They Got Outs: the MCV/DEVELOP where-are-they-now

A special edition of Ins and Out this month, as we chart the career courses of as many key MCV contributors as we could reliably track down. It’s the where-are-they-now you didn’t ask for, but are getting anyway.

After working on CTW (Computer Trade Weekly) for 12 years, becoming editor at just 21, STUART DINSEY left in July 1998 to establish its rival MCV, which he edited until March 1999 before leaning more into his role as co-founder and MD of Intent Media. He left after Intent was sold to NewBay in 2012 and has been chairman of Curve Games ever since. He has also had long stints heading up both Gamesaid and Ukie and is a longtime board director of League One club Stevenage FC.

LISA CARTER (nee Foster) was the deputy editor of CTW for four years before being tempted to jump ship and help establish MCV with Stuart Dinsey. Taking over as editor in April 1999, she was MCV’s managing editor and publisher for a combined 17 years, leaving to found Mimram Media in January 2015, of which she remains a director to this day (alongside her duties as Women in Games’ communications director).

Part of the so-called ‘Dream Team’ of CTW turncoats was ALEX MOREHAM (nee Jarvis), MCV’s first sales director. Alex was influential in numerous commercial deals, none more emblematic than the one that saw a giant MCV logo greet E3 attendees back in the glory days of both. These days Alex can be found bobbing around the seas that surround the Canary Islands, teaching folk how to sail yachts.

After five years as the finance director of Virgin Games and GT Interactive, HILARY COLE joined Stuart Dinsey to co-found MCV and become Intent Media’s finance director. She played a key role for many years aiding the company’s growth, plus acquisitions in markets such as toys, mobile, music and cycling, Hilary left swiftly after Intent was sold to Newbay, becoming finance director of Curve. She is currently a partner in Janus FD, offering financial management support for companies in and outside the games business.

Making the move from CTW to MCV in August 1998 was veteran trade journalist DAVE ROBERTS, whom Stuart Dinsey says is the best writer he ever worked with. Credited as contributing editor in MCV’s early issues, Dave went on to take a lead role in MCV’s business development efforts before joining Music Week, which Intent Media acquired in 2011. Currently he is the head of publishing and partnerships at Music Business World – run by fellow ex-MCV writer Tim Ingham.

Passed up for the role of Edge editor, OWAIN BENNALLACK joined the first iteration of the MCV team as the mag’s senior staff writer, impressing his bosses so much that despite an eagerness to go freelance, he was talked into becoming the first editor of Develop magazine in 1999, which he remained for the best part of a decade. After helping to establish the Develop conference, Owain co-founded Steel Media, published PockerGamer.biz and currently indulges his journalistic passion for investing.

With a background in retail, GEORGE KOTSIOFIDES joined the MCV crew as its most junior member in 1998, rising to become deputy editor two years later. Since taking a lead game evaluation role at Microsoft in 2001, George occupied a number of game design positions before setting himself up as Quantum Sheep in 2010 and creating a series of acclaimed mobile and retro titles.

A veteran of CTW since 1996, SAMANTHA LOVEDAY eventually joined her old colleagues in 2000 as MCV deputy editor, moving to editor when Lisa Carter’s role became more managerial in 2001. After three years Sam moved on within Intent, editing Licensing.Biz and ToyNews, before moving to Max Publishing in 2015 where she is currently group editor of three titles and their associated events.

For eight years from 2000, CHRIS BUCKLEY was MCV’s head of sales. Then after emigrating to Canada and finding himself unable to rejoin the company, he signed up with GamesIndustry.biz to do much the same thing remotely. He left GI.biz earlier this year after more than 13 years and is currently business development manager at BKOM Studios in Quebec.

STEVE MERRETT‘s time on MCV begins as Owain Bennallack departed. Leaving after a year, the EMAP veteran decided to have a dabble in PR, joining Rich Eddy’s Rocket Media, where he looked after PR for Konami. Next, after running his own PR outfit for 13 years, he joined Bethesda Softworks, where he is currently the UK’s marketing and communications director.

