Well thanks, now I'm afraid fuschia could succeed.
Google 2000s is way different from Google 2020s.
On a related note, The Google will face more trouble as their Search and YouTube products become less useful and relevant. Many people, namely those around in Web 1.0, still insist on using The Google, but even they will be using it far less often the more that the Web just fills itself with trash content from bots and the more that Search hawks lame shit over actual results. The more that YouTube transforms itself into cable TV, the more it's going to set itself up to not make it into the next paradigm. Say what you want about TikTok, and I'm certainly not a fan, but I think TikTok has proven that YouTube will soon be viewed as missing-link media.
Their presence in the web is so extremely entrenched, it is quite hilarious to already write them off over a obvious market correction.
Google is fine. They just over hired just like the rest of the companies did. The free / cheap money era had to come to an end.
Google’s core business appears sound (as an outsider). They’ve struggled to stamp out repeated successes (because that’s inherently hard, not because they suck).
* G-suite arguably hasn’t won its category at all and Android has won in install base, but probably not in overall economic value. Gmail and Chrome have earned the hat-tip and nod-with-respect.
Partially it is also because Google has a nasty reputation by now for closing down services with bare minimum notice, despite many millions still using them (RIP Google Reader), or for barely keeping them on life support (Gmail). Stadia was the most recent victim of that - consumers didn't want to invest actual money into something Google made no public commitment to keep it running for years, and where there are no consumers the game developers didn't want to invest money into porting either.
This is an example of how The Google keeps shooting itself in the foot. In terms of aesthetics, they mostly know what they are doing, but they are terrible at selling things and believing in their own products. If they don't believe in their own products and are so quick to give up on ideas, why should I believe in their products?
In contrast, if Apple does something, you know they'll stick with it for more than a few weeks. If Apple decided to get more competitive in the gaming space, I actually think they could do quite well because nobody thinks they're going to be swindled by them.
Actually I think cloud gaming has its advantages - you don't have to worry about upgrading a computer all the time to keep up with new developments, to keep it running and patched, some online trolls gaining RCE on your machine (yes, that happens, remember Minecraft and log4j!), giving kernel-level access to crappy anti-cheat software or about the power and heat. And when a new game comes out, you don't have to deal with downloading dozens of gigabytes on day 1 and another dozen gigabytes in patches in the following weeks. Just go online and play.
And if you want to go on vacation or on other travel, you don't need to haul around a thousand dollar worth PC or laptop, you only need your Chromecast.
Stadia reminds me of the time Homer Simpson designed a car. Just because an idea sounds ingenious doesn't mean it will result in an ingenious product. Actually, Stadia is a lot like Homer's car. Instead of Homer, the reigns were seemingly handed to engineer-types living in the Silicon Valley bubble who thought it'd be cool to play games over VNC (an oversimplification, yes). The product should never have seen the light of day and, when unveiled, everyone who saw it knew it was doomed.
In reality, most people just don't care about downloading game updates, regardless of how unreasonably gargantuan they can be. It's arguably a good thing that people have to take some break from gaming. Regardless, there's no evidence that downloading updates is preventing any meaningful number of users from spending more money on gaming. Anti-cheat software sucks, but again, it's not much of a roadblock for most gamers if at all.
The disadvantages outweigh the benefits. Input lag is frustrating, even if it happens occasionally, and is borderline unacceptable when playing online multiplayer games. Lose access to internet? Just go read a book, kid!
At best, Stadia might have been a niche product for the minority who would want it. Not in a million years would I have wanted a Stadia.
To compete in the highly competitive sphere of gaming, Stadia needed more of a value proposition than being able to play games instantly without downloading updates.