At the beginning of 2019, Google dazzled by the announcement of Stadiaa platform for playing video games in the cloud that initially seemed like a revolution in the world of entertainment and threatened to break the traditional paradigms of the electronic entertainment industry.
After just over three years on the market, the web search giant announced the closure of the service, scheduled for the next January 18, 2023showing that it had not met the commercial expectations originally outlined.
The robust technological infrastructure that houses the servers of Google around the planet, it served as a spearhead to deliver a real-time playback experience with a minimal latency Y spectacular resultsHowever, the failure of Stadia is more linked to the planning and execution of strategies.
Since their introduction, they started off on the wrong foot, since the control of Stadia was displayed alongside products that performed poorly like the console Sega Dreamcastthe peripheral Power Glove and the title ET the Extra-Terrestrial for Atari. Although the contrast campaign tried to sell an evolution, the comparison was not made with respect to the market leaders.
The commercial model caused confusion, since the payment of a monthly membership included a limited number of video games and the flagship products or AAA they had to be purchased separately, in addition to the fact that it was necessary to cover the fee periodically in order to enjoy a resolution in 4K Y HDR.
The message that Google sought to convey was not clearly understood, since Xbox GamePass and the renewed playstation plushave positioned themselves as services that offer a catalog by subscription and games outside of this modality have to be purchased separately, that is, both transactions are not mixed.
Another mistake that marked the course of Stadiawas that in its first months of life, in order to use it it was necessary to do it from products or software belonging to Google such as Chrome, chrome cast and phones google-pixelpreventing a potential market segment from trying it.
Regarding exclusive productions, Stadia had gilt, Hello Engineer, Outcasters, Pac-Man: Mega Tunnel Battle Y Pixel Junk Raidersbut there were no future projects first party of greater scope, but quite the opposite, gradually the service was turned off and only received titles from external developers.
During the transition process until its closure, Google has begun to provide refunds to its subscribers, while companies such as Bungie, I.O.Interactive Y Ubisoft have announced that they will offer plans to migrate to the desktop version, user progress and purchases.
In the inkwell and without a defined course, some unknowns persist, such as whether the titles Stadia exclusives they will also die or be sheltered in another service; know if he control will be unlocked for use via Bluetooth with alternate peripherals; or if the developers who had signed exclusivity agreements will receive any compensation.
Although the decline and death of Google Stadia can be considered as a failure in the history of gaming modern, it has also served to demonstrate that cloud gaming is viable with an adequate technological infrastructure and other participants such as Microsoft with Xbox CloudGamingwill continue to invest heavily in being able to deliver entertainment experiences from any device.
Twitter | Instagram | Twitter: @iamjosecelorio