Google says it is still "committed to games as an industry"

Google is "positioning itself as a go-to tech partner for publishers of live-service video games" by offering its cloud gaming tech to other companies.

According to Axios, the tech megacorp is "pitching its Cloud program as proof it remains invested in gaming", despite shuttering its cloud gaming service, Stadia, back in January.

"It was at that moment when we basically had to make decisions about Stadia that we realized that, at Google Cloud, we are at our best when we’re helping other people build this stuff, not necessarily building it ourselves," Google Cloud’s director of game industry solutions, Jack Buser, told Axios.

This includes offering what Axios calls a "three-part Google cloud bundle", which includes servers, cloud storage data management, and "searchable player and game analytics", which Google thinks will help live service titles manage surges in popularity. Current clients include Ubisoft, Unity, and Niantic.

"Google is absolutely committed to games that are such a big part of our messaging," Buser added. "When we made the decision with Stadia, we were just like, Look, we are committed to games as an industry."

Interestingly, though, this bundle does not include cloud streaming itself.

"We are not offering that streaming option, because it was tied to Stadia itself," Buser later told Axios. "So, unfortunately, when we decided to not move forward with Stadia, that sort of [business-to-business] offering could no longer be offered as well."

"Stadia is not shutting down", Google insisted when asked outright on Twitter if a closure was imminent back in June 2022. Just three months later, the beleaguered cloud gaming service announced it would close on 18th January 2023 - news even developers still hard at work on Google Stadia projects had not been expecting. Stadia refunded those who made their hardware purchases via its Google Store.