Lies, Broken Promises and The Death of Google Stadia

[00:07] in four decades gaming has evolved from a niche hobby to a multi-billion dollar industry Sony and Microsoft gained ground 20 plus years ago cementing themselves as integral parts of the business recent years have seen other

[00:21] non-gaming Enterprises enter the race too hoping to cut themselves a slice of the very lucrative pie but unfamiliarity with game development's Myriad idiosyncrasies placed the likes of Amazon in a difficult position thus

[00:34] resulting in canceled projects and layoffs when Google threw its head into the ring with stadia the expectation was that the conglomerate had learned from its competitors mistakes however Google's penchant for abandoning risky

[00:47] would constitute a yet another short-lived experiment the company right stadia launched as a cloud-based gaming

[00:59] solution designed to lower the barrier of Entry to AAA experiences on top of investing on a technological level Google also positioned game creation at the Forefront of its Vision Ambitions of producing multi-million dollar IP

[01:12] informed its lofty goals engendering the establishment of the stadia games and first party Studios unfortunately pre and post-launch missteps later revealed that Google put the cart before the horse building

[01:26] advanced technology before partnering with developers who knew how best to leverage it and when a team of Industry veterans did finally come on board senior leadership expected near immediate results without the necessary

[01:38] resources in play as a result stadia's quick demise is far from the only victim of Google's mismanagement of Google's mismanagement this is the tragedy of Google stadia

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[02:43] only a handful of people led the charge on steering Google towards video games an initiative that began in Earnest after Chromecast July 2013 launch Ed picar VP of engineering for stadia disclosed in an IGN sit-down at the

[02:57] beginnings of such interests stemmed from discussions about running games on Chromecast bakar and his colleagues felt the obvious answer rested in exploring the capabilities of cloud gaming the goal for Google Stadium its earliest

[03:11] phase is centered on creating a platform for AAA developers to easily ingratiate themselves in one capable of rendering more immersive and realistic worlds according to bakar roughly 18 months of time an effort produced a prototype

[03:24] whose functionality connected standard Broadband to Google data centers continued iteration eventually yielded a demo that reliably ran Doom 2016 an internal showing of the demo at a Google engineer's home helped sell the

[03:38] potential of game streaming to higher-ups the subsequent backing of cloud-based gaming crew to scale up though Rumblings about their objective though Rumblings about their objective wouldn't hit the airwaves until 2018

[03:56] the nickname the Netflix of gaming is that really the right analogy we see it as the new generation of game platforms that combine the world of watching games former PlayStation and Xbox executive Phil Harrison joined

[04:10] Google in January 2018 assuming the role of vice president and general manager specifics regarding Harrison's duties were kept Under Wraps at the time yet the public later learned that Google hired him to Captain its new gaming

[04:23] vertical chatter about the conglomerate dipping its toes into the games industry initially surfaced days after Harrison's appointment courtesy of a report via the information the publication claimed Google had spent two years designing

[04:36] gaming hardware and a streaming service codenamed yeti with an earlier version of the technology built to function alongside Chromecast reporting from kataku offered more insight several months thereafter when

[04:48] the outlet cited five sources who allege that Google's gaming initiative involved a three-pronged approach apparently the strategy emphasized a streaming platform new hardware and an intent to acquire and recruit Talent from across the

[05:01] development Partners began with 2018 trade shows specifically that Year's GDC and E3 events at which Google officials courted multiple publishers sources familiar with Google's operations likened project Yeti to

[05:16] Nvidia GeForce now wherein the technology offloaded A Game's processing power to Data Centers thus permitting even the most basic PCS to seamlessly run major AAA titles however not everyone felt confident in Google's

[05:30] developers who spoke with Kotaku anonymously expressed concerns over many consumers lacking access to high-speed internet others tempered their expectations based on the company's less than Stellar track record of investing

[05:43] in fresh ideas Google accepted the challenge all the same unveiling project stream in October 2018 as a technical test to solve some of the biggest challenges of streaming a partnership with Ubisoft positioned

[05:56] Assassin's Creed Odyssey as the demanding application that would assist in achieving these ambitious ends starting on October 5th a select number of participants were given the opportunity to explore odyssey's ancient

[06:08] Greece setting from a Chrome browser so long as their internet met connection requirements of 25 megabits per second barring a few hiccups the general consensus from early Impressions suggested project stream offered a

