Jade Raymond joins Google as VP

Jade Raymond has joined mega corp Google as a vice president.

"I’m excited to finally be able to share that I have joined Google as VP!" Raymond said via a tweet. Interestingly, her Twitter bio still says "I help teams make games", and as GI.biz points out, her announcement comes mere days ahead of GDC, for which Google has already teased a gaming-related announcement.

I’m excited to finally be able to share that I have joined Google as VP!

— Jade Raymond (@ibjade) March 12, 2019

Raymond left Ubisoft in 2015 to found EA’s Montreal studio, Motive, but left in a shock departure in October 2018 after its first project – Visceral’s Star Wars game – was cancelled. The studio then contributed to highly controversial Star Wars: Battlefront II.

"EA Studios is focused on bringing more creative new games and content to players. Laura Miele and her team have taken several steps internally to better support our game makers in this pursuit, such as expanding Samantha Ryan’s portfolio to lead additional studios, including Motive," John Reseburg, EA’s head of communications said at the time, confirming Ryan would take over Motive.

Raymond told attendees of the Develop Awards last year that she decided to move to EA in 2015 to "expand [her] horizons and challenge [her]self".

“I thought it would be nice to try working somewhere else,” Raymond said. “Learn, expand my horizons and challenge myself. I got this opportunity at EA, building a studio, which is something I love doing. "Working on a new IP as well as working on Star Wars, with more than just one studio… It was obviously a great opportunity to stretch myself again."