5 ms·

At least they are winding things down faster. Google announced the studio in mid 2019 and shutting it down in early 2021. Microsoft decided retail stores were a

At least they are winding things down faster. Google announced the studio in mid 2019 and shutting it down in early 2021. Microsoft decided retail stores were a good idea in 2011, and only closed them off last year. My bet is that Google is learning this mistake faster, no doubt with MSFT as an example.

partiallypro 6y ago
Yeah, but Microsoft also shutdown retail stores in part because of the global pandemic, a few other companies followed.
- SkyPuncher 6y ago
  And, those retail stores gave people an opportunity to play with and become comfortable with their surface form factor.
  - enos_feedler 6y ago
    Expensive way to achieve that goal, IMO.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
  - partiallypro 6y ago
    I was sad to see them go because it was a quick way to get a Surface replacement, but you can demo Surface at Best Buy. Most of their stores have Microsoft kiosks that accomplish near the same thing in terms of demoing and it costs Microsoft virtually nothing.
alasano 6y ago
Perhaps we will reach some sort of google launch singularity where projects are launched and abandoned instantly.
- hcurtiss 6y ago
  Imagine the money they'd save!
redisman 6y ago
Making a new game takes at a minimum a year for a simple game, more likely 2-4 years. So no, that is terrible planning on their part once again.
- enos_feedler 6y ago
  Obviously the planning was bad. This is about what you do when you’ve made bad plans. We’ve all made bad plans and we generally stick with them longer than we really should. I know I have.
  - dredds 6y ago
    The sunk cost fallacy only applies when it hurts.
    - enos_feedler 6y ago
      I am not sure what you are implying?
yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
> At least they are winding things down faster. Google announced the studio in mid 2019 and shutting it down in early 2021. Microsoft decided retail stores were a good idea in 2011, and only closed them off last year. You're really selling me on using Microsoft over Google here: If I'm using a product/service, I'd prefer that it stay around as long as possible even if the company decides that it's a failure. Bonus points for being a "cloud" company so that users are totally screwed the moment the company pulls support.
- enos_feedler 6y ago
  What do you think would happen? You wake up one day and everything is gone? As much as I am not selling Google vs. MSFT, give Goog some credit. They would make customers whole financially and find a home for the platform.
  - akmarinov 6y ago
    More like it’s going to drag its feet being dead for 2-3 years past the point that anyone cares about the platform. Then when usage plummets enough, it’ll get killed during some big event to mask it.
    - enos_feedler 6y ago
      I find it funny this spun out of a contrast from Google vs. Microsoft and what you are describing is literally how Microsoft Stores died. It got dragged past the point of anyone caring. Covid happened (big event) and then it got killed fairly quietly. This is how all things get killed. Not unique to Google here. My point with Google is they are learning faster what works and what doesn't. In the limit, maybe they will stop starting things that get killed to begin with.
  - yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
    > What do you think would happen? You wake up one day and everything is gone? Yes, actually that's about what I expect. Not literally in a day, but fully do expect that in another year or two Google will announce that Stadia is going away and that in a few months it'll be gone. Games were rentals, not leased/sold, so they'll stop charging but you'll hardly be able to take your games with you. Saves might be Takout-able, so if you go re-buy the games you can keep playing... probably... if you even have hardware to game on... In contrast, I've known people who ran MS software locally for months-to-years after it was obsolete/discontinued, and non-Microsoft software even longer (cue the classical story of the business that held on to their DOS software until Windows XP finally made it too painful to use).

partiallypro 6y ago

Yeah, but Microsoft also shutdown retail stores in part because of the global pandemic, a few other companies followed.

SkyPuncher 6y ago
And, those retail stores gave people an opportunity to play with and become comfortable with their surface form factor.
- enos_feedler 6y ago
  Expensive way to achieve that goal, IMO.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- partiallypro 6y ago
  I was sad to see them go because it was a quick way to get a Surface replacement, but you can demo Surface at Best Buy. Most of their stores have Microsoft kiosks that accomplish near the same thing in terms of demoing and it costs Microsoft virtually nothing.

alasano 6y ago

Perhaps we will reach some sort of google launch singularity where projects are launched and abandoned instantly.

hcurtiss 6y ago
Imagine the money they'd save!

redisman 6y ago

Making a new game takes at a minimum a year for a simple game, more likely 2-4 years. So no, that is terrible planning on their part once again.

enos_feedler 6y ago
Obviously the planning was bad. This is about what you do when you’ve made bad plans. We’ve all made bad plans and we generally stick with them longer than we really should. I know I have.
- dredds 6y ago
  The sunk cost fallacy only applies when it hurts.
  - enos_feedler 6y ago
    I am not sure what you are implying?

yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago

> At least they are winding things down faster. Google announced the studio in mid 2019 and shutting it down in early 2021. Microsoft decided retail stores were a good idea in 2011, and only closed them off last year. You're really selling me on using Microsoft over Google here: If I'm using a product/service, I'd prefer that it stay around as long as possible even if the company decides that it's a failure. Bonus points for being a "cloud" company so that users are totally screwed the moment the company pulls support.

enos_feedler 6y ago
What do you think would happen? You wake up one day and everything is gone? As much as I am not selling Google vs. MSFT, give Goog some credit. They would make customers whole financially and find a home for the platform.
- akmarinov 6y ago
  More like it’s going to drag its feet being dead for 2-3 years past the point that anyone cares about the platform. Then when usage plummets enough, it’ll get killed during some big event to mask it.
  - enos_feedler 6y ago
    I find it funny this spun out of a contrast from Google vs. Microsoft and what you are describing is literally how Microsoft Stores died. It got dragged past the point of anyone caring. Covid happened (big event) and then it got killed fairly quietly. This is how all things get killed. Not unique to Google here. My point with Google is they are learning faster what works and what doesn't. In the limit, maybe they will stop starting things that get killed to begin with.
- yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
  > What do you think would happen? You wake up one day and everything is gone? Yes, actually that's about what I expect. Not literally in a day, but fully do expect that in another year or two Google will announce that Stadia is going away and that in a few months it'll be gone. Games were rentals, not leased/sold, so they'll stop charging but you'll hardly be able to take your games with you. Saves might be Takout-able, so if you go re-buy the games you can keep playing... probably... if you even have hardware to game on... In contrast, I've known people who ran MS software locally for months-to-years after it was obsolete/discontinued, and non-Microsoft software even longer (cue the classical story of the business that held on to their DOS software until Windows XP finally made it too painful to use).