In a new interview with the Telegraph, Mike Nichols, Microsoft’s chief marketing officer for Xbox, gave Google props for having an infrastructure in place that could support an endeavor as ambitious as Google Stadia. That said, Nichols did not seem confident that Google would be able to deliver games on the level of companies already established in the industry.
Certainly, Microsoft has spent longer cultivating its relationships with the developers and publishers that Google will now be engaging with as it looks to bring exciting titles to Stadia. As such, Nichols indicates that while Google may have the foundation for a cloud-based platform, simply, “they don’t have the content.”
Indeed, the games confirmed for Stadia are limited, with id Software’s upcoming DOOM Eternal currently acting as the headliner for the platform. Stadia’s purported ability to stream DOOM Eternal at 4K and 60 FPS is definitely impressive, but Google will need to secure some other heavy-hitters if it wants to compete with Microsoft and Sony.
One way that it seems that the company will go about bringing games to Stadia is simply to make them itself. Announced alongside the platform, Stadia Games and Entertainment is Google’s new development studio, which is tasked with creating Stadia-exclusive games.
While this may seem a bit like jumping into the deep end, Stadia Games and Entertainment is being led by industry veteran Jade Raymond, executive producer on titles such as Assassin’s Creed 2, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, and Watch Dogs. Without question, Google will be taking production of its own Stadia titles quite seriously.
In the interview, Nichols goes on to emphasize that, regardless of the ability to stream a title, “local processing power” will continue to provide the highest quality gaming experience. The implication here is certainly that Stadia will suffer for its full commitment to streaming, and this sentiment is one that many players have echoed since Google’s announcement.
Google Stadia will launch in 2019.
Source: Wccftech
