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Rumor: Google Stadia May Be Getting Shut Down

• billconan 4y ago
  As an engineer who used to work on cloud gaming, I know the biggest challenge of cloud gaming is not achieving low latency, but achieving low latency at reasonable cost. The reality is that the economic numbers don't really add up.
  • dtx1 4y ago
    If money was no object, what would technologically be possible right now in terms of latency?
    • simiones 4y ago
      Google could install a Stadia data center in every block of every city and town on Earth, at least any where there is a Stadia customer. Some version of this is the only way to reduce latency significantly. In a more realistic version, it is exactly what Netflix does - they pay to have Netflix streaming servers running in local ISP centers in much of the world where there are Netflix customers.
      • rightbyte 4y ago
        Netflix does not need low latency - only bandwidth. They can buffer client side.
        • simiones 4y ago
          Sure, but the solution helps with both (bandwidth because they only need to stream data once over the internet to each data center, not once for every client connected to that datacenter; and latency because there are fewer hops between client and content source). An infinitely-resourced online play service could pay to install machines that run the games the same way Netflix pays to install their streaming boxes, and would care about both latency and bandwidth (since more bandwidth => better resolution video).
• nicolas_t 4y ago
  > The source also claims that there'd be no license transfer of any sort, which means that any purchases made on Stadia would effectively be nullified as the service closes down. This is precisely why I didn't try Stadia. I never expected anything more from Google.
  • somebodythere 4y ago
    I would hope that Google can afford a few game licenses in order to keep their customers from feeling robbed.
• OrangeMonkey 4y ago
  Three sure bets in life: * Death * Taxes * Google shutting down services Admittedly, google stadia was kind of a joke since the beginning, but I feel for consumers who buy into googles promises and even a bit for the google engineers who may be out of work soon.
  • mrtree 4y ago
    IDK, I have stadia and it works just fine. I have a 5G router at home, with fiber is even better. The offering is a bit limited but there are several really good games that are worth buying.
    • adwww 4y ago
      Same, I thought for an occasional gamer like myself it was a good value service with a very low cost of entry. I am now pretty reluctant to pay to keep any games though with this rumour alive.
  • CSMastermind 4y ago
    > Admittedly, google stadia was kind of a joke since the beginning I don't see anything wrong with the premise of the service or even from what I understand the technical execution. Seems like the failure was around business development, marketing, community management, and brand reputation. I haven't followed to closely though so other would know better than me.
    • tedivm 4y ago
      >Seems like the failure was around business development, marketing, community management, and brand reputation. To be fair that's normally the case for Google.
    • unnouinceput 4y ago
      The failure was around tech. We are not there yet. Speed of light is what needs to be overcome in order for this kind of service to be viable. Until then no amount of money, business development, marketing, brand reputation will ever make this viable.
• newaccount2021 4y ago
• deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
• mrtree 4y ago
• petercooper 4y ago
  I avoided checking Stadia out in the first place as I thought they'd end up shutting it down after prior experiences. This seems a difficult branding loop to break, but does them no favors.
  • wrayjustin 4y ago
    It really doesn't! The common responses you hear in these types of threads include "I didn't even try it; because I knew it would get killed." And of course, this results in lower turnout, and eventual death of the offering. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy at this point. So what's Google to even do? * They could burn money and keep the offering afloat to "prove" they are serious (seems to be the case with Stadia). * They can pivot/transition the offering (see Google Glass). * Or they can use new offerings for R&D (and in some cases, like that of Stadia, be paid for that R&D), and then fold that technology/data somewhere else (see Wave) - this seems like the path most taken. If we remember Google's core competencies, the revolving door of offerings as feeder into their larger services makes sense on paper, but I do agree that it's hurting consumer confidence and there is a hidden cost to that.
    • Sebb767 4y ago
      What should the consumer to do? Donate their money and time to the service in the hope that this time will be different? (not to mention that Stadias pricing was pretty bad) So yes, it's Google's turn to show commitment and keep their services running. Plus, the possible loss with keeping Stadia up should also be weighted against this cementing their reputation.
      • jfoster 4y ago
        Exactly this. How could Google even expect any of their services to be successful now, besides by attracting sufficiently gullible customers?
      • wrayjustin 4y ago
        > So yes, it's Google's turn to show commitment and keep their services running. Plus, the possible loss with keeping Stadia up should also be weighted against this cementing their reputation. Agreed. The ball is in Google's court. Consumers should (and clearly do) cast a vote of "no confidence" with their wallet.
• 5350-uiop-1130 4y ago
  it was was half baked from the get-go. you have to wonder if these companies operates with any common sense or if some financial shenanigans going on.
• flutas 4y ago
  The fact that Google has shut down so many services I used in the past, combined with the concept of game ownership being tied to the service is what kept me from ever even exploring it.
• ChuckNorris89 4y ago
  There should be a drinking game: take a shot whenever Google shuts down a service.
• collegeburner 4y ago
  https://killedbygoogle.com/ https://killedbygoogle.com/ time to update lmao
• thesuperbigfrog 4y ago
  "there'd be no license transfer of any sort, which means that any purchases made on Stadia would effectively be nullified as the service closes down." It lasted less than three years and will leave players with nothing to show. This is what people were predicting when Stadia lauched and part of the reason why it had poor adoption.
  • Ken_At_EM 4y ago
    It is highly unethical to take away copies of the game that players had to pay full price for. Stadia owes them a retail copy of the games they purchased.
    • hprotagonist 4y ago
      of games they purchased temporary license to use* no games were actually purchased, so customers are free to take their complaints and do exactly nothing with them. (yes, this is egregious)
      • Ken_At_EM 4y ago
        Yeah, I hear ya, better read the agreements you sign. But I just can’t convince myself to pay full price for a game when it’s restricted to a platform like stadia. I guess I’m a hypocrite because I own steam games and plenty of movies on my Apple TV. I feel like steam is a little different because I’m installing them on my own machine? (I know they can take the games away) I know I can’t trust Apple to not take my movies away but I think the likelihood that my Apple TV library won’t be accessible for the next 20 years is pretty low. Google in particular disappoints me often. They haven’t created a great money generating product since search/ads which is the evergreen money tree which funds all other experiments. Google gives up on new products far too often and far too easily. They seem to forget, or never learned, that unwavering persistence is a powerful foundation for building a product line. Apple didn’t give up on iCloud after the disaster that was MobileMe, they rebuilt it and kept on going.
