The company plans to focus more on its streaming services instead of in-house game development, hence shutting down the development studios. Google wants Stadia to be exclusively for online streaming of games from the existing developers rather than developing new games independently. Google Stadia’s in-house game development studios located in Montreal and Los Angeles will be closed permanently as well.
Google launched its Stadia services along with an internal game development division back in 2019, which aimed to provide titles for the platforms. According to the company’s statement on Monday, the decision to shut down the studio services was made due to the extremely high costs required for the development of games that catch users' attention.
When the people were forced to shelter at their homes due to the Covid-19 restrictions in 2020, Stadia gifted its users a giant offer of free access to its premium version for two months. After this incredible offer, Stadia experienced a tremendous surge in the number of new users.
Moreover, the head of Google’s Stadia Games and Entertainment, Jade Raymond, will soon leave the company in order to search for other opportunities.
