One of the observations people are doing when it comes to Google Stadia is that it could be yet another pet project for the Mountain View giant that could disappear in a few years.
It has already happened with Google Glass, the AR device that has been discontinued even before a public release, and Google Plus, the Facebook-like social network.
Anyway, Phil Harrison, head of the project, has reassured those people in an interview with Kotaku, saying that the company is investing so much it’s impossible it’ll go anywhere anytime soon.
“I understand the concern. But I think that all you have to do is look at the level of investment that we have made and continue to make in Stadia. This is not a trivial project by any means,” he said.
“This is a very, very significant cross-company effort that isn’t just my team, but it’s also across YouTube, it’s across our technical infrastructure and networking team. It represents thousands of people who are working on this business.”
Sure there are a few differences with the previous cases mentioned.
Google Stadia is not a project conducted by Google alone but is also reaching partners around the world, so disappear in one year or two would compromize the work of years (six years, said Ubisoft’s Yves Guillemot) and contracts of millions.
On top of that, this time around the project is not being run by a single, sperimental unit in Google but it’s comprehensive of all the best and most important technology at disposal for the Mountain View giant (YouTube included).
Finally, Google Stadia Games and Entertainment has also been set up, a studio that’ll work with third party teams and will also produce first party exclusive titles for the platform.
So, while it’s still very early days, there’s something you could say is quite reassuring about the will of the company to stay in the business for a long while. And looking at the Internet connection you’ll be required to play, it’s sure enough a long term project.
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