Ex-Stadia head Phil Harrison departs Google following service's demise
Phil Harrison has departed Google, where he served as vice president and general manager of Stadia, following the beleaguered cloud gaming service's demise earlier this year.
Harrison joined Google in 2018 and shepherded Stadia through its high-profile — if increasingly problematic — launch in 2019, remaining onboard during the service's slow, steady decline. It was Harrison who announced the closure of Stadia's internal game development studios in 2021, and, ultimately, shared word of the cloud gaming service's impending demise last September, admitting it hadn't «gained the traction with users that we expected».
Ahead of Stadia's closure this January, Harrison said the underlying streaming tech would live on at Google, and would be made available «industry partners» — but Google later clarified its white label streaming offering had also been axed alongside the consumer-facing side.
News of Harrison's departure from Google comes via Business Insider (and is supported by an update on Harrison's own LinkedIn profile), but neither Google or Harrison have released an official statement announcing the news at the time of writing.
Prior to Harrison's involvement with Google, he served as president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios until 2008, departing during the PlayStation 3 era, and would go on to join the boards of Atari and, later, Sony, advising on cloud gaming service Gaikai. In 2012, he took a role at Microsoft, running its European Xbox and Interactive Entertainment divisions, leaving in 2015 while the company was focused on Xbox One.
There's currently no news of where the former Stadia general manager might be heading next.
Read more on eurogamer.net
