Stadia Creative Director: Streamers Should Pay Devs


On today’s list of horrible takes.

Stadia Creative Director Alex Hutchinson is looking to take the prize for worst hot take this week. In a post on Twitter the executive stated that the “real truth” of streaming is that streamers should be required to pay developers and publishers of the games that they stream via licenses like “any real business.”

The post followed up on Hutchinson’s take on recent Twitch DMCAs stating: “Streamers worried about getting their content pulled because they used music they didn’t pay for should be more worried by the fact that they’re streaming games they didn’t pay for as well. It’s all gone as soon as publishers decide to enforce it.”

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Hutchinson’s take is at odds with the reality that streamers bring attention to games, not the other way around. This is of course the same Stadia that allows its users to stream to Youtube Gaming. Perhaps Hutchinson’s understanding of the streaming economy would go a long way to explain why Google Stadia’s market approach feels so tone deaf and is quickly being replaced by more consumer friendly services like Xbox Game Pass.

This isn’t the first time Hutchinson has made a tone deaf and ridiculous statement. Readers may remember him from the 2014 interview with Polygon claiming that animating women was just too much work for Assassin’s Creed Unity, as well as a 2012 claim that game journalists exhibited a “subtle racism” and tend to forgive Japanese developers.