LESLEY McDIARMID joined MCV in 2002 to support Chris Buckley in sales as Intent Media grew, becoming group ad manager in 2014. She left for a senior role at Chelsea Magazines but rejoined as head of entertainment for NewBay. More recently was SVP Corporate Partnerships at Green Man Gaming until 2019 and business development manager for Heaven Media.

JOHNNY MINKLEY became MCV’s fourth editor, having helped to establish the online side of CVG at Dennis Publishing. His tenure lasted for two years, during which time he did much the same for MCV, before leaving to become the editor of Eurogamer TV. Since 2012 he’s worked for Apple’s App Store, in between releasing regular videos of his virtuoso ivory tickling.

Starting as an editorial assistant under Samantha Loveday when she was deputy editor, MICHAEL FRENCH moved up to take her place when she was made MCV’s editor in 2003. After a period away, he returned to Intent Media, becoming Develop’s second editor. He was made editor-in-chief of Develop and MCV in 2008, Publisher in 2013, before leaving two years later to become head of Games London for Film London and the director of the London Games Festival.

Before becoming launch editor of MCV spin-off Mobile Entertainment magazine, STUART O’BRIEN worked on MCV in a special projects role. He was then promoted to head of digital in 2008, leading the charge for the MCV website (among many others). He moved on from NewBay in 2014 to become a director of Mimram Media alongside former MCV editor and group publisher Lisa Carter.

Joining MCV as an editorial assistant in 2004, NEIL LONG eventually spent some time as deputy editor before taking over as Johnny Minkley’s successor in 2006. After two years at the helm he left to join Future Publishing to edit Official Nintendo Magazine and, later, Edge Online. Seven years at Apple followed, then in 2021 he founded Tactile Media, where he manages and edits Mobilegamer.biz.

Another one to leave games for the music industry, TIM INGHAM was for a number of years the deputy editor under Neil Long, before becoming the online editor of the MCV website and associate editor of the magazine. He joined CVG at Future in 2010, before becoming the editor of Music Week in 2011 when Dave Roberts was publisher. He founded Music Business Worldwide in 2015.

Joining from Live Publishing in 2004, MATT MARTIN was for nine months MCV’s deputy editor. He left in 2006 to join GamesIndustry.biz as the site’s European editor, where he remained for seven years. Another seven years was spent as the editor-in-chief of VG247 before a short spell at Mojang Studios. Currently Matt is a freelance editorial consultant.

One of MCV’s longest-serving staff members, BEN PARFITT joined the team in 2005 and stuck it out for more than eleven years, during which time he looked after the website and became associate editor, eventually moving on when MCV moved to London and Seth Barton took the editorship at the end of 2016. He then swapped the media for the studio, joining Jagex as associate editorial director before moving to head up Creative Assembly’s editorial operations.

Joining as MCV staff writer in 2005, ANDREW WOODEN floated around and up within Intent Media for many years before becoming NewBay’s interactive entertainment content director in 2015, overseeing both MCV and Develop. Since moving on in 2017, Andrew has held various lead editorial roles, most recently at Moneysupermarket and Hennik Research. He is currently the deputy editor of Telecoms.com.

Spending more than nine years on MCV, CHRIS DRING joined the team in 2007 as editorial assistant, steadily rising through the ranks under Michael French’s watch as EIC to become MCV’s associate editor in 2011, then editor in October 2013. Chris departed for GamesIndustry.biz in 2016, more or less at the same time as Develop’s editor, James Batchelor, did the same. Since 2020 he’s been ReedPop’s head of games B2B, overseeing GamesIndustry.biz and its events.

GamesIndustry.biz’s current editor-in-chief JAMES BATCHELOR joined MCV as a staff writer back at the tail end of 2008, becoming deputy editor to Chris Dring in 2012 before accepting the editorship of Develop when NewBay acquired Intent Media the following year. Since joining GI.biz seven years ago, James has written a number of books, most recently The Best Non-Violent Video Games, which is available now from all good retailers.

