Facts Leave Evidence

This biggest difference between fact and opinion is that facts leave evidence.

There are people out there – including creators, journalists, and individuals alike – who claim that they know for a fact that publishers and developers are unhappy with the Stadia platform. According to their commentary, this is down to low sales figures, funding being cut, and even losing money when bringing a game to the platform. I don’t know if this is true or not. For all I know, there may be developers in this position who share this view. However, when pushed, the folks making these claims can never provide evidence of these so called facts. They will say “an inside source claims” but are vague on who this inside source is. They can’t reveal to us who they spoke to or exactly what information was shared.

Maybe that is really the case. Maybe there’s an NDA being signed so publishers can’t talk publicly about their grievances with the platform. Maybe they can’t publish sales or revenue figures… But…

What Applies To One Likely Applies To Others

So, the above limitations might make complete sense, if it wasn’t for the actual fact that people have come forward with tangible positive insights into the platform and real data (like the data Stadia Dosage collects too!)! People such as Yves Hohler, of the 100 Days Wine Simulator team, have shared clear graphs on how, while yes the sales on Stadia are dwarfed by other mature platforms like Steam, the revenue from Stadia is disproportionate! It actually outperforms the revenue from many other platforms where the sales are higher. Go figure! This is down to the increased sales revenue percentage and of course the Stadia Pro revenue. With the greatest of respect to Yves and his team, wine simulator (as much as I enjoyed it) is not a game that reached viral uptake levels among gamers and everyone enjoyed immensely. So if a game like Wine Simulator can thrive why can’t others?

If you read the tweets and commentary, it’s also clear to see that publishers Outright Games and Wired Productions are also happy with how their games have been received on the platform. Both have opted for sales and bringing games to Stadia Pro. Both speak positively about Stadia as a platform and a community. Both are forthcoming with details on their future plans for Stadia and their excitement.

Want more evidence? Carson J Kelly, solo developer of Talking Dogs, recently announced his game will be coming to Stadia, He has since been seen tagging Stadia in tweets from other developers suggesting that their game should come to the platform as well! Both Carson and Yves strongly suggest indie developers consider bringing their games to Stadia. Yves even believes that not doing so is leaving money on the table.

But, What About The Triple A’s?

But I get it… These are indie developers and small publishers. What about the big dogs and the AAA developers? Well here the naysayers may have a point. The only developer I have seen speaking publicly about Stadia in a negative way was a member of the Borderlands 3 team. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find the tweet now. I recall it was along the lines of “that’s not the reason Stadia failed.” I can’t remember what this was a response to, but I think we can agree they are insinuating that Stadia has indeed failed. I can see why he may think this is the case. Borderlands 3 is a big game that is on a lot of very mature platforms. I’m sure looking at the sales on other platforms and comparing them to Stadia, it certainly would look like stadia has flopped. Stadia’s uptake is better compared against others in the new (but growing) cloud-gaming space.

That said, the game originally launched September 2019 and then launched on Stadia in December of that year – a time when only founders were really playing on Stadia. Surely, the number of Stadia players interested in the game, who hadn’t already bought a copy, was going to be pretty small. It was hardly going to break records!

Still, even this perceived negative impression is only speculation! To the best of my knowledge, the tweeter in question didn’t respond to people pushing him on his thoughts about why he considers Stadia a failure and there certainly wasn’t any revenue or sales figures shared.

Always Follow The Evidence

So, when we look at the evidence, and nothing else, It seems to me that the overall consensus from developers and publishers is pretty positive. It’s only when we look at speculation, rumors, and un-credited quotes that things start to look gloomy for the platform.

This isn’t me saying that the people sharing this vague information are guaranteed to be wrong. I’m just saying, don’t be afraid to ask for proof! And if there isn’t any solid proof? Well, that’s really up to you. But I know what I will do.