    • londons_explore 4y ago
• utahcon 4y ago
  Too bad, I really enjoyed the freedom it offered. Just wish it had worked while I was travelling in Mexico. Oh well.
• Larrikin 4y ago
  "The source also claims that there'd be no license transfer of any sort, which means that any purchases made on Stadia would effectively be nullified as the service closes down." There clearly needs to be a law to make such things illegal. I've refused to take the discount on digital Switch games since Nintendo has clearly shown they are willing to shut down old servers and tell you to just buy your games again. But there are some games that are digital only and I fear the next generation of games will be like Xbox. You buy a physical that does nothing more than connect to a server that downloads the game. Perhaps legally allowing backups of games you purchased would help.
  • permo-w 4y ago
    >Perhaps legally allowing backups of games you purchased would help as great as that would be, the corporate-run governments of the world would see that as tantamount to legalising video game piracy, one of the few (if not, the only) media that have actually succeeded in making online piracy difficult
    • Larrikin 4y ago
      It would be difficult from a security perspective, but if they provided their own flash drives for backing up games it could be the best for consumers and the manufacturers. Nearly all software produced currently ships out with the assumption that updates can easily be pushed out. As a concrete example, twenty years from now I don't want to play the original Mario Kart 8 that shipped when the switch was released, I would want to play the Mario Kart 8 that has double the levels that they are currently slowly dropping over the next year. The ideal situation would be an ability to write that information back to the card. Couple that with another law that enforces consumers ability to roll back updates to any previous version they desire and you're fully protected with the ability to play your games essentially forever
      • majewsky 4y ago
        > The ideal situation would be an ability to write that information back to the card. Be careful what you wish for. You don't want them to have a dead man's switch on your physical copy.
• akmarinov 4y ago
• ChildOfChaos 4y ago
  I absolutely hope not. Stadia has provided an excellent game night for me and my remote friend (who is on a Mac) this year and we've had a blast, we mostly play little party games as nither of us our big gamers, but it makes for an excellent night,i've bought a couple of games on it that i've yet to even get too and plan to buy some more and enjoy the odd hour or two in the evenings. Stadia removes all fraction and means I don't need to install/update or have gaming hardware. The service is great. Despite it not being popular. It would be an absolute disaster for me if the service were to close.
  • swozey 4y ago
    Have you looked into using Geforce Now with your friend? It's a fantastic service and works on OSX.
    • ChildOfChaos 4y ago
      Yes, used this before Stadia and it was rubbish. No where near as good and as stable as Stadia, also the monthly fee is a pain. With Stadia you can just buy the game and then play when you want, I don't think there is anything else like that.
      • swozey 4y ago
        It's come a long way since pre-Stadia that's for sure. Can't get around the monthly fee though.
        • ChildOfChaos 4y ago
          Is performance better now? I was in the beta when there wasn't a limited selection of games and my friend used the free version once it came out of beta about a year and a half ago.
          • camel_Snake 4y ago
            It's been my main gaming platform the last 2 years and I'd describe it as more than serviceable. They do a bunch of free demos now - I think WaveTale is free for the next 24hrs you can try it out yourself. The subscription is optional.
• steve_adams_86 4y ago
  I really liked the idea behind Stadia as someone who doesn’t buy many consoles or own a computer suitable for gaming. I don’t like the idea of never owning games but I could accept it as someone who essentially never buys them otherwise. But I expected this to happen and I didn’t feel like dealing with the hassle of getting accustomed to a service and watching it get shut down.
  • jibe 4y ago
    You should try Game Pass. There are always trial deals where you get 3 months for <$10.
• fatjokes 4y ago
  It was a perfectly sensible strategic bet. 5G = easy streaming everything everywhere Their mistake was assuming the American telecoms would actually deliver real 5G in any reasonable amount of time. Maybe they should've tested it in the Korean market.
  • tempest_ 4y ago
    Which was a stupid bet given the problems things like OnLive had. They also had that bald dude out there doing tone def interviews talking like everyone has internet like the bay area and if they didn't then those customers didn't matter.
    • rightbyte 4y ago
      > has internet like the bay area Like, expensive and bad? I had better internet in my paremts' summer hut than in Palo Alto.
  • sascha_sl 4y ago
    Even with fiber (or hell, LAN), game streaming is still very much inferior to a local experience for many games. The only market they can capture is casual users that still want to play AAA console games, when most of the casual audience is on phones. At $60-$80 dollar per game, it's not too far to just buy an Xbox Series S for $300. Plus Game Pass is a great way to find a game you enjoy without investing time into research or money into trying a bunch of games.
  • SahAssar 4y ago
    Even on low-latency fiber connections it was laggy. 5G wouldn't have changed the situation much.
• borissk 4y ago
  If they do, Google should refund all hardware and game purchases.
  • bluescrn 4y ago
    There should probably be more regulations to protect both the users and the environment from hardware that becomes e-waste the moment a cloud service shuts down. But as for the software side, it's pretty much down to users to realise they they don't 'own' any digital content unless it's completely DRM free and not reliant on somebody else's servers. Stadia was always high-risk and quite likely to fail, but how many years can you guarantee that something like Steam or iTunes will remain up for? (And even if the servers remain up for many decades to come, you could potentially lose access to all your 'purchases' for other reasons... perhaps your near-future social credit score will drop below the required threshold for continued access?)
• mrweasel 4y ago
  You don't say... Google has a bunch of great products, but most of their consumer facing success are driven by data collection and ads. Even if it's just a rumor, I don't see any evidence that Google is able to run successful products that requires actual support to paying users. Stadia does makes sort of sense as an idea to try, in that it exists in a space where Android, GCP and YouTube intersects. It's entertainment, you could bring it to Android phones potentially and utilize Google infrastructure. Still it seems a bit far of from what Google can do.
