AT&T has shut down its first Google Immersive Stream project with Batman: Arkham Knight

Ben Schoon | Jun 27 2022 - 12:52 pm PT

Google’s attention to cloud gaming has, in large part, started to focus on white-label streaming through partners. AT&T was the first company to sign up for what would become Google Immersive Stream for Games, but that first offer, a free stream of Batman: Arkham Knight, has since shut down.

Batman: Arkham Knight was the first look at Immersive Stream

Last October, AT&T announced that its customers would get free access to 2015’s Batman: Arkham Knight, with no downloads or anything needed. Just input your number and start playing on any computer.

We were quick to recognize the demo’s similarities to Google Stadia, and it was confirmed not long after that, indeed, the demo was using the same technology as Stadia. At the time, that was something that had never been done and that Google hadn’t really talked about. It wasn’t until March of 2022 that Google announced that this is called “Immersive Stream for Games,” which is something Google offers to other brands to provide cloud gaming experiences using the same core technologies that Stadia does.

But seemingly sometime in the past week or so, AT&T has shut down its Batman demo built on Immersive Stream. The takedown was spotted by @Studio35Gaming1, but it’s not clear exactly when the title was removed – or why.

Update 6/29: AT&T has provided 9to5Google with more details regarding this shutdown.

Firstly, the game was removed on June 15, 2022, and there was a banner on the page before access was removed.

It’s also noted that, when Control launched in late May, Batman also became available to play on mobile devices and over 5G connections, which was not previously made clear.

Our original report also flagged a blog post which said that AT&T had “brought back” Arkham Knight, which we understand as AT&T having removed the stream before later bringing it back. AT&T informs us that is not the case.

Our original coverage follows.

It’s notable, though, that the game is simply no longer available in any capacity since it was never released on Stadia itself.

What’s next?

Of course, Google is far from done with Immersive Stream for Games following the closure of AT&T’s Batman freebie.

AT&T itself has since started offering Control to its customers, also expanding the option to mobile devices after previously limiting it to desktop machines.

Capcom also became the second customer for Immersive Stream, offering a free demo of Resident Evil Village. Google also clarified in May that Stadia is a product of Immersive Stream, rather than the other way around.

In February, a report claimed that Google had also been working on deals with Peleton and Bungie to use the tech for other experiences. Both of those deals have seemingly resulted in nothing, though, with Bungie, the developer of Destiny 2, having been purchased by Sony earlier this year.