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Google is targeting at least ten Stadia exclusive games for release in the first half of 2020. The Stadia game streaming service is notable for its near-total lack of exclusives, aside from Gylt, and Google hopes to rectify this in the coming months.
The worrying part for gamers across the world is that it doesn’t sound as if Google is going to magically cook these games up in-house. Google’s Stadia Games and Entertainment studio was only formed the same month as Stadia launched, while Typhoon Studios was acquired in December. That leaves next to no time to develop exclusives within the next couple of years, let alone the next six months.
Instead, it would appear Google is intending to go shopping in order to pad out the library of Stadia games. Google has plans to launch more than 120 games on Stadia throughout 2020, of which at least 10 will either be exclusives or timed exclusives.
“We have a lot more planned and will continue to work hard toward delighting gamers with our vision for Stadia,” enthuses the Stadia team. “Looking at our upcoming lineup, we are tracking more than 120 games coming to Stadia in 2020, and are targeting more than ten games in the first half of this year alone that will be only available on Stadia when they launch. We’re working with our partners to share more on those games soon.”
We’re expecting plenty of moving and shaking from Stadia over the next few months as Google tries to re-establish the product. This thing ain’t dead yet, that’s for sure – Google will be coming at this hard for the foreseeable future, beginning with the ‘free’ version which will roll out later this year. Google has also outlined new futures for Q1 2020 such as browser-based 4K gaming, support for more Android phones, and wireless gameplay on a PC when using a Stadia gamepad.
On top of this, we’re beginning to see deals, such as here in the UK where ISP BT has partnered with Google to give away a free Google Stadia Premiere Edition with customers who upgrade to Superfast Broadband 2, Ultrafast Fibre 100, or Ultrafast Fibre 250 services.
It’s been a bumpy start for Google Stadia since the launch of its paid Premier editions in November 2019, although we’re beginning to see a push to turn it around. Stadia’s launch made for uncomfortable, if somewhat predictable, viewing. Breaking into cloud-based game streaming isn’t easy. Many have tried, all have failed, and Google exacerbated its issues with a lack of forward planning, poor messaging, broken promises and a weak line-up of games. There are a ton of downsides to game streaming and it’s critical that everything outside of the core concept delivers on every level. Stadia hasn’t, leaving Google facing an uphill battle for recognition in the games industry, but one which it certainly has deep enough pockets to fund for years to come.