Stadia vice president and head of product John Justice has left Google after less than three years. The Information initially reported the news, which has since been confirmed by 9to5Google.
“We can confirm John is no longer with Google and we wish him well on his next step,” said a company spokesperson in a statement. Justice joined Google in January 2019 and has yet to comment on his departure.
The news comes a few months after Google closed down its first-party Stadia game studios to refocus the streaming service as a platform provider.
“In 2021, we’re expanding our efforts to help game developers and publishers take advantage of our platform technology and deliver games directly to their players,” said Stadia VP and GM Phil Harrison in February.
“We see an important opportunity to work with partners seeking a gaming solution all built on Stadia’s advanced technical infrastructure and platform tools. We believe this is the best path to building Stadia into a long-term, sustainable business that helps grow the industry.”
Following Google’s decision to move away from in-house development, industry veteran Jade Raymond also left the company to establish a new studio called Haven Entertainment with backing from Sony.