Update – March 1, 2021 Google has responded to the report.
UPDATE: We reached out to Google and a spokesperson directed us to a statement made to GamesRadar+, in which Google has denied elements of VGC’s report, saying that the VGC story’s assertions regarding cancelled Kojima and Yu Suzuki “projects” aren’t true, and adding that it “[doesn’t] have anything, nor have announced anything, with Kojima or Yu Suzuki”.
Additionally, VGC says that it asked Google “specifically about the Kojima games pitch”, and was told by a representative the following: “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.” Original story follows.
Google announced it was ending in-house game development for Stadia at the start of February, and a number of the cancelled games and projects within the company have been revealed, according to a new report.
According to VGC, Google shut down a variety of releases, ranging from new games already in development, to deals with some of the biggest names in the games industry. In the report, it’s stated that Hideo Kojima, of Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding fame, was in talks for an episodic horror game that would’ve been a Stadia exclusive, before Google decided not to proceed. Yu Suzuki was another creator in discussions for something published on Stadia, the report says.
Two games believed to have been in active development at the time of Google’s announcement were a sequel to Journey to the Savage Planet, from developer Typhoon, and Frontier, a multiplayer game led by former Splinter Cell producer Francois Pelland. Both teams found out about their cancellation at the same time as the news was being made public, the report states.
A music game by Harmonix was in the works for Stadia, and in a statement, the studio says everything is still going ahead as planned, and new platforms will be considered if Google’s cloud gaming service is somehow nonviable. “While Google has shifted its strategy, we remain incredibly excited about what we’ve been working on for Stadia,” Steve Janiak, Harmonix CEO, said, “and if the project isn’t released for Stadia we will take it to other platforms.”
We’ve contacted Kojima Productions, and Google, for comment. Another report from Bloomberg says Google was spending big money on netting major games for Stadia, shelling out tens of millions for the likes of Red Dead Redemption 2.