Strictly Business Google Cloud Gaming Boss on the Virtues of AI and Learnings From the Rise and Fall of Stadia
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Oct 17, 2025 Jack Buser, Director of game industry solutions at Google Cloud, shares insights from his extensive background in gaming, including roles at PlayStation and as a Stadia founder. He discusses how AI is transforming the gaming landscape, enhancing development speed, and creating new gameplay experiences. Jack reflects on lessons learned from Stadia and Google Cloud's vision of 'living games' that continuously evolve. Additionally, he reveals his favorite current games and his excitement for AI-driven projects like Seed.
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Live Services Replaced Packaged Games
- The games industry has shifted from packaged products to long-running live services that require massive backend infrastructure.
- Jack Buser says this transformation demands servers, analytics, databases, and AI to sustain player retention and continuous content.
Stadia Beginnings From A Small Team
- Jack Buser joined Google and was a founding member of Stadia, building a global cloud gaming platform from a small team.
- He spent five years on Stadia before moving to Google Cloud to focus on game industry solutions.
AI Tipped Into Production This Year
- 2024/2025 marked the tipping point where AI moved from research to production across the games industry.
- Buser notes roughly 90% of developers have put AI into production, making this a transformative wave like 3D or CD-ROM shifts.
