(Reuters) – Alphabet Google said on Monday it would stop internal game development for Stadia, making the cloud-based game streaming service completely dependent on the titles of other game developers and publishers.
Stadia was launched in 2019 along with an in-house game development unit that was expected to make headlines for the platform.
The company said Monday it would close the unit due to the high costs involved in developing games that attract users.
“Creating the best games in the category from scratch takes many years and a significant investment and cost increases exponentially,” Phil Harrison, vice president and CEO of Google Stadia, said in a blog post. (bit.ly/2YDcfqQ)
Harrison also said Jade Raymond, head of Google Stadia Games and Entertainment, would leave the company to look for other opportunities.
Stadia experienced an increase in users last year after the tech giant gave away two months of free access to its premium version to players who were at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reports of Akanksha Rana and Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Edited by Aditya Soni