Stadia first-party exclusives planned, but not until long after launch

Google Stadia will be launched on 19 November in numerous countries, including the UK and US, and a stack of games will be available for purchase from the off. However, none of them will be in-house Google exclusives.

That's because, while Google has formed its own first-party studio, it is nowhere near ready to publish its own titles.

The company hired ex-Ubisoft executive, Jade Raymond, as its vice president of Stadia games and entertainment division and put her in charge of the project. She confirmed in a recent interview that while first-party exclusives are hugely important for the platform:

"It's very important for first-party games, in my opinion, to be games that wouldn't be possible on any other platform," she told Gamesindustry.biz.

"I think that's what's really exciting and why we're building out the first-party teams."

However, the results won't be publicly seen for quite a while:

"It is a long term view that Google is taking," she added.

"For a big bet and a huge new IP that's going to fully leverage the cloud, it may be several years.

"But, we do have quite a few exclusive games in the works that will demonstrate some of the exciting things about the platform all along the path.

"It won't be four years before gamers get to see the new exclusive, exciting content. There will be some coming out every year, and more and more each year."

In the meantime, Stadia will play host to third-party titles with some featuring Stadia-exclusive features.

from Pocket-lint https://ift.tt/2BDw8Th
via IFTTT