Jade Raymond's Haven Studios acquires six developers from Google Stadia as she intends to bring in "talented game developers I have worked with for years".
Google s Stadia division is continuing to bleed talent as more notable names depart
Hugh LangleyMay 6, 2021, 06:55 IST
Google vice president and general manager Phil Harrison speaks during a Google keynote address announcing a new video gaming streaming service named Stadia at the Gaming Developers Conference in San FranciscoReuters
Google
Stadia is continuing to lose top talent.
Its head of product recently departed the company, while six other employees have hopped over to a new studio.
It s more bad news for the platform, which got off to a rocky start.
Google s Stadia division is continuing to lose key talent, with several notable names leaving the company in recent weeks as the
Published on 6 May, 2021
Back in March, Assassin s Creed co-creator Jade Raymond started up Haven Studios, an independent Canadian developer with plans to make a new PlayStation game. She had previously been the head of Stadia Games and Entertainment, but left after Google started shutting down its development studios earlier this year. Now it seems Raymond has tempted some other Google alums over for her new project, who also all happen to be former Ubisoft developers too.
The list of names heading to Haven from Stadia was caught by Cyberia on ResetEra (thanks, Gamasutra), and includes Corey May (who was notably a narrative director on the Assassin s Creed series) and Sebastien Puel (former Assassin s Creed producer, now Haven co-founder). User researcher Jonathan Dankoff, programmer Pierre-Marc Bérubé, and concept artists Erwann Le Rouzic and Francis Denoncourt are joining them.
Several Ex-Stadia Developers Join Jade Raymond s New Game Studio
Haven Studios now employs Corey May, who was the narrative lead on Assassin s Creed for years.
Several game developers who were previously working in Google s now-shuttered internal Stadia development division have joined Haven Entertainment Studios, founded by former Stadia studio head Jade Raymond. They include the former lead writer for the Assassin s Creed series, Corey May, who also worked at Ubisoft during Raymond s tenure.
May will be Haven Entertainment Studio s world and IP director, which appears to be a similar sort of position that he held at Ubisoft he ll likely be responsible for the overarching narrative of the studio s projects.
Things are looking bad at Google Stadia. More execs have left the company to join Jade Raymond at Haven, a newly-founded independent studio working on a new IP for PlayStation.