Mark Deloura, formerly of Sony

It would appear so as they have gobbled up ex SCEA executive Mark Deloura. Gizmodo is reporting that Google has hired Deloura to be their advocate for game developers.  Check out the whole article from Gizmodo here.

Deloura was the manager of developer relations at Sony, so this move is right up his alley and may signal that Google is getting ready to take games as a medium more seriously.  There are also rumors that Google is developing a set top box and a tablet with the Google Experience with Android on each.  Could hiring Deloura be a move to tighten up those platforms to compete with Apple TV and the iPad?  Time will tell of course.

No matter what his final area of focus will be revealed to be, Google made a great pickup here, especially if he helps them bring some sort of order and semblance to the Market.

It will be interesting to see what Google’s first hire in the gaming arena is going to mean for the Android platform.