• notjustanymike 4y ago
  While it was always doomed from launch, I can't imagine the impressive debut of the steamdeck helped matters.
• mcraiha 4y ago
  I hope the Linux ports of the games in the service get some extended life, but most likely they will just vanish.
• 1270018080 4y ago
  I have no proof but I called it on day one. This never stood a chance. It made no sense. They could've saved billions of dollars by just talking to me for 5 minutes, a gamer.
  • rustqt6 4y ago
    It was (is? Because rumor?) for casual players and not gamers
    • SahAssar 4y ago
      It was pretty clearly marketed as a competitor to consoles and gaming pc:s.
• rustqt6 4y ago
  Hopefully one of those team members/memberettes can go on to implement some standard protocols like client side caldav and carddav on Android since, you know, Google is so open.
• duffyjp 4y ago
  I mean, buying games at full retail price that you can only use on their service is not very appealing to me... I hope they'll give out Steam codes or something to folks that did.
• deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
• seper8 4y ago
  I've recently tried XBOX Game Pass. Don't have a console anymore, just bought a wireless controller and hooked my laptop up to my TV. Was pleasantly surprised by the performance! Thought delay would be far larger but it was very playable for most games, not so much for things like FPS games.
• tibbydudeza 4y ago
• jscipione 4y ago
  All of the Xeons and all of the Vega 56’s in the world can do nothing to stop network latency from killing your gaming experience. Google Stadia is a technically impressive achievement pushing the boundaries of cloud computing but it can’t change the fact that there are certain problem spaces that cloud computing is a poor fit for and gaming is (apparently) one of them.
• rustqt6 4y ago
  Guys I know some of us are excited to see Google fail but DO remember this is a rumor.
• FVYPblNGl7R9ZAc 4y ago
  It seems like Stadia was just a proof of concept for Google Stream which they will white label for partners (like AT&T Batman partnership). I initially thought that Google Stream was a side project for Stadia but it seems that Stadia was the side project.
• plantain 4y ago
  The source of this is an anonymous Facebook comment... how is this news?
• post_break 4y ago
  Well I mean after OnLive everyone expected this.
  • TremendousJudge 4y ago
    I thought everybody else had forgotten about OnLive. It was the same thing, but 10 years before: a lot of media hype for a product that nobody wanted
    • deadlocked 4y ago
      I wanted it! I played through the first third of Arkham Asylum using OnLive. The nail in the coffin for me at the time was the paltry selection of games; I couldn’t justify the subscription. I work for a European ISP though, so I’ve generally had better-than-most internet service for the last 20 years.
• haunter 4y ago
  Would have tried Stadia but if streaming then GamePass Ultimate is just a much better value. Already does the same + huge library + you can play on PC and Xbox too. Stadia was just the streaming and top of that you had to buy the games too (70€ is the new standard for AAA games). It was doa.
• onmobile2022 4y ago
  Google> we'll engineer a cloud gaming service Gamers> um have you even met us? What about the speed of light? Google> we'll beat the speed of light using genius engineering Gamers> lol Google> we're shutting down because nobody uses us Gamers> lol Yet another case of having never spoken to the actual customer
  • FVYPblNGl7R9ZAc 4y ago
    I am a customer. I played several AAA games all the way through on Stadia and it was a great experience. It was not like OnLive back in the day. If Stadia gets shut down then I'll have to switch to GeForce Now which is way more clunky.
  • forgotpwd16 4y ago
    Haven't used Stadia but have played on GFN multiple games without issues. Cloud gaming actually works.
  • Dma54rhs 4y ago
    Cloud gaming as a concept is long proven. Pc gamers bothered by a 10ms button delays are not a huge target market.
• SilverBirch 4y ago
  You would really hope there would be some far reaching repercussions for senior leadership at Google on this one. There are lots of projects that Google has tried and failed on, and sure, that happens. But this one is probably the clearest, obvious failure of execution. There is an absolutely crystal clear playbook of a Tech company forcing its way into the Gaming business. So how Google has managed to enter, completely fuck up, screw around partners, screw around customers and then leave all within the span of 3 years is just fantastic. And it's not just that, because Google's reputation for giving up on anything remotely difficult, no one bought into it in the first place. I would wager there are entire market segments that Google can just never enter now since they have done such a good job at branding themselves unreliable. It reminds me of a Petrostate where a country has huge wealth because of what they're sitting on, but that same wealth destroys their ability to develop anything meaningfully different.
  • jeffbee 4y ago
    Do you think senior leadership was involved? It seems just as likely that some platforms engineers figured they could mess around with hardware on the edge and got it shipped from the bottom up.
    • SilverBirch 4y ago
      No, they had a huge push behind it at one point, they even had internal game development studios and hired inhouse game devs, which they then proceeded to fire less than 18 months later. That's right, from new platform to fired in less than 18 months. It's a shameful way to run a company.
      • jeffbee 4y ago
        I know they put the full force of the machine behind it, it's just not obvious to me that the reason they did it came from the top, or was even known to the top, versus just being an emergent phenomenon. I think people ascribe way too much agency to corporate executives.
  • macspoofing 4y ago
• johnasmith 4y ago
  I've been using Stadia since day one. It's a really terrific execution of cloud gaming. It would be a real shame if it did get shut down. I hope the rumors are false.
  • ulkesh 4y ago
    I bought in at the beginning as well. But I didn't stick with it. I have other gaming platforms and while I love the idea of streaming games which can be run on virtually any hardware and operating system, it didn't feel as polished to me as simply booting up other options. As with any other Google Service, they effectively put out a beta, charged for it, and hoped for a critical mass that never came.
• seydor 4y ago
  and nobody will notice
• JustSomeNobody 4y ago
  People don't want a lot of choice. They want iOS or Android. PS5 or XBox. Republican or Democrat. ATT or Verizon. Comcast. Honestly I'm surprised there's not only two auto makers.
