Stadia

Stadia promises a ‘great future’ and more games, in response to recent report

Kyle Bradshaw | Feb 4 2022 - 5:40 pm PT

Two Stadia Controllers at the Google Store in Chelsea

Following a recent report of Google’s shift in focus away from the “consumer” side of Stadia, Google has promised gamers that a “great future” is still ahead for the streaming service.

This morning, a report from Business Insider stated that Google has shifted its focus and efforts away from Stadia, Google’s own game streaming platform, and put them primarily into “Google Stream,” its effort to license the streaming technology behind Stadia to other companies. According to the report, only 20% of Google’s cloud gaming efforts are being expended on Stadia’s consumer side.

Unsurprisingly, the report was detrimental to the Stadia community, with “Stadia” even trending on Twitter throughout the day. Some are seeing it as yet another sign that Stadia’s best days are behind it, with the platform’s future lineup of AAA games looking uncertain.

Without refuting any of the claims, the Stadia team shared a brief statement on Twitter, in hopes of lifting spirits and giving Stadia fans insight into the road ahead.

https://twitter.com/GoogleStadia/status/1489758125192216579

As in years past, one of the promises made is that Stadia should see at least 100 games released in 2022, meaning the pace of releases this year should be essentially the same as last year. Additionally, Stadia is set to gain some “more feature goodness” later this year, though Google was not yet ready to announce any such features.

Around this same time last year, Google officially showcased a handful of new features that would be arriving on Stadia throughout 2021. It’s possible a similar official teaser may be happening in the coming weeks.

If you hear one thing, hear this: The Stadia team is working really hard on a great future for Stadia and cloud gaming.
We hope you agree, and we know the proof is in the playing.
We’re particularly proud to be offering 50 games to Pro members in February, with more than 100 titles to join Stadia in 2022 and plenty of Free Play Days for everyone to enjoy.
There’s also more feature goodness coming to Stadia too – stuff we can’t talk about just yet, but we promise to share when we can.
Have a great weekend, Stadians.

9to5Google’s Take

All of this entails what the Stadia team is calling a “great future” for the service and cloud gaming in general. That said, some have pointed out that the Stadia Games & Entertainment division was told they were making “great progress” just days before being shut down last year.

With that in mind, I’d personally advise cautious optimism for these forthcoming announcements from Stadia. As always, our APK Insight team will continue keeping an eye out for spoilers of what features may be coming next to Stadia.