Stadia

Is Stadia dead? Not quite

Kyle Bradshaw | Feb 3 2021 - 1:00 pm PT

This week, Stadia became the center of attention in the worst possible way, with Google shutting down first-party game development after less than two years. This has led many to wonder whether or not Google Stadia is “dead.” The short answer is no, Stadia isn’t dead, at least not yet.

Stadia Games and Entertainment is dead, sadly

In a formal announcement, Stadia’s Phil Harrison shared that Google was winding down their Stadia Games and Entertainment division and discontinuing their development of first-party, Google-made video games.

Some see Google stepping away from making their own games for Stadia as a sign that the gaming service doesn’t have much longer to live. If Google isn’t going to make games for their platform, why should anyone else?

Following that thought, the announcement was a realization of their initial concerns about trusting Google to create a gaming platform, pointing to Google’s storied history of “killing” beloved products. To put it simply, people see the shutdown of Stadia Games and Entertainment as the beginning of the death of Stadia.

Without a doubt, the death of Stadia Games and Entertainment is a major blow to Stadia’s reputation, and one that Google will have to fight tooth and nail to come back from. However, Stadia as we know it is definitely not dead. Throughout the announcement, Google made it clear that Stadia is not dead and will be bringing in a wealth of games from third-party companies.

What does this mean if you’re a current or future Stadia gamer? You can continue playing all your games on Stadia and Stadia Pro, and we’ll continue to bring new titles from third parties to the platform.

Stadia, the console, is alive and well

In November, Google’s Jack Buser shared that Stadia’s roadmap for 2021 and beyond included a whopping 400 games set to launch on Stadia. At most, Stadia Games and Entertainment’s first-party, Google-made games accounted for a small handful of that total. With that in mind, the next year or more of Stadia releases will not look any different than it would have if Stadia Games and Entertainment hadn’t been dissolved.

Of course, it remains to be seen how other developers and publishers treat Stadia between the success of Cyberpunk 2077 and the lack of first-party games from Google. In the meantime, however, nothing is changing for the average Stadia player. New games are still coming, the friends you made are still here, new features are still being developed, and the games you bought are still ready to play. Stadia isn’t dead, at least not today.