Xbox Wasn’t the Reason Google Killed Stadia
When the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK blocked Microsoft’s ABK deal from going through last week, they cited the burgeoning cloud gaming industry as one of the reasons behind their ruling. One important player fueling this decision, of course, is Google’s recently defunct cloud gaming platform, Stadia. Just in case the CMA’s decision was unclear, no, Stadia’s death isn’t Xbox’s problem.
Where Stadia Went Wrong
If you’ve been listening to the latest reports, you might walk away thinking that Xbox was the reason Stadia died. Now, that might sound shocking to some, since Stadia’s business was so healthy before Xbox stole all its thunder, right? Right?
Wait a moment, what’s this? A list of all the good stuff Stadia did leading up to its shocking and completely unexpected demise? Let’s take a look:
- Botched their initial product launch
- Consistently showed off “good stuff” that fell short of greatness
- Closed down their first-party studios before even getting a beta game up and running
- Failed to reach internal player projections by “hundreds of thousands” of people
- Lackluster marketing efforts from start to finish
- Slow trickle of new games for three years running
- Don’t forget about Google’s omnipresent reputation for killing products before they have time to mature and grow.
Google: Commissioner, Creator, and Cremator
Misstep after misstep wound the path toward Stadia’s ultimate demise. But if you ask around, it was Microsoft’s fault, starting with the Bethesda acquisition. Big, bad, monopolistic Microsoft bought up some talent, launched their own cloud gaming service (which is still in beta, mind you), and sucked all the competition out of the market, leaving Google with nothing but a server farm packed with cold cloud gaming racks collecting dust.
No, Xbox isn’t the reason Stadia was shut down. Google is, plain and simple. Google made repeated mistakes. Google failed to invest in their gaming service and studios, despite repeated assurance that none of it was going anywhere anytime soon. Google overpromised and underdelivered time and time again. Google, Google, Google.
So if Google axed their own gaming endeavors, what’s the CMA ruling actually about? It’s hard to say for sure, but we know what it’s not about — cloud gaming.
The CMA’s Cloud Gaming Industry
When it comes to leading cloud gaming platforms, GeForce NOW with 25 million users and Boosteroid with 4 million users were promised access to ABK games by Microsoft. Xbox also penned a deal with major console competitor, Nintendo, which will probably use some kind of cloud gaming solution to deliver ABK’s high-fidelity titles to the low-powered Switch, as well.
If these platforms don’t constitute as the “cloud gaming industry” the CMA referred to in their ruling, what does? PlayStation’s half-baked cloud service that’s still getting off the ground, or Amazon Luna, which has the smallest regional footprint of any service on the market?
No, clearly this decision had nothing to do with cloud gaming at all. If it did, the CMA would not only approve of the ABK deal immediately, but they would also encourage PlayStation to bring their games back to GeForce NOW and officially support Boosteroid. Because at the end of the day, widespread support for the best cloud gaming platforms on the planet is better for consumers, which is exactly who organizations like the Competition and Markets Authority are designed to protect.
