Just over a year after Google announced it would be restructuring its approach to the Stadia game streaming platform, the company is moving forward with a new plan that involves using the service in deals with Bungie, Capcom, and even some companies outside of the gaming space, like Peloton.
According to reports from Business Insider, Google has “deprioritized” Stadia as a consumer platform and is further pivoting to using the technology behind the service and creating deals with partners.
This new project, going by Google Stream, specifically focuses on offering high-definition broadcasting options for games to potential partners, showing that Google is more interested in how it can use its investment in cloud services without necessarily continuing with its own gaming projects.
This has led to multiple deals with companies, including AT&T and Capcom, with AT&T using Stadia’s technology to allow players access to Batman: Arkham Knight via web browser and Capcom partnering with Google to run demos on its own website using a similar method. A larger deal with Bungie reportedly was making “considerable headway,” but now it is unclear if Google will still be involved in any future projects after Sony’s acquisition of Bungie for $3.6 billion.
Additionally, it seems like Peloton’s first game release, Lanebreak, is actually powered by Stream, though Business Insider was unable to confirm that with Peloton.
Multiple current and former employees told Business Insider that securing deals to help out other companies with their technology and continued proof-of-concept work on Google Stream has become the internal priority, with one employee noting that only about 20 percent of all work is being used on Stadia as a consumer platform.
This is in line with the company’s original downsizing for Stadia last February, which included closing its internal game studios in Montreal and Los Angeles.
Stadia will still receive a steady income of new titles that were part of previous deals, with one Google spokesperson telling The Verge that 100 or more new titles will be added to the service’s pre-existing library of more than 200 games throughout 2022. Most of these will not be bigger titles, however, and exclusives are unlikely to be brought up again.
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