The former chief of Google’s now-shuttered Stadia service reportedly left the company

The former chief of Google’s now-shuttered Stadia service reportedly left the company

Phil Harrison, who headed up Google’s now-shuttered cloud gaming service Stadia, is no longer at Google, according to Business Insider. Stadia was officially shut down in January, and Harrison apparently left at around that same time.

Harrison’s quiet departure marks a muted end to his time at the search giant. He joined the company in January 2018, and while he didn’t specify what he was working on at the time, it was easy to guess that he was probably doing something with gaming: Harrison worked at Sony Computer Entertainment (now Sony Interactive Entertainment) for 15 years, was on the advisory board for the cloud gaming service Gaikai, and led Microsoft’s Xbox and Interactive Entertainment business in Europe from 2012 to 2015. And lo and behold, a year after Harrison came to Google, he was onstage introducing Stadia to the world.

Stadia seemed promising, but ultimately, it was a failure. It launched in a state that felt like a beta and never gained much traction. After just 14 months, the company shut down its own in-house Stadia development studios and moved into offering a white-labeled service. In September, the company announced that it would be shutting Stadia down entirely.

Google didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. Harrison’s LinkedIn says he served as a Google vice president from January 2018 until April 2023. His Twitter account says he’s still at Google, though he hasn’t posted a tweet since April 2020, so I wouldn’t put much stock in that.

Add a Comment