[Update: Google response] Stadia reportedly canceled projects including Savage Planet 2, Kojima exclusive

Ben Schoon | Feb 28 2021 - 9:23 am PT

After publicly announcing the closure of Stadia Games & Entertainment, continued reports have revealed further details about what the studio was working out. Apparently, now-canceled first-party projects from Stadia included a multiplayer action game known as “Frontier,” a sequel to Journey to the Savage Planet 2, and an exclusive game from the legendary Kojima.

Update 2/28: A Google representative speaking to GamesRadar says that the VGC report was “inaccurate and reported hearsay as fact,” adding that the report’s assertions regarding Kojima and Yu Suzuki “projects” were not true, saying that Google does not “have anything, nor have announced anything, with Kojima or Yu Sazuki.” Notably, the report never claimed that Google had announced anything, but had turned down the project when it was being pitched.

A report from VideoGamesChronicle claims to reveal a few of the major projects that Stadia Games & Entertainment, SG&E, had in the works.

First and foremost, Google’s game studios apparently had a major action multiplayer game in the works under the codename “Frontier.” The team developing that game was reportedly led by Francois Pelland, the former producers of Splinter Cell and Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate. Not much about the game is known, but the team working on it only found out about the cancellation in February, likely on the day it went public.

Beyond that, Google’s purchase of Typhoon Studios was set to result in a sequel to the hit Journey to the Savage Planet, which just made its Stadia debut this month. Apparently, the game was “far grander” in scale with fully animated cut-scenes. Again, the team here only found out about the project’s cancellation alongside the public announcement.

Stadia Games & Entertainment was also working with some third-party studios to develop exclusive games for the Stadia platform. It’s been publicly known for some time that Harmonix was working with SG&E on an exclusive, and apparently the music game was “virtually complete.” In response to the VGC report, Harmonix CEO claimed the game has not been canceled as well as denying rumors that the game was facing music licensing issues. The title will apparently still be released, even if it ends up on a different platform with Steve Janiak saying:

While Google has shifted its strategy, we remain incredibly excited about what we’ve been working on for Stadia and if the project isn’t released for Stadia we will take it to other platforms

Finally, the report also mentions that Google was working with Kojima Productions, the studio behind Death Stranding, Silent Hills, and Metal Gear Solid, on an episodic horror game. Apparently, the studio was looking to innovate in the cloud gaming space, but Stadia VP Phil Harrison blocked the project from coming to light. Notably, Hideo Kojima said last summer that he was “pretty pissed” over a major project’s cancellation, but it’s unclear if that’s the same project that Harrison blocked.

It’s pretty obvious that Google had quite a lot of major projects going on with SG&E, only adding to the confusion that the company decided to pull the plug before any of these projects could come anywhere close to completion. If only things had panned out differently.