Croteam co-founder leaves Serious Sam studio to join Google Stadia

Alen Ladavac, co-founder of Croteam, has left the studio to join Google München and work on its new Stadia streaming platform (via Gamasutra). 

‘With a heavy heart, I've parted ways with my dear friends and colleagues at Croteam,’ he announced on LinkedIn. ‘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.’ Ladavac was one of the founders of Croatian developer Croteam, with Davor Hunski, Roman Ribarić, Dean Sekulić, Davor Tomičić, and Admir Elezović.

Hitting the ground running in 1993, Croteam created games for the Amiga 500, before pivoting to PC development with the first of the Serious Sam series released in 2001. The studio is also known for The Talos Principle, a first-person philosophical puzzler that met with critical acclaim.

‘It's been fantastic 25 years and I couldn't be more proud of everything we've achieved,’ Ladavac continued. As well as being a co-founder, Ladavac was the chief technology officer for 14 years at the company. Now, he will be working as an engineering manager for Google’s Stadia project, which is set to spread its wings next month.

‘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,’ he added. ‘What was once deemed impossible, now is the reality — and I'm grateful for a chance to contribute to this landmark undertaking.’

At launch, Stadia Pro subscribers will have access to a collection of popular games such as Borderlands 3, The Elder Scrolls Online, Just Dance, and Samurai Shodown. It’s just run out of the Founder’s Edition and will introduce the Premiere Edition to replenish pre-order stocks in Europe. Google is also planning to offer free trials ‘a few months’ after its release, and ‘roughly one free game a month’ will be scheduled for subscribers to enjoy.