After announcing her move to Google just days ago, Jade Raymond has made tremendous waves. The creative mind behind the original Assassin’s Creed took to Twitter to announce her position at Google after departing from EA’s Motive Studios last year. With a teaser from the tech giant indicating a big reveal at this year’s Game Developers Convention, what could Raymond’s role be in this potentially titanic move?
Google’s New Vice President Is A Heavy Hitter
Jade Raymond set the gaming industry ablaze when she announced her new position at Google as vice president. This is likely not only due to her immaculate pedigree within the gaming world, but also has to do her business prowess as well. Given Google’s recent push toward gaming it’s no surprise they decided to bring such a gigantic name on board.
https://twitter.com/ibjade/status/1105602638517669889?s=20
Google’s recently concluded Project Stream proposed an interesting premise and ended up delivering a solid streaming experience. The trial run asked users to sign on and play Assassin’s Creed Odyssey for a minimum of one hour and they would be provided with a free copy of the game after the test ended. The catch that came along with this was that Ubisoft’s latest Greek epic was to be played in the Chrome browser, and at a supposed full sixty frames per second to boot.
While Google has offered nothing in the ways of statistics to shed light on how the test went, users reported generally positive results across the board. The test was also available for a number of months, and it’s safe to assume if there were any substantial problems with the service Google would have pulled it sooner, as there was no official window of availability. Raymond’s presence at Google following Project Stream can be no coincidence, and fans will likely see her name attached to several- if not all- Google gaming endeavors.
But the role of vice president would not so readily be offered to Raymond if she were solely dabbling in the games themselves. It’s more likely she is working with Google to develop its gaming brand as a whole. Whether that is assisting in the development of hardware, or overseeing the acquisition and creation of various studios, Jade Raymond was certainly brought on for more than just star power.
Fans and industry speculators are going insane trying to guess at what Google will announce at this year’s GDC. After a supposed controller patent was leaked and subsequently debunked people were left scratching their heads. Kotaku’s Jason Schreier recently tweeted his thoughts on what Google may reveal at the convention tomorrow, noting their funding of game development, and probable focus on streaming. Whatever the reveal may be though, it’s sure to have Jade Raymond’s name attached in a big way.