Outcasters, a colourful multiplayer title currently available on Stadia, will be disappearing when the service shuts down.
We had a lot of fun with Outcasters when we tried it, describing it as frantic, multiplayer fun. However, after around two years on the service, this Stadia-exclusive is set to become unplayable when Google’s streaming service is closed down in January.
Developers Splash Damage won’t be the only indie developers facing this grim situation. But they’ve confirmed that, as things stand, they won’t be porting the game to PC or console. In a statement posted to Twitter (highlighted by Super Rare’s Ryan Brown), they said:
“It is with a heavy heart that we inform you that we do not have plans to bring Outcasters to other platforms at this time.
Outcasters was designed and built exclusively for Stadia, with many of its systems heavily reliant on the platform, significantly increasing the complexity of the work required.”
In other words, it’s not just a case of porting the game across and being done with it, nor is it an entirely financial issue. Outcasters is heavily tied to Stadia so releasing it on PC or (non-streaming) console would be no easy task.
An update on Outcasters: pic.twitter.com/VdkZUcUv1z
— Outcasters (@playoutcasters) October 12, 2022
The battle-royale style shooter has been well received, rating over 70% on Metacritic and Opencritic. It isn’t just fun, it’s innovative, letting you bend bullets Wanted style to deliver some physics-defying but entertaining knock-outs.
Splash Damage is, despite this situation, optimistic about the potential of game streaming. The company states, “We still firmly believe cloud gaming has a bright future in our industry”. To mark Outcasters’ shutdown, they’ll be releasing a short behind-the-scenes video.
We’d also expect there’ll be a large influx of players, particularly in the game’s final hours on Stadia. We hope that the game does, eventually, find a new home. But as things stand, this is an unfortunate reminder that digital doesn’t mean forever.
