Splash Damage stopped development on the team-based shooter "Dirty Bomb" in 2018, but has been busy with "Gears Tactics" and "Halo: The Master Chief Collection" since then. Earlier this week, the studio announced that it is also working on a new game exclusively for Stadia.

Details of the project have yet to be revealed, but CEO Richard Jolly hinted during a Stadia Q&A that it will be a multiplayer-focused game of some sort. The studio's forte, and past titles include "Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory," "Quake Wars," and "Brink": Jolly hinted that Stadia's new game will not stray too far from these roots.

"Our games have always been about bringing people together, which is something we really value as a studio. We started by pushing team play with shooters, so when we choose our next project, whether it's a particular franchise or platform, we always go back to the goal of 'how can we help these projects and platforms spark friendship?' '" says Jolly.

"With Stadia, it quickly became perfectly clear to us that platforms remove friction and allow people to instantly connect and play with each other."

"We think we're creating something fun, unique, and leverages the best features of Stadia. It's a little different from ours, but it has all the features that make the Splash Damage game great.

Stadia appears to be trying to recover from a launch that was not as impressive as hoped: it also announced the Stadia Makers Program this week, which it said is "the first step toward expanding self-publishing for experienced independent game developers." The new program includes a partnership with Unity to provide technical support to developers, as well as Stadia development kits and funding.

"As a matter of fact, the number of studios that applied to be part of our launch far exceeded the number we could help at that point. Thanks to everyone who applied, for their ambition, patience, and support. Months later, we have improved our tools and established new partnerships to work with more independent studios."

"We are now working with more independent studios."

The program has been a great success, and we are very pleased with the results.

The initial rollout of the program seeks developers using Unity 2019.3 or later who plan to release games in 2020 or 2021. More information and application links are available at stadia.dev.