It’s widely accepted that Google is one of the world’s best employers, and every open position is fought over by a multitude of applicants. However, a man who was supposed to help bridge the gap between Google and the gaming industry has left after only about four months on the job.
Mark DeLoura held the title "Developer Advocate, Games," and he doesn’t seem to have been lured away by another company. DeLoura didn’t cite any other usual excuse for quitting, either. As a result, his departure may turn out to be a problem for Google.
After all, the company’s made lots of gaming-related moves in recent months, investing in Zynga and Ngmoco, acquiring Slide and Jambool, and unveiling games intended for the Chrome Web Store. (DeLoura even participated in the Chrome Web Store announcement.)
But by failing to hang onto DeLoura, Google’s arguably come up short on the human side of the equation, and this could cause other people in the games industry to lose confidence in what the search giant’s doing.
DeLoura didn’t badmouth Google on his way out, at least. To explain his departure, he just wrote on his personal blog, "There are a lot of very interesting things going on at Google right now, and I enjoyed working with many of the people there, but it was not the perfect fit for me."
Hat tip goes to MG Siegler, and we should note that Google hasn’t named DeLoura’s replacement yet.