Google responds to stadium complaints, says match announcements "up to publishers"

General
Google responds to stadium complaints, says match announcements "up to publishers"

Earlier this week, Google added Gylt and Metro Exodus to its Stadia Pro free game lineup on February 1, while two others-Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration and Samurai Showdown-will be 31, will be removed; Gylt and Metro Exodus were previously announced for the platform, although no dates were given, and a very large thread on Reddit was created to discuss the last "new game announcement/release, feature update, or real This update was fairly trivial, as people were complaining that it had been 40 days since the last "community update.

It didn't seem like a big step forward for a platform struggling to find its footing, and a Reddit response from community manager GraceFromGoogle said, "I understand where your frustration is coming from" but there was no further information to share.

According to GamesIndustry, a Google representative refuted the Reddit complaint and said the Stadia team provides weekly updates on the Stadia Community forum. However, as with GraceFromGoogle's response, the statement contained little else.

"We understand your desire to hear more specifics about the game. After all, that is what the game is all about. Of course, not all of the 120 titles will be presented by the stadia team. This is because, just as with the exclusive content that appears in stadia, it is up to the publishers to announce their IP/game and on which platform it will appear.

"There are many reasons for the timing of game announcements, including scheduled promotions and events, title readiness, proximity to the first playable demo, and shareholder requirements. We work closely with our publishing and development partners to support them every step of the way, and we look forward to sharing some of the exclusive games coming to Stadia in the near future."

The 120 new games mentioned by the Google representative were announced earlier this month, but no titles or release targets were set: Google is "tracking over 120 games coming to Stadia in 2020, and in the first half of this year alone, at launch We are targeting more than 10 games that will only be playable in stadia," stating only that.

We said when Stadia launched that it was not ready for prime time; Stadia added achievements in late December, but more important features like 4K streaming on PC are not yet supported, and there is currently not even a firm launch date. Some Stadia owners are asking for the three-month Pro subscription included with the purchase of Stadia Premiere to be extended to six months to make up for the lack of features and communication so far.

Update: This post originally quoted GraceFromGoogle as saying that Stadia is staying "on target for 10 more games in the first half of this year alone." It has been edited to reflect the full quote.

Categories