Thursday, September 29th 2022
Google Calls it Quits on Game Streaming, Shutting Down Stadia
Game streaming services, such as GeForce Now, Stadia and Amazon's Luna, haven't been the roaring success the companies behind them had hoped for. One of the pitfalls, that NVIDIA quickly found out, was that the game publishers weren't overly keen on gamers being able to play games they already owned on multiple systems, even if it wasn't on more than one system at once. Multiple services have already come and gone over the years and now it's time for Google to bid farewell to its Stadia service. In its blog post, Google didn't state the exact reasoning behind shutting down the service, beyond it not gaining the kind of traction the company had hoped for.
The good news here is that Google will be refunding all of its Stadia customers, regardless if it's someone that has bought hardware through the Google Store, or bought games or even add-on content for games through the Stadia Store. Google will be refunding all of its customers by the 18th of January 2023 and those using Stadia will continue to have access to all of their content until that date. Google expects its Stadia technology to be used for other services, or potentially be made available to third parties. As to the team behind Stadia, many will apparently carry on working for other departments at Google.
Source:
Google
The good news here is that Google will be refunding all of its Stadia customers, regardless if it's someone that has bought hardware through the Google Store, or bought games or even add-on content for games through the Stadia Store. Google will be refunding all of its customers by the 18th of January 2023 and those using Stadia will continue to have access to all of their content until that date. Google expects its Stadia technology to be used for other services, or potentially be made available to third parties. As to the team behind Stadia, many will apparently carry on working for other departments at Google.
179 Comments on Google Calls it Quits on Game Streaming, Shutting Down Stadia
But probably they announced the decision to him also the last minute (my guess)
So Microsoft 365 is simply another subscription plan for a different service. It's still Something as a Service, just not Gaming. So whether you use 90 MB or 990 MB you're still paying the same amount.
Again, Microsoft found that charging a monthly subscription for cloud storage was more profitable in the long run than selling the standalone Office suite on DVDs at your local Office Depot store. Luckily, they still offer the standalone product. I have MS Office Home & Student. I don't use it a lot so my documents fit on my free iCloud tier. I could also use my venerable Dropbox Basic account if I wanted.
I remember when you bought the game and that was that, you had it forever. Now? Not so much. And then with the rise of DRM, if they decide to take the DRM server offline your game goes with it.
I agree that DRM is distasteful. Remember that whole DIVX debacle? I hated it from the start and never bought into their stupid player or their stupid discs.
Somehow I think DRM for video games is going to stay though. Right now, you have the option of buying many titles DRM-free from GOG. They released Skyrim SE today.
And even if you owned the original CD of whatever game, do you have the hardware to run it? I see Twitch streamers play old console games on original hardware and a lot of those devices have clearly seen better days. Owning physical game media doesn't guarantee an enjoyable playing experience either.
A more realistic consumer gaming attitude would to not expect that anything you pay for will last forever. I wish it could but it probably won't.
I know from being on the Internet that a lot of people don't like having realistic attitudes which results in frequent disappointment. Nothing I can do about that.
By collectively complaining, maybe they can change video game companies' practices. But it won't happen overnight and probably not without protracted litigation.
I tried stadia and since I have a powerful PC I didn't felt it was that good. But it had its niche. People with many children were able to share games and play together using stadia without having to get multiple console or gaming PC. A simple Chromebook was enough. You could share your Pro games and purchased games with your family. That was a cheap alternative for a lot of people
At least they are refunding people but that is an option that is gone for a lot of people with less wealth
Also fortnite has had a good run, but until when will that last? There's surely space for multiple pc game stores and Epic is a good business but sooner than later that could change very very quickly.The only problem with GeForce Now is copyright cartels. Seriously, there's no reason they need to have a drip feed of available titles instead of everything*(small exceptions excluded) just working, you're just renting server space to run the games you "own". You can roll your own solution on different services (probably with less performance, higher lag and no game cache for quick installs) and no one would bat an eye, but because Nvidia is pretty big everyone wants a piece of the honeypot even when they're not entitled to it.
From the streaming solutions it's the only one I find remotely appealing, contrary to xcloud or playstation (whatever it's called now) for example you just play your library on rented hardware instead of depending on the available catalog from the service (and how long they retain the license).
No pubs/devs titles (that could be removed at ANY unannounced given day and/or time), no need for GFNow.
There are plusses and minuses to both ways.
The best and brightest employees usually see the writing on the wall a long time in advance. Those are usually the first to leave -- not the last -- and they have the best opportunities to find more rewarding challenges elsewhere.
My guess is that most employees of this group probably were just waiting for it to happen. It's about quarter's end and there may have been some sort of missed milestone that ended up being the final straw.
Hell, I worked at one company that said they were going to institute a Reduction In Force (RIF) and some people were gleefully waving, "Pick me! Pick me!" in the hope that they would get the termination package. The ones who are left behind are the ones who have to pull the oars harder unless the entire business unit is shut down.
Some people want to stay, others want to leave; RIFs never give everyone what they want.
Personally I prefer making the decision myself rather than letting someone else choose. Better to walk away on your own rather than being handed your hat and shown the door.
www.pcgamer.com/stadia-game-developers-had-no-idea-google-was-killing-stadia/
So it's not just Google employees who were kept in the dark. It was also Stadia partners. One developer even said that their game was due to launch in 2 days time on Stadia.
Google can offer new positions for displaced Stadia employees but they can't do anything for game developer employees who are part of teams assigned to a dead platform.
:(
Plus the image quality, the bandwidth is very low compared to native, games need to look simple as well.