Google Stadia has a lot of issues, and the biggest among them is a lack of games- more specifically, a lack of exclusives. While Google have a temporary fix for that in the form of timed third party exclusives, what they really need is first party content. They already have one studio for that, led by Jade Raymond, and now, they’ve added another first party studio to their Stadia Games and Entertainment umbrella.
As they recently announced, the second studio, based in Playa Vista, California, will be led by Shannon Studstill. For those who know, Studstill, who has been at PlayStation for many years, was the head of SIE Santa Monica up until her new position at Google. She served as an executive producer on God of War (2018), and had a huge role to play in the franchise’s revival.
“The new Playa Vista studio will focus on delivering exclusive games, using new gameplay mechanics, creative ways to play together and unique interaction models that we’re just starting to explore,” writes Raymond, VP and Head of Stadia Games and Entertainment. “While we’re not ready to share specific game plans yet, rest assured we are listening to what gamers want and adding our own Stadia twists to create new IP and experiences.”
While it’s going to take a long while for the studio to be fully set up and staffed, and then for them to create something entirely new from scratch, this is what Google needs to be doing to turn the Stadia ship around, so it’s good to see them taking the right steps.
Not too long ago, Raymond claimed that down the line, Stadia will be receiving new first party exclusives every year. Read more on that through here.