Today, Google officially announced an end to its Stadia streaming service. While the writing was on the wall for quite some time, there were still multiple games in development for the platform, including Tangle Tower. The game was set to release on the service in just two days and Tom Vian of SFB Games didn’t find out until the news broke online. Vian shared his disappointment about the news on Twitter, where he called it “pretty upsetting.” Old Skuul CEO Rebecca Heineman replied to Vian’s Tweet, revealing that she was also unaware, and her studio had a game set to release on Stadia on November 1st.
The Tweets from Vian and Heineman can be found embedded below.
We have a title coming out November 1st. Now we hear about this.
— Rebecca Heineman (@burgerbecky) September 29, 2022
Google has pledged to reimburse Stadia users for their purchases, but it’s unclear if any developers will receive a similar treatment. Mike Rose of No More Robots also had a game set to release in November, and has stated on Twitter that the studio has been given “no clarity on what’s happening with our games, deals, anything.” Rose also went on to say that this is why so many developers avoided releasing games on Stadia in the first place. As of this writing, it’s unclear just how many games were still in development for the platform, but it seems likely that all of the developers were kept in the dark about Google’s plans to shutter the service.
Video game development is a costly process, and now studios like SFB Games, Old Skuul, and No More Robots have to worry even more about recouping development costs. While the monetary investment is certainly frustrating, many of these teams were hoping that Stadia could help their games reach new audiences. The time spent developing for Stadia could have been dedicated to other platforms instead. The whole thing is a disappointing situation for everyone involved; hopefully Google will honor its deals and make sure these studios aren’t left holding the bag.
Are you disappointed that Google Stadia is coming to an end? Do you think developers should have been informed ahead of time? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!
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