Stadia Games and Entertainment shutting down, changing focus to partnering with third-party teams

Publish date: 2023-06-05

Updated Feb. 2 6:10 p.m. ET: Jade Raymond released a statement about her departure.

What you need to know

Stadia Games and Entertainment is Google's first-party development studios for Stadia. Led by Ubisoft veteran Jade Raymond, the organization consisted of two internally built studios, one of which is led by Shannon Studstill, formerly head of Sony Santa Monica studio. Google also acquired Typhoon Games, creators of Journey to the Savage Planet, for further first-party growth. Now it's all shutting down.

Google announced today that Stadia Games and Entertainment is being shuttered, with head Jade Raymond exiting the company. According to a report from Kotaku, around 150 developers will be losing their jobs as a result of this closure.

Google cites the time needed and expensive nature of new games as the reason for the closure, since "cost is going up exponentially" Google will instead be working to partner with third-party companies. Google will be keeping Stadia's infrastructure intact and believes this is the correct way to turn Stadia into a "long-term, sustainable business that helps grow the industry."

All Stadia games will remain playable and Google states that more titles are coming from third-party partners in the future. So if you're currently enjoying playing the best Stadia games across the internet, this isn't going to change.

Most recently, Ghost Recon: Breakpoint and WWE 2K Battlegrounds were added as free games for Stadia Pro subscribers. Meanwhile, in a truly interesting bit of timing, Journey to the Savage Planet from Typhoon Games was added to the service today.

Jade Raymond releases statement on Stadia departure

In a statement to Kotaku, Raymond said the following:

"I am proud of the team we built at Stadia Games and Entertainment, and the ground-breaking work on exclusive games for the platform. It was a difficult decision to take on a new opportunity, and I will be forever grateful to this team for everything we learned and achieved together."

Raymond hasn't commented on where she'll be going next.

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