  • pjmlp 4y ago
    They kind of are almost, given that many car brands belong to the same mother company. Example, https://www.volkswagenag.com/en/group.html https://www.volkswagenag.com/en/group.html
• jsnell 4y ago
  This is an anonymous source (not even verified by the original publicizer of the rumor) reporting second hand on what their "regional manager" friend heard in a "seminar". Why give any credence to this? This is about as close as it gets to "my friend has an uncle working at Nintendo" level of sourcing, but it's being taken as absolute fact by basically everyone in this thread. Mr. Killedbygoogle doesn't seem to be all that confident in this either, and is hiding behind a "I'm just a shit poster" defense: https://twitter.com/killedbygoogle/status/1552930023484657665 https://twitter.com/killedbygoogle/status/155293002348465766...
  • revolvingocelot 4y ago
    Yeah... The "rumour" has been going on for a while -- I myself helped promulgate it, just after Stadia released!! I smugly clicked into TFA, expecting my cynicism to finally be flattered, but... Like the parent says, this is just that same smuggery we commenters have been predicting since the service started. It's not like the writing on the wall is ambiguous, it's just not official. This isn't the official announcement either.
  • the_biot 4y ago
    You're absolutely right. I think the reason this kind of non-news gets any traction at all is that Google is known to shut down services rather than fix their revenue model, and that Stadia has been a failure for some time. So we all know Google will shut it down, just waiting for it. Keep launching this rumor, and you'll be right eventually.
  • Sebb767 4y ago
    It also plays right into peoples biases, so they'll keep their doubt low. If I were to spread any rumor to get my ten minutes of fame, Stadia shutting down would be the rumor to spread.
  • CSSer 4y ago
    There's a fine line between a rumor and an open secret. I personally have experienced exactly what you described. One of my coworkers knows someone on the Stadia team. Based on the gossip I've heard completely independent of this 'revelation' that all turned out to be true, it wouldn't surprise me. Who cares? It's not like I've got any any money riding on it, and frankly everyone should know better about Google's behavior attitude about this stuff by now.
• sigzero 4y ago
• User23 4y ago
  It's a Google service that isn't search or ads. Of course it's getting shut down, it's just a matter of when.
• debacle 4y ago
  An anecdote, but I recently found out a friend games on Stadia (Destiny 2). He's actually quite happy with the platform, especially because of the portability.
• endisneigh 4y ago
  This is absolutely false. Feel free to quote this post in October. HN has a pretty high caliber of commenter compared to other forums. People believing a baseless rumor so easily is sad.
  • Havoc 4y ago
    >People believing a baseless rumor so easily is sad. There is an incredibly long list of precedents: https://killedbygoogle.com https://killedbygoogle.com Scroll through that and once you get to the bottom tell me people are still being unreasonable... I am glad to hear (anonymous) confirmation that it isn't getting killed though.
    • endisneigh 4y ago
      That list is irrelevant. Even if Google had never killed a product before, it would be worth believing if there is solid evidence. Here, there is none.
      • jjulius 4y ago
        >That list is irrelevant. A company's operating history is absolutely relevant to whether or not people believe rumors about it's operations.
        • endisneigh 4y ago
          Believing baseless conjecture is dumb imo.
      • MichaelCollins 4y ago
        > That list is irrelevant. You said the rumor is baseless, but that list is a rock solid foundation for any rumor of Google cancelling anything.
        • endisneigh 4y ago
          That’s not how it works. Would you believe the same about Google Ads? Rock solid foundation and all that.
• blibble 4y ago
  nice to see Google's business practices biting it in the backside exactly the same reason I would never recommend to my employer to use any Google services, ever for any reason say what you want about MS, they're not going to abandon Azure
• LibertyBeta 4y ago
  If this is the case, what about their Wifi locked controllers? No way to free them I expect, just instant e-waste.
• micromacrofoot 4y ago
  Of course it is! if it's not a runaway success at Google, then it's inevitable. Stadia isn't a runaway success by any measure. I'm surprised it hasn't happened already. Though at this point Google's starting to create a problem for themselves: if people are accustomed to avoiding new Google services because of their potential to be cancelled at any moment... they'll stop trying them to begin with.
  • jfoster 4y ago
    > if people are accustomed to avoiding new Google services because of their potential to be cancelled at any moment... they'll stop trying them to begin with. That's just the 1st order effect. The next thing is that customers already onboard will start to feel nervous; as a Gmail user, is my email safe? How about Google Photos? Google Drive for consumers? Analytics? Not just limited to shutdowns, of course. Lots of businesses were using Maps and then the price got hiked quite significantly. Google services are creating a new meaning for "unstable", besides technical instability.
• GNOMES 4y ago
  I really hope if true that Google unlocks the bluetooth on the controllers. Claimed a free Chromecast/controller with my YT Music subscription. Games played fine (to my surprise) on my network (1GB down, 40 up Xfinity), but I have other ways to play games. Really only claimed it for an extra Chromecast Ultra... I found the controller pretty good quality, and would like to have it for bluetooth gaming on PC and mobile, but I have read that the bluetooth is deactivated after initial setup.
• deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
• thakoppno 4y ago
  I heard netflix is planning a cloud gaming service.
• pjmlp 4y ago
  Force game developers to port their games to Linux / Vulkan, when neither PS nor XBox use these toolchains, with the uncertainity of Google products, no wonder it never took off.
• donkeyd 4y ago
  I really hope they'll release a firmware update for the controller, before they shut down Stadia, so it can be used as a regular Bluetooth HID controller. It already works like that through a USB-C cable, but not wirelessly, unfortunately.
• technofiend 4y ago
  I can't think of any other service from Google that's more weirdly polarizing, although Google's Pixel phones probably run a close second. People either find Stadia useful and say they use it regularly, or they hate it to the point they seemingly spend their days telling everyone how terrible Stadia is, how it was doomed from the start, how investing in the platform is a waste of time and money, etc. Oddly, you get the same thing on Pixel forums where people spend as much time telling everyone how they switched and how much better their new $whateverphone is than their previous $googlephone as people do looking for support or saying they like their phone just fine. Perhaps when Google disappoints people they really disappoint them? It seems like an oddly visceral and out of proportion reaction to waste time on the internet disgruntled and complaining that some people like something you don't like.
