Google Has "Deprioritized" Stadia According To New Report
Google Stadia has failed to be the big break into gaming that the tech giant was hoping for. Xbox Game Pass just continues to grow stronger, making it near impossible for even established gaming companies to compete, let alone a newcomer. Now, if a new report is to be believed, Google is planning to throw in the towel altogether.
Business Insider reports that Google is "deprioritizing" its video game output on Google Stadia, and is looking to salvage the technology for other purposes. Inside sources say that there is a "reduced interest" in securing big titles for the service, with the company aiming to take a backseat and assist other gaming companies with their own streaming technologies.
Related: Sony Buying Bungie Is Bad Too
Should Google go ahead with reduced negotiations for third party titles on Stadia, it would essentially be the end of the service altogether. The company has already closed its first-party studios, meaning it scrapped the prospect of pulling in players with the promise of exclusive games.
It's likely that Microsoft's recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard has contributed to this. A former Google employee told Business Insider that its purchase of Bethesda back in 2020 "scared the crap out of Google executives" - and that was on a much smaller scale. Since then, maintaining subscribers has been a struggle. By the end of 2020, Stadia was said to be missing its subscription targets by 25 percent.
The report does set out what Google is planning to do with this tech going forward. The company is said to be in negotiations with both Capcom and Bungie to assist them with their own game streaming, although it's unknown how the latter will be affected by Sony's acquisition. This would be a similar
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