Google Stadia died over two years ago, but the sting still remains. In a new ad for its sequel game, the developers of the “Savage Planet” series are taking what seems to be a pretty clear jab at Google Stadia’s downfall.
The “Savage Planet” series launched prior to Stadia, but Google purchased the studio behind “Journey to the Savage Planet” in 2019 to create new original games for the platform. That’s an effort that never panned out, and Google later shut down Stadia Games & Entertainment – barely a week after “Journey to the Savage Planet” was finally added to Stadia.
Not too long after that closure, that same team managed to recover the IP for the “Savage Planet” series from Google and formed a new game studio, “Racoon Logic,” which would go on to start developing “Revenge of the Savage Planet,” a sequel to “Journey” which is being released on May 8, 2025.
As that release nears, marketing efforts are underway, with a billboard near the annual GDC event (which Google used in 2019 to initially reveal Stadia to the world) not-so-subtly poking fun at Stadia’s demise.
Video Games Chronicle and The Nerf Report pointed out the ad which reads “Has a Harrison fired you lately?” Phil Harrison was the lead of Google Stadia while the platform while still running. Racoon Logic first started poking fun with this new character in late 2024.
GDC 2025 took place from March 17-21st. The QR code in the ad did lead to a page where donations were made to a mental health organization, with the message that “We got fired by him as well!”
More on Stadia:
- Google will give you another year, again, to make the Stadia Controller useful
- The Stadia Controller has been reborn as a Nintendo Switch controller
- Stadia’s death was due to a ‘self-sustaining cycle’ of lacking games and players, lead says
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