A senior member of the Google Stadia team has left the company, just a couple of months after Google closed down all its internal Stadia development teams.

John Justice was the VP and head of product for Stadia, but The Information reports that Justice is no longer with the company.

“We can confirm John is no longer with Google and we wish him well on his next step,” a Google spokesperson told 9to5Google.

Justice’s departure follows Google’s announcement in February that it would close all of its internal Stadia game development teams as part of a major course change, which will see the streaming platform focus on partnering with third-party game companies.

In a statement at the time, the company said that this year it would be refocusing on offering its technology and platform tools to external partners.

“We believe this is the best path to building Stadia into a long-term, sustainable business that helps grow the industry,” Stadia GM Phil Harrison said.

According to a Kotaku report, which was corroborated by sources who spoke to VGC anonymously, Google told its Montreal and Los Angeles Stadia development studios that they will be closed and their projects cancelled.

Stadia’s development boss Jade Raymond, the veteran producer behind Assassin’s Creed EA’s Motive studio, left the company as part of the closures. So too did the team formerly known as Typhoon Studios, the developer behind last year’s Journey to the Savage Planet.

Raymond has since formed Haven Entertainment Studios, a new independent studio backed by PlayStation.



Posted: May 06, 2021 6:10 am
Related Forum: PC Gaming Forum

Source: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/stadias-head-of-product-has-left-google/