It would seem that things over in the world of Google Stadia are continuing to look grim. In the wake of Stadia game studios being closed, some insider reports of mismanagement, and the very public screw-up of a third party dev’s Google account (that was fixed a while later), there’s now word that John Justice, the VP and head of product for Stadia, has left his post.
The departure appears to have been a somewhat abrupt one, as Justice’s LinkedIn profile is yet to be updated and Google provided a one line statement about the move, saying, “We can confirm John is no longer with Google and we wish him well on his next step.”
Justice’s role for Stadia was related to the consumer experience for the service, which often saw him talk about future updates made to Stadia. Readers will note that such talk was reeled back in favor of only discussing things that were actually on the way instead of, for example, being caught listing features that wouldn’t be available at the product’s launch. Which is also part of the reason why we got late word of a search function.
Whether this leadership shift represents a shakeup to make Stadia work or a slow dressing down as Google preps to bin yet another project will only be told with time, but for right now there’s perhaps some reason for concern.
