Alex Hutchinson

This will connect in a way with the Twitch issues that have been a problem over the last week. Streaming has its pros and cons, but Alex Hutchinson thinks developers need money from the streamers. The creative director of the Montreal division of Stadia Games and Entertainment tweeted his thoughts on it, saying that they should pay a fee to get a license to stream games. Needless to say, that did not sit well with plenty of people and he doubled down on what he said.

It's not just gamers getting frustrated. Tweets from journalists like Jason Schreier. Even Google themselves aren't in support of Hutchinson. You're paying money to buy the game you want to stream. Why spend more on a meaningless license? Gaming is not the same as listening to songs or watching movies and television shows. Certain legalities like music, you could make some case of removing content, but a game will be a unique experience. Not to mention any publicity could help the game unless it's that bad or average. We have a lot more to look at compared to the early 90s when you only had magazines to read specific titles. Also, certain developers are gone. The focus is on modern games, but there are the older games from the 80s, 90s, 2000s. Stuff from dead publishers and developers. You hurt the little streamers if you go with Hutchinson wants.

Hutchinson has made headlines in gaming for his take on things. Notably for Far Cry 4 and Assassin's Creed in 2014 for not including women for the online section of their games (Unity was the most recent AC game in '14) He said something along the line of not getting a woman so that they can have something in line to animate. He also was vocal on gamers being more forgiving towards Japanese developers, something I actually agree with. When New Super Mario Bros. Wii came out in 2009, a complaint was that no Peach for the four player part. Shigeru Miyamoto pulled out a very lame excuse of not knowing how to animate a dress. People also bat a blind eye to Japanese game design, stories. This can also apply to other regions, but there's more bias.

Stadia isn't in a good situation and I don't think this will sit well for Google altogether. Yes, Hutchinson has an opinion. But it's a very poor take. Most companies are happy to see their games get exposure. That's why there's videos on YouTube of games and some get millions of views. There's a freaking Putt-Putt game that has three million view video on it. Studios are aware of the strengths and weaknesses to media sharing. This won't get Hutchinson fired, but it puts him in hot water to where his next job if he leaves Stadia Games and Entertainment could have him in even more trouble if does more bad takes like that.