  • bdefore 4y ago
    That's an odd comparison. Unlike Stadia, if the Pixel phone division shuts down you still have a working phone. Forums will be forums and the trolls get the spotlight. Pixel phones, particularly the cheaper 'a' models, are very popular and good value. What significant things are much better on non-Google Android phones?
    • technofiend 4y ago
      >... you still have a working phone You do, but if Google literally dropped support of their phones, you'd never get another security update, so it'd be in your best interest to move although not mandatory like if Stadia shut down. The comparison is about peoples' visceral reaction to Google products when they're disappointed, not specifically when the product is dropped. > What significant things are much better on non-Google Android phones? Not my point and frankly I have no clue: I've had a google android phone of some kind or another since the G1, which if that reference is lost on you is the original android phone.
      • bdefore 4y ago
        You're proposing then that Google is in a disappointment loop. I think that's much more true for the technologically versed than the broader public. If they shut down Gmail/Maps/YouTube/Chromecast that'd breach the layman dyke, but I can't see them doing that. Google I feel's is this age's General Electric. They already borrowed all the wrong ideas from Jack Welch. Most people, if they dug a bit, just want Google to keep what it's already built running and not charge for it. It's just not a place you expect radically good innovation to come from anymore. So, like your Whirlpool dishwasher, you expect it to do its thing, never rave about it to anyone, and moan about it when it breaks.
• candl 4y ago
  I am fearful of adopting Flutter for this reason.
  • est31 4y ago
    Flutter is different as it is 100% OSS so if Google cancels it, its development could theoretically be continued outside of Google. Of course, this depends on the presence of enough demand for that. Mozilla has laid off their full time Rust staff (including some people whose actual responsibility was different but they still contributed to the Rust compiler) and the Rust project survived. Instead these people got hired by companies like Amazon and Futurewei. Some are less involved in Rust now, some return. Some risk remains though, as if nobody is using Flutter, nobody will keep it alive.
• SicSemperUranus 4y ago
  How to know if a Google project is getting shut down: Is it ad-related? If not, it's already dead and just doesn't know it yet.
• dmix 4y ago
  XBox cloud is way better than Stadia, it's very smooth in both Chrome and on Nvidia Shield on my TV. Stadia's offerings are weak, buying licenses you don't control doesn't make sense, and the things like the Ubisoft integration is awkward and expensive. If I was going to use a non-Xbox Cloud service it would mostly just be a way to play Steam games on a cloud pc. But that's what I use https://www.paperspace.com/ https://www.paperspace.com/ + Parsec for on my Mac, it's a hosted high end GPU hosting a stripped down Windows 10, every Steam game works flawlessly on a fiber connection plus you get to use Torrents.
  • nkotov 4y ago
    +1 for Xbox Cloud. I use it a lot to play games on Xbox Game Pass and there are some great choices and games start instantly.
• GiorgioG 4y ago
• mehlmao 4y ago
  Whatever happened to the "negative latency" feature they promised? For context, they claimed that Google AI would be able to learn how you play games, predict what you'll do, simulate ahead and then send those frames to your Chromecast in advance so there's 0 input latency.
• hnburnsy 4y ago
  From @GoogleStadia... https://twitter.com/GoogleStadia/status/1552989433590214656?cxt=HHwWgMCjka3qqY0rAAAA https://twitter.com/GoogleStadia/status/1552989433590214656?... "Replying to @BlueFireDemon44 Stadia is not shutting down. Rest assured we're always working on bringing more great games to the platform and Stadia Pro. Let us know if you have other questions."
  • gilrain 4y ago
    Marketing says not to worry about a negative rumor? Well, case closed!
    • hnburnsy 4y ago
      Just the messenger! :)
• treesknees 4y ago
  I recently purchased the cloud version of Kingdom Hearts for my Nintendo Switch, where the game runs in the cloud and streams locally to my console [1]. Despite the criticisms of cloud gaming, I decided to buy it because I already have a Nintendo Switch as my only console, and I wouldn't go buy a Playstation just replay those couple of games anyway. My experience has been mostly good. I was able to tether my console to my phone while out of town and play flawlessly over 5G, it was surprisingly smooth for well over an hour. But at home with a wired Ethernet adaptor and stable Internet, I still run into occasional gameplay issues with stuttering/lagging. And if I pause the game for too long it disconnects my session (presumably to free up cloud resources) and kicks me back to my last save point. I really want to love cloud gaming, but the concept of having _all_ your games as a part of a subscription just doesn't seem appealing yet. Until we can transfer those licenses to different providers, it will remain a pretty niche category that the majority of people won't buy into outside of a few games here and there. [1] https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/kingdom-hearts-hd-1-5-plus-2-5-remix-cloud-version-switch/ https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/kingdom-hearts-hd-1-...
• shaky-carrousel 4y ago
  I knew it. I predicted it some time ago. As if it was something hard to predict. If it's from google and it is not about search or ads, then it will be shut down for sure.
• pfdietz 4y ago
  https://cad-comic.com/comic/wretched/ https://cad-comic.com/comic/wretched/
• bastard_op 4y ago
  I was interested when Google announced Stadia, as a full-time linux user gaming is still wishy-washy, but in Google's infinite wisdom, they would not let me use my paid gsuite account as a "business". Even though my gsuite account is simply my name and in no way business related. Same with Google Pay and other things, they will disallow you from using other paid Google services because you pay for your email, just ass-u-me'ing only a business would pay, unlike their 100m free(loader) users. Either way, do you want money or not Google, please take it! At that point I cursed Stadia service to fail, spit in their general direction, and went back to my playstation.
• sethjr5rtfgh 4y ago
• neals 4y ago
  I would have loved Stadia and we've considered Google cloud for our business, but for obvious reasons have chosen differently. Which makes it kinda self-fulfilling.
• RektBoy 4y ago
  I miss times of GERFORCENOW pwned VM with admin access. RDR2 babyyy
• yieldcrv 4y ago
  Another decade another failed cloud gaming service. Is Playstation Now really the only successful/stable one? A key observation being that its not even advertised as a cloud gaming service and is just integrated into other offerings. The other services don’t seem to have age on their side for me to compare.
