Google responds to claims of poor Stadia communications, says it’s “up to publishers” to announce games
by Geoffrey Tim
Earlier this week, the anger from the Stadia Reddit spilled over when early adopters realised they’d been with no worthwhile updates from Google regarding the streaming platform for over 40 days. And, from a consumer perspective, I think much of that anger is justified. Google promised regular updates – not just of games that would come to Stadia, but also of new features and development updates about how the back-end streaming was improving. While Google has, admittedly, communicated on the official forums and on Reddit, they’ve said an awful lot of nothing, leading to the perception of “radio silence.
Addressing that thread, community manager GraceFromGoogle responded, by saying, well, an awful lot of nothing.
“All the concerns you’ve brought to the table are completely valid, and I understand where your frustrations are coming from. Nobody likes to be left in the dark. While I don’t have product updates to share right at this second, I can promise you that I have been, and will continue taking feedback posted to r/Stadia and other channels, like the Stadia Community Forum, back to the Stadia team.”
Now, speaking to GamesIndustry.Biz, A Google Spokesperson has addressed the lack of updates – particularly about games – and well. Yeah.
“We understand the desire to hear more specifics on the games,” Google told GI.Biz. “After all, that is what it is about: the games. Of course, not all 120 titles will be announced by the Stadia team, as we leave it up to the publishers to make the announcement about their IP/games, and which platforms it will appear on — just as we will do with the exclusive content coming to Stadia.”
Are they…are they really suggesting that it’s solely up to the publishers of games to announce? I mean, Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft regular put out videos and information about the games – third and first-party – that are coming to their platforms. Google seems to suggest that they’ll only really do promotion for their own first-party games and exclusives.
“There are a lot of reasons for the time of those game announcements — anything from planned promotions or events, title readiness, proximity to first playable demo, shareholder requirements, etc. We continue to work closely with our publishing and developing partners and are here to support them in all areas. We are excited to share more about some of the exclusive games coming to Stadia soon.”
It’s such an odd stance to take, especially when the company is being lambasted for its general lack of communication. It’s passing the buck on a grand scale; Google making the tech and just sort of handing it off for others to do the heavy lifting. Which, I suppose, is a bit on brand.