadia in 2021, and we're continuing to make Stadia a great place to play games on devices you already own," Stadia developer marketing lead, Nate Ahearn, told our sister site GamesIndustry.biz.
"I'd tell any non-believers to take notice of how we're continuing to put our words into action, as we grow the Stadia Makers program and partner with AAA studios like Capcom, EA, Square Enix, Ubisoft, and others."
These partnerships, of course, became increasingly more important when, just 14 months after Stadia's high-profile launch, Google revised its streaming service strategy and confirmed it was closing down all internal game development and begin providing its tech to third-party publishers. Consequently, Jade Raymond left to form Haven Studios and took several former senior Stadia developers with her.
"We're not shifting pressure onto the independent studios we work with in Stadia Makers," Adhearn added, emphasising the company was not pressuring its indie partners. "The whole point of the program is to support their addition of Stadia as a launch platform for their game, not add any pressure or make anything harder for them."
Stadia, of course, got off to a rocky start when it launched in November 2019, amid scepticism of its subscription-based business model, missing features, and accusations of broken early promises. And while the arrival of its basic free tier last April seemed like it might improve the streaming service's fortunes, it soon faced stiff competition from Microsoft and Amazon.
"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," Stadia general manager Phil Harrison said at the time Stadia Games & Entertainment was shuttered.
