Google made the surprise announcement on February 1st that it would be shuttering its in-house stadia game development studios. The news was a bolt from the blue for the stadia development team, which had been told that the studios were making’great progress’.

The email promised more news on the stadia studios’ strategy and goals for 2021. Instead of new development objectives, Harrison announced just days later that the studios would be shutting down entirely.

The biggest question – from outside observers and stadia team members alike – is what changed. Harrison’s blog post cited rising costs of’best-in-class games’ as a factor. It’s hard to imagine that as the sole reason for shutting down Google’s $ 1.4 trillion market cap.

Harrison reportedly admitted that Google’s execs already knew the shutdown was coming. He also cited Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda and the ongoing challenges of the covid-19 pandemic as factors in the shutdown.