• coffeeblack 4y ago
  Google do what Google do. I stopped using any newer Google products. Can’t trust them.
• maxehmookau 4y ago
  I love Stadia. I use it every day but I have spent a lot of money on games. To lose access to them with no recourse after barely a year of use will leave a _nasty_ taste in my mouth.
• aaaaaaaaaaab 4y ago
  Oh no! Literally nobody saw this coming! /s
• rco8786 4y ago
  This would be the least surprising Google product shutdown to date. It's been basically unsupported for a year or more.
• legitster 4y ago
  To put things in perspective, Microsoft lost a billion dollars a year for four years before turning a profit on Xbox.
• Waterluvian 4y ago
  Everything Google produces is either a product to sell ads through or an experiment on new methods to sell ads. They don’t seem willing or capable of selling stuff for money as the primary goal.
• jfoster 4y ago
  I decided to try Stadia just now. Their games page has lots of games saying "try for free X minutes", so I tried picking one. Selected the Google account to use, and then I get a 403. Tried a different game with a different Google account. Also 403.
• lenova 4y ago
  I'd like to be a counterpoint for the Stadia bashing here: I'm not much of a gamer, but I've always been interested in playing Red Dead Redemption 2. However, I neither had a console nor a PC with a decent enough graphics card. This spring, I picked up a Google TV with Chromecast, and realized I could pair any bluetooth device with it. I bought a cheapo PS4-like controller off of Amazon, saw that RDR2 was on sale on Stadia, and gave it a shot. I have to say, the experience was quite pleasing. No need for an expensive/out-of-stock graphics card. No need for a dedicated console. If feels like a great solution for a casual gamer. Overall, I've been impressed with the experience, and haven't experienced any lag or game stutters. Heck, it even plays Cyberpunk smoothly! Stadia definitely lacks in terms of marketing and game library, but I feel like it's a concept that works.
  • InefficientRed 4y ago
    > casual gamer Same. I had a month off between jobs and used a week of my evenings off to play through red dead. I don't particularly care about losing the license, because I just wanted to play the game through. Haven't touched it since then. Stadia's ideal market wasn't "real gamers" -- those folks will buy rigs. Their ideal market was people like you and me, who don't have the time or interest to justify purchasing a gaming machine but still want to play through a AAA title or two every once in a while.
    • lurker619 4y ago
      Another same here. I didn't need to buy a console, a tv or even a controller. It feels like unlimited power to be able to access RDR2 on just another tab - 13 year old me would have gone crazy :)
  • omega3 4y ago
    I've tried to find a flaw with this argument and admittedly it's pretty hard. As long as you accept to pay a above the market price for the game and you don't care about retaining ownership then it somehow makes sense. I'm guessing this value proposition is what made it unsustainable for Google.
• Hnaomyiph 4y ago
  Maybe they could pivot and turn it into another chat app?
• haliskerbas 4y ago
  The Nvidia GeForce Now model is nicer. I connect my steam and other libraries, and although not 100% of titles can be played, I still keep my library when I switch services or tech.
• rychco 4y ago
  Truthfully, I was under the impression it was already shut down.
• alphabetting 4y ago
  "Stadia is not shutting down. Rest assured we're always working on bringing more great games to the platform and Stadia Pro. Let us know if you have other questions." https://twitter.com/GoogleStadia/status/1552989433590214656 https://twitter.com/GoogleStadia/status/1552989433590214656
• pgt 4y ago
  Prediction: the Google brand will be shut down at some point to make room for a brand that won’t have the stigma of shutting down products. Or a new Alphabet venture arm will be spun out so Google can buy them.
• dyeje 4y ago
  Not gonna say I called it, but... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19442272 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19442272
• sp332 4y ago
  Jason Scott (@textfiles) launched http://stadiacountdown.com/ http://stadiacountdown.com/ the day before Stadia launched. https://mobile.twitter.com/textfiles/status/1196447880728453120 https://mobile.twitter.com/textfiles/status/1196447880728453... Looks like it may have been optimistic.
• deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
• richliss 4y ago
  Hey Google, buy EA and the FIFA licence renewal and Stadia will take off for sure.
• Devasta 4y ago
  This reveals a very worrying prospect of where gaming discourse will go. Playstation Vs Xbox vs PC arguments are toxic enough as it is, could you imagine what they'll be when you run the very real risk of your whole collection disappearing if you back the wrong horse?
• rcfox 4y ago
  I have no love for Stadia, but it seems irresponsible to pass rumours off as journalism. A website dedicated to tracking dead Google projects is now trying to torpedo a struggling project.
• odd_noises 4y ago
  So J. Lo is from Brooklyn now? Lol
• rchaud 4y ago
  Wasted money buying Borderlands 3 on Stadia, mostly because my old PC couldn't run it and I wanted to play it. And while it did run fine in the cloud, I always wondered what would happen if the service shut down. Now I know. For the sake of comparison, there are games I purchased on PlayStation Network for PS3 almost 10 years ago, and they all still work. The PS3 is a 15-year old console discontinued ages ago, yet the games work as they did the day I downloaded them. Now I know. BTW, I have a PS3 from 2010 and all the PSN downloaded games still work, despite PSN itself being
• fleddr 4y ago
  False rumor or not, Stadia has very little market fit. It's no solution for budget gamers. You still need to pay for the services, the individual games and need to have an excellent network connection to make it usable. It's not exactly a solution for the "poor". It's not really a solution for most casual/infrequent gamers either. Most high-end games are not casual games, they require a time investment. Plus, in this case there's hefty competition from mobile games, which is highly social: everybody's playing the same viral game none of which are on Stadia. For the frequent gamer not on a budget, a Playstation/Xbox is affordable and in fact heavily subsidized. A one time purchase with a typical life span of 7 years. No latency issues and a vastly superior catalog of games. This leaves...whom? A small audience of ex-PC gamers perhaps, tired of PC woes (loud, constant upgrades).
  • wccrawford 4y ago
    You only need to pay for the games (at full price because there's never a sale!) and your internet connection. You can play at 1080p for free. You need to subscribe to Stadia for 4k and some free games. In the end, I agree with you, it's just not quite as bad as you painted it.