[06:21] relatively solid experience people were dazzled by the service acknowledging the need for improvement on some fronts but believing Google had set the stage for a game changer while the streaming platform's full reveal generated plenty

[06:33] of excitement its eventual rollout left much to be desired

[06:51] [Music] notable Assassin's Creed producer Jade Raymond departed Ubisoft in 2014 later founding EA's motive studio in Montreal

[07:03] after leaving motive in late 2018 the producer became vice president of a then unknown Google Endeavor within a week of this news going public Raymond's role media streaming gained clarification during a GDC 2019 keynote Raymond joined

[07:20] to head up stadia games and entertainment the company's first party Studios division designed to craft exclusives for stadia eliminated the need for a next-gen console or high-end gaming PC instead

[07:34] letting users navigate interactive Adventures via internet connection on a additionally promised seamless connectivity between devices exhibited with a GDC demo in which someone playing on a Chromebook switched to their phone

[07:48] and later a PC picking up where they'd left off in game during each instance worldwide data centers powered the service in 200 plus territories streaming data through millions of miles of fiber optic cable onlookers were

[08:02] especially intrigued by stadia's supposed output capabilities Google vp's Majed bakar and Phil Harrison swore the architecture could support games in up to 4K HDR at 60 frames per second the

[08:15] car added that future targets for the technology included 120 frames per second and 8K resolution a dedicated controller represented the platform's sole Hardware component state-of-the-art streaming technology

[08:28] without the backing of quality content however hence the significance of stadia however hence the significance of stadia games and entertainment during stadia's GDC reveal Phil Harrison insisted Google with Supply developers

[08:44] with full access to its data centers the results of such assurances later proved underwhelming only 12 launch titles were announced the week ahead of stadia's November 2019 release the Tomb Raider reboot Trilogy constituted three of The

[08:58] Twelve AC Odyssey Mortal Kombat 11 and Red Dead Redemption 2 helped fill out it didn't Escape public notice that all of stadia's day one experiences were

[09:10] older third-party titles that many had already enjoyed elsewhere yet the entertainment beefing up the content offerings with exclusives held a lot of sway especially on the heels of division head Jade Raymond unveiling Google's

[09:23] first game Studio oddly enough when stadia's launched a finally came the dearth of new content counted among the least of an early adopter's worries stadia dedicated Reddit threads previously filled with

[09:35] enthusiasm turned into sounding boards for disgruntled customers overnight many who'd pre-ordered the hardware and access codes with the founders Edition didn't receive their goods on day one meanwhile release day buyers obtain

[09:49] their account information on time such circumstances proved particularly problematic because Google awarded unique display names on a first come first serve basis meaning numerous would-be owners of the founders Edition

[10:01] would-be owners of the founders Edition weren't prioritized as promised early adopters further faced issues related to poor visual quality and latency troubles that made the likes of Mortal Kombat 11 unplayable the absence of wireless

[10:13] controller support and achievements exacerbated the problem in the eyes of day one customers as the weeks wore on the broken promises sparked questions of whether stadia's turbulent arrival had put a blight on

[10:25] its chances at success the realization that Destiny 2 and Red Dead 2 failed to Inspire much confidence in the platform's long-term health either but the streaming service enjoyed its fair share of wins the first of such

[10:40] victories manifested in Google's typhoon Studios acquisition in December 2019 a developer released its debut project Journey to the Savage Planet the Studio founded by Ubisoft and WB Games veterans Alex Hutchinson and Reed Schneider most

[10:56] impressed Google's growing gaming division because of its AAA team and ability to build a high quality game in under three years according to Jade Raymond typhoon merely marked the start of Google's acquisition plans

[11:08] in March 2020 stadia games and entertainment added another firm to its up in Playa Vista California with former God of War Studio head Shannon stud

[11:20] still involved as Studio director that same month also saw the division join forces with gears tactics co-developer Splash damage on an unspecified stadia exclusive and stadia updates throughout 2020 ensured an even greater number of

[11:33] experience the fruits of Google's Investments for example non-google smartphones received stadia support in early 2020 stadia playability made its way to iPhone and iPad several months

[11:47] thereafter yet a long predicted blow to the games and entertainment vertical effectively negated every step taken towards securing the platform's towards securing the platform's viability

