Google is taking no chances with its upcoming Stadia cloud gaming platform. In the latest talent raid, the American internet multinational technology company has snatched one of the founders of Croteam and also the Chief Technology Officer, Alen Ladavac. Croteam is a renowned Croatian gaming studio behind The Talos Principle and the Serious Sam series.
Via a LinkedIn post, Ladavac revealed that he would be parting ways with Croteam to explore greener pastures at Google Stadia.
“With a heavy heart, I’ve parted ways with my dear friends and colleagues at Croteam. I love you all, guys and girls, and I will never forget all the beautiful years I spent with you and fantastic things we’ve created,” said Ladavac.
“I’m super excited to announce that I’m starting at Google München, joining the awesome Stadia team to work on finally bringing gaming into the cloud.”
Ladavac was among the founders of Croteam, one of the household names in the video games industry. He started the company alongside his five friends; Admir Elezović, Davor Hunski, Roman Ribarić, Dean Sekulić, and Davor Tomičić.
At the time of his departure, Ladavac was the Chief Technology Officer, a role he held for the last 14 years. His new role at Stadia has been confirmed. Ladavac will be heading the engineering department in a bid to soar the new cloud gaming platform to greater heights once it is launched.
Serious Sam series and the 2014 puzzle blockbuster The Talos Principle, are the renowned games from Croteam. But earlier on, the company had three other games, including Football Glory (1994), Save the Earth (1995), and 5-A-Side Soccer (1998).
The Serious Sam franchise is a popular first-person shooter game that boasts over ten titles and several spin-offs. The Talos Principle, on the other hand, is a first-person puzzle video game where players take the role of a robot with human conscience. The puzzle game recently joined Xbox Game Pass.
Google Stadia will be launched next month though the exact date hasn’t been revealed yet. The cloud gaming service will offer up to 4K resolution video game streaming at 60 frames per second. It also supports HDR and will have two subscription plans; Stadia Pro and Base.
What’s coming next month is the Founders Edition, which is a bundle that tags along with a Stadia subscription, Stadia Controller, and Chromecast Ultra.
With Google Stadia, gamers can finally lay their hands on the power-hungry titles without a console. All that’s needed is a fast and stable internet connection, a controller, and a subscription plan.