    • camel_Snake 4y ago
      Sales are infrequent, but they happen. https://stadiadb.app/ https://stadiadb.app/ lists lowest sale prices of all their games.
    • danpalmer 4y ago
      I buy all my Stadia games on sale, I just don't value the newest games that much. The issue is the Stadia selection not the price, there are good deals to be had.
    • upupandup 4y ago
      its a horrible proposition: pay to watch a video stream of a game you dont own that you can control with lag. why would I do that when I can buy a game on Steam or GOG or even outright pirate it, run it on my local machine, don't need to worry about internet upstream capacity, and I can take it anywhere? it never made any sense and will never make sense.
• iainmerrick 4y ago
  Unsubstantiated rumours can make the front page now? For shame. I mean, I think it will likely shut down before too long, but this article adds no useful information or even opinion, just hearsay. Here’s a question: does Google have a reputation for killing off products in wider circles, not just among tech insiders? That is, does the average person really care about this stuff?
• shoulderfake 4y ago
• Andrew_nenakhov 4y ago
  And that is why nobody should every uild anything critical on Google's services. Any of their products but search can evaporate in a second. Even Gmail and Google Docs/Drive/Apps/for Work/or whatever they call their office suite these days.
• deegles 4y ago
  Nearly called it when Stadia was announced: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19434347 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19434347
• ftyhbhyjnjk 4y ago
  Can't a class-action lawsuit be filed against this?
• nightski 4y ago
  Still using my steam account that I created 18 years ago when it launched.
• whywhywhywhy 4y ago
  Honestly wonder how many people didn't get on board with Stadia because the fear Google might shut it down, even though they would be completely bought into the cloud hardware idea. Definitely not zero, could have been many who are about to have their suspicions confirmed. Google just doesn't have the guts to take on videogames, it needs many years of throwing literally millions onto a bonfire of gambles to create exclusives and license a compelling content library and the returns wont come till much later.
• sofixa 4y ago
  Yeah, that's just an unsubstantiated rumour and doesn't even make sense. Stadia updated their ToS literally a few days ago with clarifications around payments, asking for a refund on recently bought games (to align with EU rules), etc. Why would they do that if they plan on shutting the service within a month?
  • LegitShady 4y ago
    because they expect everyone who recently bought a game to try to return it once they announce the end of life for stadia?
• olodus 4y ago
  I think Stadia never made good of any of its real promises. Did the browser solution ever get released? I guess there were probably huge technical problems but I think that was were it truly would have found its market. Imagine watching a game preview presentation, and instead of those stupid gameplay vods you could actually jump in and play a small demo yourself. I know a lot of those game preview vods are faked and stuff but for some stuff (maybe indie games especially) a small real demo should still have been possible. Furthermore that might have provided Stadia with a new income path, publishers would pay for streaming of their game previews. And consumers would have a natural interface to start using the service and maybe continue where they started on the demo. I don't know, maybe always was a pipedream but it felt like it would have been worth a try.
• jmyeet 4y ago
  There’s a lot of talk about Google abandonware here and that’s fair but this isn’t an example of that. This is an example of a dumb idea meeting it’s inevitable fate. Two words should’ve stopped this from ever launching: input lag. I get the spirit of being disruptive and trying hard things but some ideas are just stupid because they ignore physical limits. Anyone remember UBeam? Apparently our still around as SonicEnergy. That too is a fundamentally dumb idea.
• ineedasername 4y ago
  1) Non (PC) gamers had little reason to adopt it, if they were gamers at all they probably had consoles with most Stadia games available. 2) PC gamers are on average very particular about frame rate, quality, and lag and these things weren't great with Stadia. 3) The convenience of not being tied to a specific device was nice but for both #1 & #2 above the convenience came nowhere close to overcoming the biggest flaw: lack of library portability. I certainly wasn't willing to repurchase games on Stadia. We see this in reverse with Stadia users about to loose everything they purchased. If Google really wanted to do something in this space they'd repurpose the cloud GPU resources dedicated to it towards compute instances w/ Windows and/or a partnership with SteamOS that would allow users to install whatever they wanted: Epic, GOG, Steam, etc. Leave it up to the user. And leverage their streaming technology for the same convenience Stadia had provided, complete with love streaming to YouTube Twitch etc. Niche services like this exist but they're expensive. Google's scale would help solve that. Of course even that game may be lost with the arrival of the Steam Deck. I can play nearly every game I've tried in it, including many unsupported, and the experience is great. In a hotel I can connect it to a TV, or I can stream it to a larger screened but low end laptop right next to me, and many games play perfectly well even on the small screen. The advent of relatively inexpensive portable hardware like this may in another year or two render the cloud streaming game concept completely moot.
• Androider 4y ago
  Game Pass is a massive success, and PlayStation Now was just revamped to be more like it. How Stadia managed to be so close, yet so completely miss the biggest trend in gaming is frankly quite astonishing. I remember Google was talking up how you'd be able to watch a game stream on YouTube, then with a single click "fork" the game into your own instance and continue playing. Or even just basic things like watching a game trailer and being able to jump into a playable demo. But they didn't realize any of that, instead they went with the most conservative possible approach of selling games for $60, which is a non-starter in a world of constant sales and where Game Pass already exists. It's like if YouTube was a platform where every video was $1 to watch, how successful would that have been? I also think if Google shuts down Stadia instead of pivoting into a Game Pass like service, the reputational damage to GCP alone will be more than whatever the cost of Stadia is.
• obert 4y ago
  me think they will repurpose it and pivot to Google Verse before giving up
• alasdair_ 4y ago
  The stadia tech is remarkably good but I still don’t understand what their target market is. They seem to be targeting people who don’t want the expense of buying a gaming pc or a console but, for some reason, also have extremely good high bandwidth, low-latency broadband. The intersection of these two groups seems remarkably small.
