In a recent interview with Mobilesyrup, Stadia Director of Games, Jack Buser, laid down several interesting details regarding the company’s commitment to its cloud gaming platform. Stadia’s first anniversary was just a few days ago and the interview was meant to reflect on the success that had been achieved this past year and what fans could look forward to.
What I can tell you is that we’ve built a roadmap of about 400 games in development right now from 200 developers. So when those games land, whether it’s in the calendar year of 2021 or beyond, is something that you’ll hear more from us in the future. Will there be more developers and more games on the platform? Absolutely. But frankly speaking, my team is almost done with 2021. We’re thinking about 2022 right now — that’s our focus. 2023 is really kind of where we’re aiming our sights. 2021 is in incredible shape. Hopefully, that gives you a sense of the scale of where we’re moving.
Jack Buser, Director of Games – Stadia
Jack also states that they are often asked by people concerned with Google’s track record for ‘sunsetting’ products and services whether or not they’re committed to Stadia for the long haul. In response he says “unequivocally, ‘yes.’ Just because the time horizons alone of our industry mean that we are looking many years out into the future.”
Apparently, gaming is one of the biggest businesses at Google. While it may sound a bit surprising, keep in mind that outside of Stadia, games on the Google Play Store and Let’s Play videos on Youtube make up a large chunk of their traffic, so it’s no wonder that it’s become very important to them. Companies like Sony have transformed their business models almost entirely to focus on gaming (largely out of necessity) as the gaming industry rakes in more cash than Hollywood does nowadays. While Google isn’t exactly hurting, it seems like they know where the gold is and are investing in gaming more by choice.
Stadia is also due to receive tons more exclusives over the next two years. There are currently 15 on the platform and with new partnerships like Harmonix who makes Rock Band, Supermassive, creators of Until Dawn, and more, Jack and his team expect the amount of exclusive content on Stadia to scale rapidly. “We’ve got some pretty incredible stuff in development,” he says. “I see not just the stuff launching next year, but two years from now. You’re going to see a particular aspect of our vision become increasingly more true”. Google is focused on creating games that are “Cloud Native” and have features only made possible by the power of cloud computing, so it looks like its future is bright and innovative!