Getting his start in the industry freelancing for gamesTM magazine, DOMINIC SACCO joined MCV in 2010 and was a staff writer for more than two years before moving across to sister titles ToyNews and PCR. Since then Dominic has been focused on esports, becoming head of content at the British Esports Federation and founding Esports News UK, which he currently edits.

MCV hasn’t had a deputy editor since 2017, when ALEX CALVIN, who’d been on MCV since 2013, left to help Michael French with the London Games Festival. Since then he helped launch and edit PCGamesInsider.biz where he’s a contributing editor, and over recent years has become an established author and photographer.

CHARLOTTE NANGLE joined Develop in 2014 as a sales exec, soon moving on to the role of account manager on both Develop and MCV. She left in 2017 to join Chris Dring and James Batchelor at Gamer Network, where she stayed until 2021. Since then she has worked in-house at Dlala Studios and has recently rejoined the team at Neonhive for a second time; where she is currently Marketing and Development manager.

Board games are what MATT JARVIS is all about these days, as the editor-in-chief of Dicebreaker, and before that, the editor of Tabletop Gaming magazine. Just when he was getting started in his editorial career however, he served for 18 months as MCV staff writer, becoming senior staff writer for Develop in December 2015.

Taking over from Matt Jarvis as MCV staff writer at the tail end of Chris Dring’s editorship, MARIE DEALESSANDRI’s time on the magazine saw great changes, not least during a two-year period that saw the mag change schedule and ownership not once but twice. In the month that MCV became MCV/DEVELOP, Marie joined GamesIndustry.biz, where she is currently the deputy editor.

SETH BARTON was the last editor of MCV as-was and first of MCV/DEVELOP, joining the crew in November 2016 and helming the rebranded ship through some rather choppy waters, first as the magazine went fortnightly, then monthly. He served three different owners, ensured the survival of the magazine during covid and left – no doubt a bit seasick – after five years of service, joining PlayStation London to manage UX writing.

Currently the editor-in-chief of Rock Paper Shotgun, KATHARINE CASTLE joined the MCV team at the same time as editor Seth Barton (having previously worked with him at Dennis Publishing). She remained as news editor for eleven months before becoming hardware editor at RPS just before MCV went monthly at the start of 2018.

JEM ALEXANDER was Develop’s editor from October 2016 until the magazine was closed in December 2017, whereupon he joined the MCV team as it embarked on its new monthly print schedule. He tagged along for a few months before jumping ship to become senior editor at Greenlit Content in July 2018. Jem is currently a senior UX writer at King.

JAKE TUCKER was the editor of the short-lived Esports Pro, which was closed at the end of 2017 when it and Develop were incorporated into the new monthly MCV. He left MCV’s loving embrace in the summer of 2018, eventually to become the commissioning editor at NME where he established the site’s now celebrated games content. He is currently TechRadar Gaming’s editor-in-chief.

Having written for Ginx TV, Destructoid, IGN, GamesTM and MTV, VIKKI BLAKE began an 18-month stint as a news reporter for MCV towards the end of 2018, which ended just as the world was going into lockdown in 2020. Since then she’s had gigs with the BBC and LADbible and continues to write for Eurogamer, GamesIndustry.biz and NME, among other outlets.

It wasn’t long ago across these pages that we were celebrating CHRIS WALLACE’s new junior PR manager role at Dead Good Media. This came after a period of freelancing for the likes of NME, Rock Paper Shotgun, GamesIndustry.Biz and VG247. Before then of course, he was MCV/DEVELOP staff writer, joining the team in October 2019 and leaving in May 2022 when he was confident the new editor wasn’t going to break anything.

Ins and Outs will return in its regular incarnation with next issue. Email Vince Pavey with news of your recent appointments at vince.pavey@biz-media.co.uk.