Google has detailed what they would have talked about at GDC, and Stadia was not left out of the mix: Stadia Makers has been announced as a new program for indie developers looking to add another platform to their repertoire.
As Google details in their blog, Stadia Makers is one of several cool new things that they recently announced for the gaming world. Although 30 games have been published on Google's game-streaming platform, they're looking to step things up a notch by bringing in some indie muscle. This program will help them realize that vision.
Simply put, Stadia Makers will provide developers with the following benefits as noted in the blog:
Technical Assistance: The experts at Unity are committed to providing developers in the Stadia Makers program with a technical support structure that helps their projects meet targeted alpha, beta, certification, and launch dates.
Free Development Hardware: Stadia Makers participants are eligible to receive up to five physical development kits depending on team size and structure.
Funding: There’s a very real financial consideration when it comes to developing across platforms, and Stadia will offset some of those costs.
The program will be open to developers who are using Unity 2019.3 or newer and are expecting to ship their games in 2020 and 2021.
Stadia Makers Announcement Followed by Splash Damage Partnership
This new program isn't the only big Stadia announcement today — Splash Damage has announced that they're working on an exclusive title for Google's gaming platform.
"At Splash Damage we’re always looking to innovate, and always looking for partners and platforms that allow us to do just that," the company said in a statement. "We’ve been huge fans of Stadia ever since it was announced and have been amazed by both the technology and passion for gaming that the Stadia team has."
Unfortunately, Splash Damage didn't go much into detail. Considering their hand in stuff like Dirty Bomb, Gears Tactics, and many other fine titles, it's sure to be a blast.
What do you think of Stadia Makers? Do you think Google can reach a critical mass of games on their platform? Let us know in the comments below!
