The fourth entry of the popular Serious Sam series of first-person shooters has been in the works for a while, and developer Croteam revealed more details about the game today. Interestingly, Google has also paid for Serious Sam 4 to be a timed Stadia exclusive, blocking the game’s release on consoles until next year.
Serious Sam 4 has all the over-the-top violence and cheesy dialogue you would expect from a Serious Sam game, but will also introduce new gameplay mechanics, weapons, and enemies. “Humanity is under siege as the full force of Mental’s hordes spread across the world, ravaging what remains of a broken and beaten civilization,” the Steam description reads. “The last remaining resistance to the invasion is the Earth Defense Force led by Sam “Serious” Stone and his heavily-armed squad of misfit commandos.”
Most interestingly, Serious Sam 4 will be exclusive to PC and Google’s Stadia streaming platform when it is released in August of this year. Kotaku confirmed that the deal reached with Google prevents publisher Devolver Digital from releasing the game on consoles until 2021.
The only Stadia-exclusive games so far have been Gylt and Get Packed, making Serious Sam 4 the first mainstream title that Google has snagged as a Stadia ‘exclusive.’ The previous three Serious Sam games arrived on Stadia in March.
Although it has already riled up some players who were looking forward to a release on consoles, there’s no denying that it’s a strategic move for Stadia. Exclusives are a key factor in the success of any gaming platform, and given that Serious Sam has a history of pushing the limits of PC hardware with hordes of enemies, Google might have picked a great title to showcase Stadia.
