What you need to know
- Google Stadia is a cloud-streaming platform for games, that has introduced Google to the competitive gaming market.
- Alex Hutchinson, the Creative Director for Stadia, made some comments on Twitter that have spiked a ton of controversy.
- The tweets claim that "streamers should be paying the developers and publishers of the games they stream."
- Google has since distanced itself from these comments, stating that Alex Hutchinson's comments are his own.
Google Stadia has had enough problems remaining relevant in an increasingly competitive gaming market, and even in the more niche game streaming market, and now Stadia is actively trending on Twitter for the exact opposite reasons Stadia's likely very talented marketing team want.
Alex Hutchinson, the Creative Director on the Stadia team, took to Twitter today to weigh in on the ongoing discussion about streamers concerned with music copyrights taking down their streamed content. Alex Hutchinson dismissed these worries, pressing onwards to claim that "...streamers should be paying the developers and publishers of the games they stream."
The real truth is the 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.The real truth is the 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.— Alex Hutchinson (@BangBangClick) October 22, 2020October 22, 2020
The tweets have since become mired in controversy, with Alex Hutchinson's tweets generating over 10k cumulative retweets, comments, and more. This is in stark comparison to Google's active "Good Stuff" Stadia event, which on its second day has reportedly only garnered a measly combined 2k retweets. There have even been responses from other Google leads, such as the one below.
https://twitter.com/Fwiz/status/1319378835125628928
A report from 9to5Google now includes a response from Google:
The recent tweets by Alex Hutchinson, creative director at the Montreal Studio of Stadia Games and Entertainment, do not reflect those of Stadia, YouTube or Google.
It's clear that Google wishes to distance itself away from these comments, and Alex Hutchinson's Twitter bio has since been updated to reflect that all opinions are his own. This is not the first time Alex Hutchinson has found himself in the middle of controversy, as this report from Kotaku will attest to his time at Ubisoft, and some troubling comments about females in video games.
