The news of today is that Google Stadia and its games could be relaunched as a new white-label product in the very near future. What this means is that Google is thinking about offering its technology to the likes of Peloton (yes, the cycling machine manufacturer), Capcom, Bungie, and AT&T as a “white-label” product that would result in a name change as well, into … “Google Stream.”
The end goal from Google is to pivot the Stadia brand away from consumers and more towards large publishers as a means of relicensing it under its new title – this would be quite the coup for these other publishers. The news broke today from Insider that Google Stadia could be relaunched, and the whispers are that Google’s impressive game-streaming technology would be much better suited – and more profitable – as a white-label product that fuels cloud streaming sessions under the various names of these other companies.
What else would the Google Stadia relaunching mean?
As it stands, there is roughly about 20% of Stadia’s team still working on consumer technology, which sounds like Google already has one foot in the door.
There has already been a trial of sorts in recent times, with AT&T publicly making use of this technology in October 2021 when they offered their customers a load of free copies of Batman: Arkham Knight that they were able to play straight from their browsers. While Peloton also wants to make waves in the video game industry and already has a game on its internet-connected machines that makes use of Google’s technology.
Even more exciting news was the name dropping of Bungie and Capcom in the Insider article. It is reported that Bungie is desperate to let players stream Destiny 2 and other game titles straight from people’s browsers. And not to be left out because Capcom is open to a deal that allows them to stream game demos as well.
Cloud streaming technology is one to keep an eye on in the future, and companies are becoming aware of this as well. So, the news that Google Stadia could be relaunched, as well as the recent announcement of Mythical Games acquiring Polystream, could be what opens the door for this path to become more common. Keep an eye on this one as it develops.
