Google Stadia Vice President and GM Phil Harrison has revealed that his overlords have pulled the plug on their game development studio, Stadia Games and Entertainment. The studio, which was headed by industry veteran Shannon Studstill and popular ex-Ubisoft producer Jade Raymond, was established only around a year ago to develop exclusive experiences for the Stadia platform. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that any of its projects will be coming to light.
“Creating best-in-class games from the ground up takes many years and significant investment, and the cost is going up exponentially,” Harrison explained. “Given our focus on building on the proven technology of Stadia as well as deepening our business partnerships, we’ve decided that we will not be investing further in bringing exclusive content from our internal development team SG&E, beyond any near-term planned games.”
“With the increased focus on using our technology platform for industry partners, Jade Raymond has decided to leave Google to pursue other opportunities. We greatly appreciate Jade’s contribution to Stadia and wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors. Over the coming months, most of the SG&E team will be moving on to new roles. We’re committed to working with this talented team to find new roles and support them.”
Harrison goes on to clarify that Google Stadia is a proven platform that is here to stay. The company will continue to expand its efforts to help developers and publishers adopt its technology, which allows gamers to stream and play games on compatible Android phone/tablets, as well as Google’s Chromecast Ultra and Chrome browser.