Google Stadia to shut down Stadia Games and Entertainment studios in LA and Montreal

Google Stadia VP Phil Harrison announced today the closure of Stadia Games & Entertainment studios in Los Angeles and Montreal. SG&E was Google’s first attempt at developing games.

“We’ve decided that we will not be investing further in bringing exclusive content from our internal development team SG&E, beyond any near-term planned games,” says the post on Google Blog.

Stadia will now focus on assisting game publishers and developers bring their titles to the game streaming service.

Google understands the development of new titles takes lots of time and money. “Creating best-in-class games from the ground up takes many years and significant investment, and the cost is going up exponentially.”

According to Kotaku, close to 150 employees are affected. Google will help developers at SG&E find other jobs at the company.

Veteran game producer Jade Raymond will leave Google and SG&E to look for new opportunities.

The goal of SG&E was to create exclusive games for the Stadia platform.

Stadia will continue to bring third-party titles to the platform. “We’re committed to the future of cloud gaming, and will continue to do our part to drive this industry forward.”

[Sources]: Google: Focusing on Stadia’s future as a platform, and winding down SG&E. Kotaku: Google Stadia Shuts Down Internal Studios, Changing Business Focus.