Google’s approach wasn’t the best when it comes to Stadia – we heard a few things about the games that were planned or were in development within the company.

VGC reports that Google was working on an original title with Harmonix (Rock Band), and it was mostly complete. There were also plans for a sequel to Journey to the Savage Planet (which was developed by Typhoon, the only studio Google acquired…). The Harmonix project could be released yet, though, as the team’s CEO, Steve Janiak is optimistic about it.

„While Google has shifted its strategy, we remain incredibly excited about what we’ve been working on for Stadia and if the project isn’t released for Stadia we will take it to other platforms,” Janiak said. He didn’t talk about the licensing issues, though, as the site’s sources claim that there were music licensing issues for Google Stadia’s Pro service.

There was also allegedly a Kojima Productions project that was pitched as an episodic horror game. The Japanese team wants to innovate in the cloud gaming scene, but allegedly, Phil Harrison, the general manager of Stadia, blocked the idea altogether. It could have been the thing Hideo Kojima hinted at last summer, saying a major project was cancelled, but he added that the gaming industry does have its ups and downs.

According to VGC, Typhoon was fully focused on Journey to the Savage Planet 2, which was meant to be grander in scale, and it would have also included fully animated cutscenes. However, the team found out about the cancellation in February, along with the public. Another Stadia team, which was led by Francois Pelland (former Splinter Cell and Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate producer), had been working on a multiplayer action game codenamed Frontier… and they also found out about the cancellation in February.

A Google Stadia spokesperson has denied a few elements of VGC’s story, claiming that Google doesn’t „have anything, nor have announced anything, with Kojima or Yu Suzuki.” (The latter allegedly also had a proposal.) „We talk to partners all the time in situations that don’t result in a project or even a proposal. This is very common. Speculating that two parties that speak regularly in this industry leads to proposals or otherwise, is inaccurate,” the spokesperson said.

Still, it’s too late – Google didn’t realize the difficulties of game development.

Source: VGC