There have been rumors for a long time that Google’s Stadia streaming service has failed and that the group is considering ending the platform. A report suggests that Stadia has all but been abandoned. In the future, only the technology should remain.
Although Stadia has many fans, the game streaming service is subscribed to by comparatively few users. According to a survey, only 13 percent of the German respondents used the service in the past year. PlayStation Plus and Now, on the other hand, were used by 42 percent of respondents. Google hasn’t released any official figures for Stadia so far, so it’s unclear how many customers the service currently has.
Priority has already been lowered
Since Stadia probably did not meet the expectations of the search engine group, the end-user version is said to have been given a lower priority internally, according to Business Insider. This makes it very unlikely that Google will continue to negotiate with publishers to be able to offer new top titles on Stadia. The expenses should be kept as low as possible so that no exclusive titles are developed. Many executives are also said to have moved to other departments.
Google should no longer operate the streaming service permanently. However, the technology will continue to be used and will be marketed under the name “Google Stream”. Google apparently plans to focus more on business customers in the future and has started selling streaming technology as a white-label product.
Customers of the US network operator AT&T already have the option of playing the game “Batman: Arkham Knight” directly in their browser. Although the service is provided by AT&T itself, Stadia technology is said to be used in the background. Similar deals were also struck recently with Peloton and Bungie.