[12:05] you're so excited about this project and what it represents right like the future excited to sort of hear from you on January 27 2021 Google VP Phil Harrison contacted staff via email praising games and entertainment's great progress

[12:21] Harrison's message further touted stadia as the best game streaming technology on the market and promise that details regarding the 2021 budget would soon be shared this so-called rallying cry quickly revealed itself as the Calm

[12:36] before the storm and arguably misleading show of Hope where none existed just five days after issuing the email Harrison hosted a virtual meeting with in-house stadia developers in which he informed them of the game's division's

[12:49] closure sources who spoke to wired said many were puzzled given the messaging deliberate a few days prior Kotaku heard from sources claiming Harrison openly regretted the misleading email in a follow-up q a session when pressed about

[13:03] what had changed between January 27th and the closure announcement the VP allegedly admitted higher-ups knew the end was nigh naturally this answer did hundreds of workers who'd uprooted their lives for stadia hoping for stability

[13:18] the game's industry seldom offered only to get laid off a year or two later without sufficient explanation Harrison's statement on the Google Blog noted that because AAA development's high costs continue to grow

[13:30] exponentially the company thought it best to refocus by expanding on The Proven technology of stadia achieving such as necessitated a long-term believed infeasible if its efforts remain split between game production and

[13:45] Technology something had to give stadia games and entertainment got the ax as a consequence every work in progress stadia exclusive immediately fell to The Cutting Room floor a few people familiar with the situation

[13:59] insisted the studio closures and subpar communication exemplified how poorly communication exemplified how poorly Google managed its gaming sector

[14:17] thank you all for joining us I suppose I should start out with a confession I'm actually not a big gamer though I do play FIFA 19 quite a bit and really enjoy how immersive it is

[14:31] upon taking the stage at stadia's GDC 2019 unveiling Google CEO Sundar pichai joked of how little he knew about games a confession that later provided the perfect segue to his introducing industry veteran Phil Harrison the

[14:46] latter boasted of the 100 plus teams who'd received stadia access then promoted stadia games and entertainment as the new division that would craft groundbreaking exclusives but according to former employees interviewed by wired

[14:58] Google didn't hire Lion's Share of the developers needed for its initiative until after GDC developers recruited during what was essentially the 11th Hour had no choice but to work with technology years in the

[15:10] making this order of events created discordance between Google engineers and discovered where the corporation's priorities lay that Google operated as a tech company first and foremost hardly helped and even with the appointments of

[15:26] Harrison and Raymond the newly minted team seemed unequipped to Foster content creation roles in-house because similar postings didn't previously exist adjusting to the unique demands of game development proved yet another challenge

[15:39] for one Google's arduous hiring process made it difficult for lead developers to recruit staff in a timely fashion company policies were often at odds with the standards of game production too such that security concerns reportedly

[15:52] forced Google to withhold permission for the use of certain software barriers of this nature further complicated and already complex ordeal and when the necessary resources finally fell into place covid-19 stifled any

[16:05] chance at forward momentum Google froze hiring attempts mere weeks after the Playa Vista Studio opened its doors in Spring 2020 because of the pandemic an internal Memo from pachai reasoned that slowing recruitment would benefit the

[16:19] strategic areas stadia wasn't part of the club wake of the games and entertainment closure Chief among them being Jade Raymond who left to establish the now Sony owned Haven Studios at least six

[16:36] later still stadia trucked on throughout 2021 with news that Xbox players could stream stadia games through the Microsoft edge browser serving as its most noteworthy high point for the Year by the following

[16:50] year even small victories were in short supply

[17:04] services rebranding from stadia to Google stream A desperate strategy Google licensing the technology to parties such as Capcom and Bungie in August Nerf reports Bryant Chappelle provided evidence that Google had begun

[17:20] testing cloud gaming integration across its search engine and Amazon Luna any last ditch effort to save the struggling service soon proved for not since Google announced in September 2022 that all stadia services would cease on January

[17:35] 18 2023 in the end the Skeptics were right stadia amounted to little more than another of Google's speedily forsaken interests sure revolutionary technology was squandered under the weight of

[17:48] mismanagement and genuinely compelling experiences could have spawned from the first parties but as is often the case in the games industry hundreds of designers artists programmers and producers suffered the most and because

[18:01] of leadership's incompetence they have nothing of consequence to show for it

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