We live in a rather unfortunate time in gaming when we talk about “exclusives”. Usually, when we talk about games being exclusive to a platform, we would be talking about consoles like the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or Nintendo Switch. As of late though, the idea of exclusive titles has been a major point of contention for the Epic Store. You either see high-end game developers tossing their game to the Epic Store as part of some big deal or Kickstarter titles that were previously promised to be on Steam suddenly jump ship to Epic with no plans to fulfill promises made during the crowdfunding period.

While it seems like the whole “Steam vs Epic” fight will go on for some time, a third competitor is throwing their hat into that ring, and their name is Google Stadia. Many have not hesitated to point out issues with the Stadia’s cloud service and data usage. More importantly, many are concerned about its library. What kind of games will the Stadia have?

We got that answer earlier today during a “Stadia Connect”, Google’s Nintendo Direct inspired approach to game announcements. We got confirmation for several titles currently available, and a few others coming soon like Cyberpunk 2077. We also got confirmation that the platform will have their own “exclusive titles.” There was one exclusive game announcement in particular that caught many fans’ attention.

Orcs Must Die! 3

We don’t have a lot of details at the moment aside from the trailer for Orcs Must Die! 3. We do have two brand new characters who seem to be the apprentices of the series’s main lead, Maxwell. While he says in the trailer that there were “like a billion” orcs rushing the players, the developers said that some of their maps will have up to 500 orcs at one time. That might be a bit much, but players will have access to brand new goodies to assist in their orc-slaying, like war machines and giant traps.

Statement About Going Stadia-Exclusive

So with Orcs Must Die! 3 coming to Stadia first, fans were apprehensive of what this deal could mean for the series. Robot Entertainment’s CEO, Patrick Hudson, went onto the Orcs Must Die subreddit to address the concerns and help to clarify the Stadia exclusivity.

“After shutting down OMDU (Orcs Must Die! Unchained), Robot had to downsize our studio. We had re-sized and focused on making smaller games than an OMD game. We didn’t know when or if we would get back to the OMD franchise. We met with Google to learn more about Stadia for our other projects. We discovered that the people at Google are big fans of OMD. That led to an exploration of what might be possible with an OMD game on Stadia. We both got excited about our ideas and decided to go after it. OMD3 would not be possible today without Google’s support. They are behind the game in a big way. We’ve hired more developers to bring it to life. It’s the OMD game that fans of the first two games have been wanting, and we’re thrilled that we have the opportunity to make it. When OMD3 releases in spring 2020, it will be a timed exclusive on Stadia. We’ll say more about other platforms in the future. We’re having a lot of fun playing OMD3 inside the studio, and we hope you love it as much as we do.”

Clarification Through Respect

Considering the backlash some would get when talking about such topics so openly on Reddit, Hudson’s Reddit thread has garnered an impressive 96% upvote rate. It almost seems baffling to say this out loud, but by being open and honest with the fan base, you can show that a decision like this was not made lightly. Much like how Nintendo came in to save Bayonetta in exchange for exclusivity, Google is offering that same support to Robot Entertainment to makes Orcs Must Die! 3 a reality.

And before you ask, there was confirmation by the CEO that Orcs Must Die! 3 will be a paid game, not a free game with microtransactions.

Final Thoughts

To close out, this was a comment I wrote in their Reddit thread. It isn’t anything special, but it does help to wrap up my overall thoughts on this.

“I want to take this moment to say, “Thank you for being respectful.” As of late, there have been so many developers who usually talk about going exclusive and use the time to insult the fan base. Here, however, it is a genuine response while getting financial help to get the game off the ground. That and with this being timed-exclusive shows you do have the players in mind if they don’t wish to get Stadia when it launches. You guys have my trust on this.”

A lot can happen between now and when the game comes out, and while we may have seen this song and dance play out so many times by now, hopefully Stadia will be able to do what the Epic Store couldn’t: show players that their platform can be trusted and that they have the developers’ and the consumers’ best intentions in mind.

Google Stadia is set to come out in November while Orcs Must Die! 3 will release as a timed-exclusive on Stadia in Spring 2020.

So what do you think? Are you a fan of the Orcs Must Die! series? Do you think Robot Entertainment was right in taking this deal? And what other titles can we see release exclusively on the Stadia? Leave your thoughts down below and be sure to follow us here at Culture of Gaming for more articles on Google Stadia and other things in the gaming world, as well as GamesCom.