"The opportunity to actually build the big, consequential games that I had been hired to help create failed to materialise"

Noah Falstein, Google’s chief game developer, leaves company

Noah Falstein has left his role as chief game designer at Google after four years with the company.

Falstein took to a blog post to explain some of the reasons behind his departure:

"Four years ago this month I became Google’s Chief Game Designer. It seemed an auspicious time to be able to make games at a company known for its world-spanning technology. Unfortunately, the opportunity to actually build the big, consequential games that I had been hired to help create failed to materialise, even as the world market for games has continued to grow in size, diversity, and geographic reach. Accordingly, I’ve decided to leave Google, and today, April 6, was my last day."

Noah Falstein said that Google was a "tremendous company" and that he’ll miss the "perks, the excitement, and most of all, my colleagues there." but that making games is in his blood, and he wants to get back to that, and the several new and exciting fields that’ve recently emerged in the game development space.

Falstein has nearly 40 years of experience as a game developer and finishes his blog post with: "the only way that I or my long-term colleagues stay fresh in an industry that is constantly changing is to evolve to meet that adapting environment.

Whether neurogaming, interactive VR films, or some other yet undreamt-of territory will be my next challenge, I’m eager to begin exploring!"

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