Google Halts Stadia First-Party Game Studio to Focus on Stadia as a Platform

Google late Monday announced that it is halting investments into Stadia Games & Entertainment (SG&E), its internal division tasked with the development of first-party games and content for the game streaming platform. The company announced that it will continue to invest in Stadia, including its further development, as a platform for third-party game studios, pointing users to the recent success of "Cyberpunk 2077" on the platform. Jade Raymond, the head of SG&E, has left the company.

Google reiterated that it sees streaming as the future of gaming. "Having games streamed to any screen is the future of this industry, and we'll continue to invest in Stadia and its underlying platform to provide the best cloud gaming experience for our partners and the gaming community," it stated in a blog post announcing these changes. The company also assured subscribers that it will continue to bring new games and content from third-party game developers. "You can continue playing all your games on Stadia and Stadia Pro, and we'll continue to bring new titles from third parties to the platform. We're committed to the future of cloud gaming, and will continue to do our part to drive this industry forward. Our goal remains focused on creating the best possible platform for gamers and technology for our partners, bringing these experiences to life for people everywhere," it stated.