Sony Interactive Entertainment’s senior research engineer Richard Marks, who worked on the company’s PlayStation VR and PlayStation Move, has now left the company for a job at Google. Marks was also responsible for the creation of PlayStation Eye back in the PlayStation 2 era while heading Sony’s Magic Lab. The experience makes him a good fit for the position he has taken on at Google as part of its Advanced Technology and Projects group (ATAP). Magic Lab is where Sony researches innovative new concepts for the gaming industry. Marks holds a doctorate in philosophy, aeronautics, and astronautics, in addition to a bachelor’s in aeronautical and astronautical engineering. He first began working at Sony back in 1999.
Despite Marks’ extensive background within the industry, Google’s ATAP is not at all engaged in gaming. The company has been rumored to be working on its own ‘Yeti’ platform, so it’s also not completely out of the question that he may end up with a role there too. With that said, researching and testing for gaming won’t likely be part of his main duties at Google. Instead, ATAPS mission is to solve problems and create possibilities ‘at the intersection of science and application’ according to Google. Marks will contribute as a member of that unit’s senior team. No details have been provided with regard to what specific projects he’ll be working with, as of this writing. In the past, the division has been responsible for projects such as Google’s Jacquard, Ara, and Tango. The first of those was tied in with the touch-sensitive connected jacket released last year in conjunction with Levi Strauss & Co. Project Ara first conceptualized the idea of a fully modular smartphone and the AR platform, Project Tango.
In the meantime, the search giant has been hiring from within the gaming industry quite a bit lately. This is at least the fourth new hire for Google from within the gaming industry and at least three of those employees have previously worked with Sony’s PlayStation division. Besides Marks, the company has also hired former head of Sony’s game research and development and worldwide studios Phil Harrison. It also hired Jack Buser and Greg Canessa, the former PlayStation Home chief and creator of Xbox Live Arcade, respectively.