Home » esports » Why Stadia was ultimately a failure

Google Stadia promised a lot when the concept was made known, and its launch was highly anticipated by gamers all over the world. It followed a simple premise: to make high-quality gaming available and accessible to everyone. This would be achieved as it would eliminate the need for players to have high-end equipment such as specific gaming computers.

As we know, though, the potential and the possibilities that were promised ultimately failed to come true. Google Stadia simply failed to deliver what many had been anticipating with its launch. It has since fallen into the darkness of a competitive industry. But why did this happen? What are some of the factors that contributed to its failings?

Lack of content

A lack of content simply contributed to the downfall of Google Stadia, as players were not given a huge array of choice when it came to finding titles to play. While many may have wanted to play their favorite mobile games and internet-based titles, such as those that can be found in the library, they were ultimately left disappointed by what they found. They were given an unimpressive collection of games to choose from, with most of them being old or offering outdated features.

Poor marketing

Although there was a lot of hype around the gadget, those outside of the gaming sphere would have been forgiven if they had even heard of Google Stadia. The marketing campaigns for the device were poor in comparison to many of the others that have been created for game platforms, thus making it rather unknown. Additionally, it was not as accessible as others, thus making it limited in terms of the audience that it could target.

Technical issues

If a poor library of games was not enough to hamper Google Stadia’s chances of being successful, then the fact that many of the titles encountered technical issues when they were played certainly did not help. Users had reported that there were several bugs, glitches, and severe lag issues at times, while the hardware used meant they could not provide a seamless experience for many. An uphill battle that was always going to go one way.

Expensive model

Given that it was based on a subscription model, there may have been some that were a little hesitant about committing to the platform, something that ultimately ended up being true. A monthly cost that was deemed high did not cover everything as games with better graphics would cost more to play, while the collection offered paid games that were available for free on other platforms. It made spending money on the subscription far from justifiable, hence why it would end up failing.

Verdict

Given the factors that were outlined above, it is hardly a shock that Google Stadia had failed to achieve what had been promised and expected by the gaming community. Admittedly, the industry is extremely competitive and established brands have managed to show how to be successful. Still, the fact that a company like Google – a tech giant – managed to get things so wrong is probably the biggest surprise of them all.