It is said that it is going to be "in front of the stage" and "behind the scenes".
Stadia, a Google cloud gaming platform that disbanded its game development department last year and suffered the departure of departmental executives, has recently finally attracted the attention of Google executives — they want to revive their cloud gaming services, but in a different way.
According to foreign media Kotaku, a person familiar with the matter revealed that since the official dissolution of the game research and development department last year, Stadia's focus has been shifted to the "white label" transaction with partners, "Stadia currently only 20% of the focus is on the game part."
The white label transaction here refers to the fact that Stadia will provide technical and operational services to other companies, that is, Stadia's main business will shift behind the scenes to become the technology and operation provider of other companies' products.
Facts seem to be validating this information further. Last year AT&T released a cloud version of Batman: Arkham Knight, provided by Google Stadia, but the game did not join the Stadia store. Capcom, another Stadia partner, is also considering launching a new game demo site that will use Stadia's cloud gaming services.
Stadia has also partnered with sports brand Peleton. Peleton's fitness mini-game on a fitness bike is exactly the technology of Stadia — but it comes under the name Google Stream. According to people familiar with the matter, Google Stream will be the new name for Stadia to provide cloud gaming services for other companies in the future.
Combined with Google's internal adjustments, Stadia's head Phil Harrison is no longer reporting to Rick Osterlo, deputy director of the hardware department, but to Google's deputy director of subscription services, which is seen by industry insiders as A veritable internal demotion of Stadia.
That may be because Google isn't happy with Stadia's two-year results, but those decisions aren't the intention of the employees who are now working for Stadia, and people familiar with the matter told the media, "A lot of people inside want it to continue to operate, and they're working hard to make sure it continues — but they're not the ones who write the checks." ”
These "rumors" have also directly led to the uneasiness of users of the Stadia platform. If Google gradually changes the way Stadia exists to some extent, no one can guarantee that the platform will disappear completely in the near future. Even if it is maintained in its current way, it is unknown whether Stadia's game lineup is still worth relying on players and whether it is worth subscribing to membership services.
So far, though, Stadia hasn't responded to the revelations from people familiar with the matter. Instead, Stadia took the lead in giving plans for the coming year — officials tweeted that they would introduce more than 100 games in 2022 and continue to offer more free-to-play services to members.