Google is ready to get serious about bringing more games to their platforms. Industry veteran Mark DeLoura was named “Developer Advocate” for games at Google and will begin the position today. DeLoura’s previous positions included manager of developer relations at Sony Computer Entertainment America, technical director at Ubisoft, and lead engineer at Nintendo.
We have witnessed Google trying to court the gaming crowd by giving them free phones, but this is their first public hire of a position that focuses solely on game development and game developers.
“I personally feel that Google hiring someone specifically to focus on games is a signal from the company that they recognize the growing importance of games as a medium. In this time of great disruption in the game industry, there are a huge number of opportunities for developers.”Mark DeLouraGoogle Developer Advocate
Android phones like the Nexus One and Droid are capable of pumping out some impressive graphics, but many of the high-profile game studios have yet to adopt the platform. As Android continues to expand to more powerful devices, there will be massive opportunities for gaming. Hopefully this new hire will bring more attention to the Android platform and my future Google TV will replace my home console system.