Google Stadia’s Lack of Exclusive Titles May Limit Its Competitiveness
Consumers that were looking to get a glimpse of what Google’s Stadia had in store for them in the realm of exclusive games were disappointed by this year’s Google Stadia Connect showing. While there was indeed an abundance of familiar names, titles specific to the console were distinctly lacking. Existing customers of competing consoles like Sony’s PS4 and Microsoft’s Xbox will have to wait to see if any games will be available for Stadia that they can’t play on their existing consoles.
The search giant did unveil a single game that was specific to the console, however. Orcs Must Die! 3 was announced as a Google Stadia exclusive (so far). As yet the publisher hasn’t confirmed nor denied whether the game will be available to other consoles. The community for the game, though loyal, is small. Earlier on in the history of console production, having an identifiable main star as a mascot of the company was a standard recipe for success and competitiveness. While orcs Must Die! is a charming game, it doesn’t offer the same depth of characters or identifiability as existing console mascots.
Exclusives Give Consoles Personality
At current, the gaming market is saturated by consoles that already have established niches thanks to their long-term existence and their ability to secure high-quality titles. The exclusive games to a platform offer that system a personality based on the nature of their fans’ favorite mascots. The lack of characters that Google Stadia can rely on won’t just hurt its sales. It will also hurt its appeal to gamers in the long run.
The service touted as the “Netflix of games” offers players the chance to stream game content from online to their local systems. The draw so far is that it provides a vast array of games without buyers having to commit to a single system to play them on. While the appeal is broad and reaches out to a wide cross-section of gamers agnostic of any platform, unless the console finds a way to market itself it might find itself going the same way as the infamous OUYA.
