Google Blames ZeniMax Acquisition for Closure of Stadia's Devteams
According to a recent report from Kotaku, the closure of studios developing games for Google Stadia could have been influenced by Microsoft's buying streak and recent acquisitions of ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks.
Earlier, this month, Google informed the media of the closure of studios that developed games exclusive to its cloud-gaming platform, Google Stadia. As it explained, Stadia Games and Entertainment division is being closed down by rising costs and further investment is simply not worth it. As it turns out, this was not entirely true. According to Kotaku, citing their anonymous sources, Google Stadia CEO Phil Harrison admitted that a factor in the decision to close studios in Los Angeles and Montreal was the purchase of ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks by Microsoft.
It is unclear exactly how ZeniMax acquisition influenced the final decision to close Stadia's studios. Harrison also mentions that "rising game development costs" resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic were a major influence on the studios' closure.
It is also known that the decision came as quite a surprise for the employees of the closed studios, as only a few weeks earlier they had received praise for great progress from Harrison. This may indicate that the plan to close the studios came rather suddenly.
Nevertheless, Stadia seems to be growing, judging from Google's recent announcement, in which the company announced the arrival of over a hundred games on its cloudgaming platform by the end of 2021.
