Ins and Outs: January 2024’s industry hires roundup

Here are the highlights from the recent industry hires and moves, as published in MCV/DEVELOP’s December 2023 / January 2024 issue.

CHARLOTTE REYNOLDSON has been promoted from PR manager to director at Honest PR, where she has been busy this year helping to launch Lords of the Fallen, Fae Farm and Wargroove 2. She also works with Build A Rocket Boy, Cloud Imperium, Newfangled Games, and more. In her new role she will take on even more responsibility, taking on even more clients and generally looking after her team.

JAKE KULKOWSKI has recently gone public with his new agency Guillotine. He has left the team at Dead Good, and already has some interesting clients and projects lined up, including work with RGG Studios & SEGA. Guillotine has promised to focus on people, collaboration and clear results, rather than automated systems and do-it-yourself dashboards.

Over at video game development services provider Testronic, they’ve promoted MARIUS POTIRNICHE to chief operating officer. Potirniche joined the leadership team at the company when his QA outsourcing firm Whyttest was acquired in 2020. He has been mostly working in mergers and acquisitions between 2020 and 2023, and also led the establishment of a new office over in Portugal.

Testronic has also appointed ADAM KEATING as senior vice president of sales and marketing. He comes to them from Room 8, where he was vice president of global business development. Before that, he served as Head of EMEA sales for games and entertainment at the localisation specialist Lionbridge.

Testronic’s parent company Catalis Group has also announced that DOMINIC WHEATLEY has left his role as their chief executive officer to become a non-executive director. In his time in charge, he grew Catalis until it numbered more than 2,000 employees, and raised revenues to over $100 million. He also recruited new management teams for Curve Games and Testronic, which will both now be run separately by divisional CEOs.

BBC Studios has announced that ASHWIN DESAI has been appointed as global director for gaming and interactive for BBC Studios brands and licensing. He will report to managing director of consumer products and licensing Stephen Davies, and be responsible for developing and delivering the global gaming and interactive strategies for big world-renowned brands like Bluey, BBC Earth and Doctor Who.

MARCO A. MINOLI has been promoted at Slitherine, from marketing director to director of publishing. He joined Slitherine in 2007 due to his love of their specific video game niche, and to face the challenges of making an impact on a smaller organisation. Now that the company has grown, his goals have too, and he hopes to transform the strategy gaming market around the world as his firm continues to expand.

CALLUM AYERS has left his job as brand marketing manager at Team17 for a new role at Beyond Frames, an XR publisher based out of Stockholm. His first task as their senior marketing manager will be to focus on the next launch of the popular game Ghosts of Tabor, as it leaves AppLab for a full release on the Meta Store next year.

HO-YEE LI has joined Formation Games as a senior producer, and will lead production activities across the studio. Her extensive 16-year tenure in production includes leading positions at Interior Night and Epic Games studio Mediatonic, where she led an engineering initiative on the BAFTA-nominated Fall Guys.

CLAIRE CHARALAMBOS has also joined Formation Games as its head of finance, following senior finance roles at Sport England and The English FA. At the FA, Charalambos was a part of the core team responsible for the transition between the former and current Wembley stadiums.

Elsewhere at Formation Games, ROSS HAMMOND has joined the squad as senior graphic designer. Hammond’s experience at a myriad of agencies includes doing projects with King, Google, Chelsea FC, Team Sky, the FA, and recently with Channel 4 during its recent redesign.

DILLON POWLETT is the latest IT consultant for Formation Games, bringing with him over a decade of experience in providing technical support to companies. He was most recently at the metaverse technology company Improbable, and before that, PlayStation London Studio.

POPPY BENNETT has also joined Formation Games on a multi-media marketing apprenticeship. This is her first role in the video games industry and marketing overall, following both player and coaching roles at Tottenham Hotspur and Stevenage football clubs.

Playtonic Games has hired ANNI VALKAMA as the new brand manager for the Playtonic Friends publishing team, leaving the team at Super Rare Games after nearly two years. Since they joined the industry in 2021, they have helped launch nearly 50 video game titles, as well as two industry communities, GameDevsNorth and Social Link.

TERRY HAYNES has joined Tanglewood Games as its business development manager. He comes to them from Keywords, where he drove development for several studios, including Studio Gobo, D3t and Coconut Lizard. His network will help Tanglewood to continue to expand its list of AAA clients that it works alongside. Haynes is also co-chair of the Games Industry charity, GamesAid.

Finally, RAY WILLMOTT has left Raw Fury, and will be returning to Thunderful to work within their internal games division as a brand manager. While at Raw Fury he was a part of the successful launches of Friends vs Friends, Call of the Sea VR, and Mr Sun’s Hatbox. In his latest role at Thunderful, he will be working on exciting, but unannounced titles. How mysterious!