Google has denied recent rumors that it will be shuttering its Stadia streaming service anytime soon. This comes after months of no updates from the company and the closure of its main development studios for original titles.
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Down, but Not Out
In a question on Twitter a few days ago, someone asked Google if it would be closing down its Stadia service soon. The company responded by saying, “Stadia is not shutting down. Rest assured we’re always working on bringing more great games to the platform and Stadia Pro.” One of the biggest contributors to this rumor was the “Killed by Google” Twitter account. While not official in any capacity, it posted some comments from a supposed regional Google manager that speculated the company was looking at a mid-September shutdown date for Stadia.
https://twitter.com/GoogleStadia/status/1552989433590214656
What’s the Truth?
What makes it hard to take Google’s word is a report from Kotaku last year about the layoffs suffered by Stadia Games and Entertainment. The week before Google closed its internal studio, it praised the developer for making “great progress” on its upcoming games. For some reason later that week, 150 people were laid off, including Assassin’s Creed and Ubisoft alum Jade Raymond. In the year and a half since there haven’t been any first-party games released on Google’s platform. For that matter, there haven’t been many updates in general to Stadia’s selection of games.
Whether or not you believe gaming is ready for streaming services, Google hasn’t inspired much faith in the general public with Stadia. It is likely inevitable that the service will be closed down, but we won’t know when until Google says so.
