Giant conglomerate starts internal triple-A game development studio until just before it launches its new gaming platform. Conglomerate closes internal studios in less than a year, wasting tons of money and making the games industry a sadder place to be in. How could we not see this coming?

Unfortunately, this is no tall tale as Google is shutting down its internal game development efforts after less than two years since the platform’s release. The company is now shifting focus towards third-party games for its game-streaming platform Stadia (via Kotaku). The company will close its game studios in Montreal and Los Angeles: that’s 150 roles that are on the chopping block though the company says it will “try to find new roles for those developers”.

Also, Google Stadia Games & Entertainment lead Jade Raymond, a veteran of Ubisoft and EA, is leaving the company for other opportunities. Google Stadia vice president Phil Harrison will remain to pursue more third-party game partnerships. Here’s a gem of a quote from Harrison:

“Having games streamed to any screen is the future of this industry, and we’ll continue to invest in Stadia and its underlying platform to provide the best cloud gaming experience for our partners and the gaming community. This has been the vision of Stadia since the beginning.”

You know what they say: if you keep repeating the lie you told yourself, you may end up believing it to be the truth. Guess we may not be seeing Google Stadia popping up in Southeast Asia anytime soon, eh?