Indie developers complain that Google didn’t offer enough money for Stadia

Some “prominent” but unnamed indie game developers are complaining to Business Insider that Google wasn’t offering enough money to put their games on the game streaming platform. They are also afraid that Google will stop the service.

Business Insider notes that currently 4 of the 28 games on Stadia are indie games, and when they toured “several” indie game developers and two publishers, the site was told that Google was under-offering. One developer called the incentive of the offer “nonexistent” and another said the offer was “so low that it wasn’t even part of the conversation.”

Several developers also expressed their concerns that Google would pull the plug on Stadia. They are therefore hesitant to enter into a long-term business relationship with the company. They referred to previous prominent services that Google stopped. For example, Google discontinued Daydream, Google+, Inbox, Buzz, Wave, and Google Reader.

Business Insider does not report how many indie developers it has spoken to, nor does the site mention names, because the developers wished to remain anonymous. A Stadia spokesperson reports that the publishers and developers it speaks with support the platform and want to make it a success. Also worth noting is that not every publisher has announced their games for Stadia so far and more games will be announced over time.

In January, Google announced it was adding more than 120 games to Stadia this year. When it was announced in November 2019, the service had 22 games. Google itself has acquired and started up studios to release exclusive games on the platform.