  • cuteboy19 4y ago
    The people who have extremely low latency internet are all behind a corp or acad firewall
• bparsons 4y ago
  I recently logged onto Stadia to check it out. I was surprised at how well the entire thing worked. As a proof of concept, it showed me that this type of technology will replace consoles and gaming rigs in the very near future. Every game ran perfectly on full settings. Loading time was fast, no glitches or noticeable delay in control response. That however, does not mean that Stadia will be the platform that mainstreams the technology. It will probably have to be Steam, Microsoft or Sony to finally do that.
• reset-password 4y ago
  Hah. I've had an alert set up for "Stadia cancelled" since the day it was announced. The only surprise is that it took this long.
• literallyWTF 4y ago
  Is anyone surprised? Google literally can’t commit to anything. They only survive off their ad revenue and ever diminishing brandname. Any bets on the next failed Google venture?
• ratherbefuddled 4y ago
  The technology has been rock solid for me. It really is good enough to be a console killer anywhere there is fibre. The failure here is marketing and under investing in AAA games. If they'd poured money into publishers other than just Ubi or partnered with Valve on making steam libraries playable it could have changed the industry particularly given the supply chain issues with gaming pc components. What a waste.
• UIUC_06 4y ago
  "Scary" -- today's leading Condescending word. "Change is scary" coming along right behind. How TF do they know what you find "scary" or not? Or does it just let them weasel out of the fact that you just don't believe them?
• imwillofficial 4y ago
  Jesus google, is there a service you won’t put down?
• quadcore 4y ago
  Games are not content like music and movies, they are products (i.e. like startup products). Only a handfull get the vast majority of playtime. Incidentally, if you are a game developer, think of making a game like if it was the only one you'd be making. Whats so special about it?
• unity1001 4y ago
  Google's habit of shutting stuff down on people's faces is a reason why many of their services are being ignored by a lot of people. So much that it is hurting them even in the cloud even when they promise that they wont 'deprecate' so much stuff. https://steve-yegge.medium.com/dear-google-cloud-your-deprecation-policy-is-killing-you-ee7525dc05dc https://steve-yegge.medium.com/dear-google-cloud-your-deprec...
• j_barbossa 4y ago
  You just can't trust any Google product anymore. They shut down your account by mistake and it's almost impossible to get it back. Or they shut down an entire service and all value you had in there is gone.
• kernal 4y ago
  Remember the constant rumours that Google Cloud was being shut down? Ahh, good times. What ever happened to those rumours and the suckers that propagated that rumour?
  • kimbernator 4y ago
    It's a little unfair to put it this way given Google's track record with discontinuing products and services.
    • kernal 4y ago
      Not really. Microsoft has shut down and killed a significant number of services and products.
• sailorganymede 4y ago
  I remember applying to do engineering there and not getting a reply. Fair ‘nuf!
• AtNightWeCode 4y ago
  This is what so depressing about the CS biz. Any senior developer can provide the data that firmly explains why a product like Stadia does not work. Still, some of these “beyond belief” garbage marketing people think that somehow, they are going to circumvent basic physics principles. Fire everybody involved.
  • jibe 4y ago
    They pay full price per game to stream is Stadia's problem, not physics. It technically works very well. They just never even came close to a compelling business model. I use the Xbox streaming all the time, it is works very well. What makes it work is it comes bundled with Game Pass - so you can download and game in the library, or stream most of them. Streaming is an amazing way to try games without committing to multi-GB downloads. Saves time, disk space, and bandwidth when you are a dabbler.
    • AtNightWeCode 4y ago
      Never heard of XBox streaming. The lag on Stadia was ominent from the get go and basic calculus tells why.
• indymike 4y ago
  Safe bet: Google discontinuing an service with a smaller user base.
• sidcool 4y ago
  Any idea why Stadia didn't catch up? It never went live in my country.
• deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
• thdespou 4y ago
  Hey if that is true it sucks as I have a few good games there.
• csmpltn 4y ago
  The bottleneck with Cloud Gaming is physical hardware (GPUs). You need both a dedicated GPU to run the actual game, but also a fast CPU (or expensive FPGAs) to stream the video to your thin clients. GPUs are expensive, power hungry, heat up quickly, take up space, and can't be shared across multiple players. As a Cloud Gaming provider, you need to invest heavy capital into distributed hardware across the globe, before you make your first cent. This makes this business non-viable for all but a small handful of players in this space. Cloud Gaming providers have been trying to get around the hardware bottlenecks by introducing various optimizations (time sharing, like with old mainframes) - at the expense of flexibility and the user's experience. Your users pay a monthly subscription, but get various limits imposed on them to allow for the other players to get enough GPU time and maintain fairness. As a Cloud Gaming provider, on-top of the GPU bottleneck, you're also going to spend a lot on bandwidth (real-time streaming at high resolutions). Your clients also need a good internet connection to enjoy a seamless experience (which is still a precious commodity, in large parts of the world). Finally, you need to offer your subscriptions at a reasonable price. If the price you're charging is too high, your clients might as-well just save up for a new PC/GPU for a couple of months and buy their own machine from which they can play and cut off the middleman entirely. Without solving the hardware bottleneck problem - Cloud Gaming becomes too expensive to run, as it can't scale to serve everybody the way something like Netflix does efficiently. This seems like a fundamental problem with this business that has brought down multiple big players in the Cloud Gaming world already. Cloud Gaming sounds like an impossible business to run in 2022.
  • dakial1 4y ago
    > As a Cloud Gaming provider, you need to invest heavy capital into distributed hardware across the globe, before you make your first cent. This makes this business non-viable for all but a small handful of players in this space. Wouldn't that make the perfect case for a Cloud Provider, like Google, to do it? If it is not using the machine for gaming it can use it for it's own cloud capacity/elasticity.
• kernal 4y ago
  The Stadia Twitter account is having fun with this: >Just a heads up >Old coworker of mine is now one of the social managers for Google. They had a pretty large seminar in California this past weekend, and long story short you now can play Wavetale at no additional cost on Stadia Pro until August 1: https://goo.gle/3zk8wjY https://goo.gle/3zk8wjY
• sidibe 4y ago
  I love how half the people in any Stadia thread are always assuring me the latency is awful when I use it regularly and it works great.