THIS YEAR, HOW MANY GAMES ARE COMING? Google Stadia committed to adding at least 100 new games on the platform each year for the first two full years of its existence. That was a target that Google accomplished in 2020 and 2021. And there are currently about 300 games available on Stadia.
However, that objective has been subtly abandoned as of 2022. Google made a public commitment earlier in the year to release 100 new games on its platform, but it is quite evident at this time that we won’t see that goal achieved.
Every week, new games are introduced to Stadia, and we chronicle these additions in our Stadia Changelog section. Less than 50 games have been released so far this year, and only about 20 more are now reported to be in the works. At this moment, it appears that 75 to 80 new games will be released at most, and 100 games are all but impossible until at least a few new titles are released each week through the end of the year.
In fact, this is so evident that even Google is aware of it. After featuring it only a few times on both This Week on Stadia and in the Stadia Savepoint series, the firm silently withdrew the mention of delivering 100 games to the platform from its different blog posts months ago. It’s obvious that Google used caution when phrasing the phrase “anticipated to arrive.”
These are just a few of the 100 games from both large and small companies that will be available on Stadia this year.
WHAT BIG RELEASES ARE THERE? The caliber of games launched on Stadia is a major source of debate.
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Only a small number of new games that can be regarded as major releases have been added to Google Stadia so far this year. The only significant releases that immediately come to mind for 2022 are FIFA 23, Saints Row, and Rainbow Six Extraction. The other two have received negative reviews, and one of those has yet to be released. However, none of the biggest games of the year, including Elden Ring, Spiderman: Remastered, Dying Light 2, Stray, and Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, have even the slightest chance of being released on Stadia.
Additionally, Google brought up some fascinating games that have been planned for 2022. Before Stadia Games and Entertainment was shut down, the horror game The Quarry was planned to be an exclusive for Stadia. It was published over the summer to excellent reviews. High on Life, another game that was rumored to be an exclusive, will launch in December with little possibility of being exclusive to Stadia but lots of excitement from players on Microsoft’s platform.
Although major releases don’t always make a platform great, they are essential to generating player interest in it. In the end, they are the ones that sell that platform. For one game, people would frequently purchase a complete console. That includes formerly devoted Stadia users who are being compelled to switch to other platforms in order to enjoy the biggest new games.
Remember that we are only discussing new franchises and companies who haven’t yet transferred games to Stadia.
WHAT ABOUT THE SEQUENCES? The absence of sequels to existing games on Stadia is just as important as the absence of new games.
Large properties like NBA 2K, Borderlands, and Football Manager were among Stadia’s first releases. More also came during the course of the following few years. EA also brought their popular Star Wars game, Jedi: Fallen Order, as well as Madden and FIFA on Stadia.
Since then, Take-Two has opted out of using Stadia for additional NBA 2K releases, Borderlands doesn’t appear to be making a comeback, Football Manager has only released one game on the platform, EA has opted out of releasing the most recent Madden game, and Jedi: Fallen Orders sequel doesn’t appear to be making an appearance either. What’s the point of purchasing a Stadia game if you have to switch platforms to play the sequel?
And to further emphasize this point, even Ubisoft is skipping a significant Stadia release.
Assassins Creed: Mirage is the most recent installment in the series that essentially launched Stadia, however it is not a direct sequel to Valhalla. A few years after being employed as a test bed for the technologies that would become Stadia, Assassins Creed Odyssey is abandoning the platform. It is official that Assassin’s Creed: Mirage won’t be playing at Stadia.
It’s awful!
ARE THE BUGS FIXES ANYWHERE? Being a Stadia player in 2022 is also immensely difficult due to how little attention Stadia games typically receive. It’s not difficult to locate a game that is bug-ridden or lacking in features or expansions.
To be clear, issues occur across all platforms and are a growing problem for the whole gaming sector. But the issue is made worse on Stadia.
The multiplayer in Risk of Rain 2 has been unusable for weeks. Expansions were promised to humanity months ago, but nothing has materialized. Human Fall Flat and Golf With Your Friends both lack all the extensions that other platforms provide. Cross-play for World War Z was promised months ago, but it has yet to appear. Games on Stadia frequently fall short of expectations or remain broken despite developer silence for weeks or even months. Even though Google cannot be held directly responsible for that issue, players are constantly affected by it.
If you’re a Stadia player experiencing issues, get in contact! We’ve started recording games with broken features or other issues in our weekly Stadia Changelog column.
WHAT RESULTS THE FUTURE? Formerly, Google Stadia was a really promising product. Even though it frequently stumbled, it performed well and still does, made grand promises, and has remained a terrific site to play the games that it does really offer.
However, the only Stadia-related query that is now relevant is What comes next? And the optimism in that query is gradually fading.
Stadia continues to lose all that is positive. It debuted with a force that consoles couldn’t equal and made access to it much more affordable. However, despite still being considered next-gen, it has fallen behind in features three years later. Take-Two, Ubisoft, and EA were among the big names it signed, but their new game releases are gradually dwindling. Furthermore, Stadia’s large, platform-exclusive feature promises have either fallen well short of reality or never materialized at all.
Can Stadia survive? Really, it’s still difficult to say. Contrary to what the meme implies, there is undoubtedly no product planned to take the place of Stadia, making a complete shutdown more damaging for players. It is also contrary to Google’s regular pattern for killing off products until a substitute is available. Immersive Stream for Games, as reporter Kyle Bradshaw has noted, unquestionably increases Stadia’s potential going forward, but we really have no idea what comes next for that particular product either.
To put it mildly, Stadia’s future is uncertain.
MORE ABOUT STADIA Update: A potential inaccuracy about Google’s promise of 100 games in 2022 was fixed after the piece was published. Although we have some confidence that Google may have taken down some references to this data, it is still available in a number of blog postings. We voluntarily removed the inaccurate mention.
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