A week after praising its game development studios, American multinational technology company Google made a surprising announcement on Wednesday (local time) that it would be shutting down its in-house Stadia game studios.
According to The Verge, the news was a bolt from the blue for Stadia customers and the Stadia development team, which, just a week prior, had been told that the studios were making "great progress."
Phil Harrison, a vice president at Google and general manager for Stadia, on January 27 in an email to staff obtained by Kotaku, said, "Stadia Games and Entertainment has made great progress building a diverse and talented team and establishing a strong lineup of Stadia exclusive games."
The email guaranteed more news on the Stadia studios' system and objectives for 2021. But, rather than new improvement goals, Harrison declared just days after the fact on February 1 that the studios would close down completely.
As per the reports, Google's $1.4 trillion market cap, makes it difficult to envision the fact that the company has decided to close down its development studios completely, particularly when they were given so brief period to substantiate themselves.
In a conference with staff, Harrison allegedly conceded that Google's executives definitely realized the closure was coming when he sent the email commending the group's advancement. Kotaku additionally reported that Harrison differently cited Microsoft's obtaining of Bethesda and the continuing difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic as factors in the shutdown.
The Verge reported that by shutting down its studios before shipping any major first-party exclusives for Stadia, Google has shown not only its staff but also the world that it isn't as serious about its gaming initiatives as it once appeared.
( With inputs from ANI )
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