Google’s Stadia suffered another large blow last week. John Justice, Head of Product, left the company. However, I’m not certain that this spells absolute doom for Stadia. In fact, I think it could be refreshing for the company to get away from those who helped set it up. I’m not saying that to be nasty. Stadia had an abysmal launch, and that wasn’t anyone’s fault in particular. I think it was more of a culmination of issues that simply got ahead of everyone. I actually think that moving away from those people who launched the platform will give it the space it needs to grow and become its own thing in the gaming space.
Stadia got off to a bad start for the same reason that people hate buying digital games, you don’t own the games you’re buying from a digital platform. There’s definitely a legal matter in here somewhere, but right now you’re basically stuck if a game becomes unavailable on the platform you purchased it on. You don’t own a physical copy, so you can’t do anything about it. The same is true on Stadia. You buy the right to stream the game, but you can’t ever hold your copy. It’s an ethereal copy on a server somewhere that could one day disappear if Google doesn’t care about it enough.
However, I do think that Stadia has a home for some people out there. It’s a great streaming platform because you can use it across pretty much any device. I love using it to play Destiny 2. I know that’s a free-to-play title, but there will be others who enjoy playing paid games on all of their screens for such a little monthly cost. When you add in that there are free games each month, then you can see that actually, the service isn’t terrible. It is still finding its niche though, and that’s going to take time.
With the benefit of hindsight and a lack of those who have a regimented view of the platform, I think it still has a chance to evolve and become something that people really identify with. It definitely needs more time though.
