Shubham Sawarkar
In recent years, the gaming industry has become one of the fastest-growing and most lucrative markets worldwide, attracting tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. While Google’s gaming platform Stadia may not have achieved the success it hoped for, the company is not giving up on its gaming aspirations. Instead, it aims to compete with Microsoft and Amazon by providing cloud-based gaming services to major publishers.
According to Jack Buser, Google Cloud’s director of game industry solutions, the decline of Stadia helped the company realize that its strengths lie in helping others build and maintain cloud-based services for video games. Google is now offering a suite of services, including an analytics package, a data management program, and a server platform, to major publishers like Ubisoft, Niantic, and Unity.
Unlike Microsoft’s Azure and Amazon’s recent cloud-based solutions for games, Google’s focus is solely on live-service games that require continuous updates, such as Genshin Impact. Buser stated that the company aims to remove the risk of creating and hosting such games, and it hopes to attract high-profile clients during the upcoming 2023 Game Developers Conference.
While Google’s approach may seem similar to its competitors, its emphasis on live-service games shows a dedication to the video game industry as a whole. Buser emphasized that Google is “absolutely committed” to the gaming industry and helping others succeed within it.
As the video game industry continues to evolve and grow, cloud-based solutions are becoming increasingly important for game developers and publishers. Google’s new focus on providing these services may help it establish a foothold in the industry and compete with the likes of Microsoft and Amazon Games. Only time will tell if Google’s strategy pays off, but its commitment to the industry is clear.
