There are few things more desk-flippingly infuriating than poor customer support. You’re already tilted because something you paid good money for isn’t working, so when it turns out the process to get it fixed is just as busted, there’s a good chance the red mist of rage might descend. As is the case with Google Stadia right now.
This is exactly what happened to Reddit user lordubuntu, who (like many other players) has been experiencing multiple frustrating bugs in the game Journey to the Savage Planet on Google Stadia. The game would freeze on the title screen when lordubuntu selects either the single-player or multiplayer game modes, effectively making it unplayable. Lordubuntu took to the Stadia subreddit to ask if anyone who had also experienced the glitch might know a fix.
It turns out that many people have experienced the same bug, so lordubuntu reached out to Google Stadia via Twitter. They were told that the Stadia team was aware of the issue, and was working with the publishers of Journey to the Savage Planet, 505 Games, to fix it. However, after being contacted, the publisher told the lordubuntu that they actually couldn’t help them, because the game’s code and all its data belongs to Google.
As far as roadblocks go, this takes the cake. See, while Journey to the Savage Planet was originally published by 505 Games, Google Stadia acquired the developers of the game, Typhoon Studios, towards the end of 2019, so that the game would come free with a Stadia “pro” subscription. That means that while 505 Games is Journey to the Savage Planet‘s publisher on every other platform, Google acts as the publisher on Stadia. So the task to clean out any bugs and glitches impairing their customer’s ability to enjoy a product they pay for falls to them. Thing is…
The guys who should fix this? Yeah, they’re gone.
See, Google recently announced they would be closing their first-party game development studios for Stadia (after heaping praise upon them, ouch), and let many developers go, including the ones who came over when Google acquired Typhoon Studios. So while the task is Google’s to fix the game, the people who can do that aren’t around.
Lordubuntu closes out their most recent update on the matter on Reddit with, “Shame on you, Google. Shame.” and their frustration is entirely understandable. They’ve pursued what avenues they can only to be told that there’s not a whole lot anyone can do, which must be the most infuriating answer you can get when asking for customer support.
Undoubtedly this worsens the already bad look Google Stadia has been steadily acquiring since closing its in-house development studios. Current customers would be well justified to migrate from the platform, particularly when there are alternatives out there…
Source: Kotaku