Google Stadia’s creative director claims that streamers should be paying developers and publishers royalties when using their games to generate revenue.
Google bravely waded into the console war last year when it released the Stadia. A system that utilizes cloud-based gaming. The Stadia hasn’t taken off in the way that Google would have liked it to. Chances are that won’t be changing any time soon with the release of PlayStation and Xbox’s next-gen consoles arriving less than three weeks from now.
The Stadia has been making headlines this week though, but not necessarily for the right reasons. Alex Hutchinson, a creative director for a studio owned by Google, became embroiled in a Twitter discussion regarding streamers who worry about being picked up for using music they haven’t paid for in their videos. Hutchinson believes those streamers should be equally as worried about not paying developers and publishers royalties too.
“Streamers should be paying the developers and publishers of the games they stream. They should be buying a license like any real business and paying for the content they use,” Hutchinson tweeted. It has created quite the stir online with most who have seen the tweet vehemently disagreeing with Hutchinson’s controversial take. Google has even issued a statement highlighting that Hutchinson’s views are his own.
“The recent tweets by Alex Hutchinson…do not reflect those of Stadia, YouTube or Google,” Google’s official statement reads. YouTube’s Ryan Wyatt has also reacted to the comments, highlighting that developers and streamers have created a symbiotic relationship that allows for a thriving ecosystem. Suffice to say, it doesn’t seem as if many are on Hutchinson’s side in this one, at least not openly.
While there might well be an argument to be had here, some games are given unimaginable exposure by streamers. It’s why Epic loves Ninja playing Fortnite, and has even given the streamer his own in-game skin. Some titles would be relatively unknown if it wasn’t for streamers. Take Among Us, for example. The very popular murder-mystery game was released in 2018. However, its popularity didn’t skyrocket until well-known streamers started to play it earlier this year. Even congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been playing it.
