Stadia shuts down internal studios as Jade Raymond departs

Google has decided to shut down its internal game development studios for Stadia. Making a statement on the subject, the company said that best-in-class game development costs a great deal both in terms of money and time. However, the platform will continue to bring new titles from third parties to the platform. 

Google launched the game platform Stadia in late 2019 at GDC 2019. The platform enabled the world’s most popular games to be accessed over the internet, and players could access Stadia either from their computers or mobile devices or from their smart TVs. Although the game streaming service has been around for a while, the company has made a radical decision regarding this service.

“Creating best-in-class games from the ground up takes many years and significant investment, and the cost is going up exponentially. Given our focus on building on the proven technology of Stadia as well as deepening our business partnerships, we’ve decided that we will not be investing further in bringing exclusive content from our internal development team SG&E, beyond any near-term planned games.“ Phil Harrison, Vice President and GM at Google Stadia, said in a statement. 

In the statements made by Google, it was stated that it decided to close the studios that develop games for Stadia.Thus, it became clear that Stadia Games and Entertainment company, one of which is located in Montreal and the other in Los Angeles, will be closed. 

A source familiar with Stadia operations said that around 150 game developers will lose their jobs as a result of the decision. Google says it will try to find those developers new job roles at Google. 

Ubisoft veteran Jade Raymond is leaving the company to “pursue other opportunities”, Google says. “We greatly appreciate Jade’s contribution to Stadia and wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors.”

Is Stadia dead?

The short answer is: No. Here is Google’s statement:

“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. We’re committed to the future of cloud gaming, and will continue to do our part to drive this industry forward. Our goal remains focused on creating the best possible platform for gamers and technology for our partners, bringing these experiences to life for people everywhere.”