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The shutdown of the first party studio sends a signal, but the freezing of the Google account for the Terraria lead developer to the point where the Stadia port

The shutdown of the first party studio sends a signal, but the freezing of the Google account for the Terraria lead developer to the point where the Stadia port of Terraria was cancelled sends an even stronger signal to indie developers who were considering Stadia - Google does not support you, you are a digital sharecropper, and you'll take what you're given and like it or buzz off.

d3nj4l 6y ago
A minor correction: the stadia port of terraria is still alive and kicking.
kyrra 6y ago
(Googler, opinions are my own) Note: Terraria for stadia is uncanceled[0]. Sadly, Terraria devs nor Google has said anything about what happened (in any kind of detail), but accounts were unlocked and game is back on. [0] https://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/terraria-state-of-the-game-february-2021.103428/ https://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/terraria-state...
- acdha 6y ago
  I think that lack of explanation is bigger than the Stadia executives think: when you’re asking people to take a gamble on a completely proprietary platform both prospective developers and buyers are going to be worried about the prospect of things randomly going away. This is especially true given Google’s poor reputation for support even with paid products. Right now would be a key moment for a post mortem response detailing what they’ve done to ensure that developers don’t have to worry about being locked out and customers don’t have to worry about losing access to their purchases. This is an unproven service and anyone who is at all worried has multiple safer options available so trust is especially critical.
erickt 6y ago
The account issues have apparently been resolved, and Terraria port to Stadia has been uncanceled: https://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/terraria-state-of-the-game-february-2021.103428/ https://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/terraria-state... Disclaimer: I work at Google, but don’t work anywhere near this.

d3nj4l 6y ago

A minor correction: the stadia port of terraria is still alive and kicking.

kyrra 6y ago

(Googler, opinions are my own) Note: Terraria for stadia is uncanceled[0]. Sadly, Terraria devs nor Google has said anything about what happened (in any kind of detail), but accounts were unlocked and game is back on. [0] https://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/terraria-state-of-the-game-february-2021.103428/ https://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/terraria-state...

acdha 6y ago
I think that lack of explanation is bigger than the Stadia executives think: when you’re asking people to take a gamble on a completely proprietary platform both prospective developers and buyers are going to be worried about the prospect of things randomly going away. This is especially true given Google’s poor reputation for support even with paid products. Right now would be a key moment for a post mortem response detailing what they’ve done to ensure that developers don’t have to worry about being locked out and customers don’t have to worry about losing access to their purchases. This is an unproven service and anyone who is at all worried has multiple safer options available so trust is especially critical.

erickt 6y ago

The account issues have apparently been resolved, and Terraria port to Stadia has been uncanceled: https://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/terraria-state-of-the-game-february-2021.103428/ https://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/terraria-state... Disclaimer: I work at Google, but don’t work anywhere near this.