Just in case there was any doubt about it, Google’s own games will be exclusive to the Stadia, the new streaming-only platform Google announced earlier this week. This means that if you were hoping for a version of Google’s games, such as those built by Google’s first party studio headed by Jade Raymond, to be available on PCs or consoles so you don’t have to play them via streaming, you’re out of luck.
Speaking to GameSpot, Google VP Phil Harrison (who has previously also worked with PlayStation and Xbox) noted that when he joined Google, he was adamant on the importance of exclusives to sell the value of a new gaming platform.
“It was a conversation that I had with Google leadership before I joined the company.” Harrison said. “[My] point of view was in order to really deliver on the promise of this platform, we had to build our own games. We had to build our own experiences, and that was a very fundamental, strategic direction that we needed to move in.”
He continued, “I understand that [for a gamer] the word ‘exclusive’ can sometimes be a challenging terminology. [I would] rather we moved the narrative towards [games] that are built specifically for a data center. And if those games also show up on other streaming platforms, that’s okay, because what that means is that the developers are starting to innovate and think about the future and [build] a 21st century game, rather than a 20th century game.”
However, GameSpot notes that he immediately clarified that any games Google makes will “obviously [be] only” on Stadia, so it seems that the latter part of his comment may have been more aimed towards a third party developers who may be looking to develop Stadia games.
Regardless, if you want to play the next game from Jade Raymond, make your peace with subscribing to Google’s Stadia service.
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