Ins and Outs: April and May 2023’s industry hires roundup

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

MAX DANIELS is now an account director at Big Games Machine. He has a background in communications, and was previously head of gaming at FieldHouse Associates.

Keen gamer JEMMA LOWMAN has also joined Big Games Machine, as an account manager. She was previously engaged in technology PR at Clarity and Cohesive.

ERICH SCHAEFER is joining the team at Moon Beast Productions as their chief creative officer. He’ll be working on their as-yet-unrevealed action RPG game. He is perhaps most well known for working on Diablo, and would rather everyone forgot about Hellgate: London.

GARETH HARWOOD has co-founded Maverick Games, where he’ll serve as content director. He was previously the technical art director at Playground Games.

FRASER STRACHAN has also parked up at Maverick Games as audio director. He also used to work at Playground Games, but as an audio director and designer. A sound move, clearly!

GINA JOSEPH is now VentureBeat and GamesBeat’s chief strategy officer. She was previously its executive vice president of strategy, and built up VentureBeat’s brand and reputation. She’s also a Harvard Business School graduate.

PIETRO FACCIO has joined PTW as its senior director of business development. Pietro was previously at GlobalStep and Testronic in similar roles.

HANS VAN BRAKEL is now the director of sales and monetization strategy for the Thunderful Group, having previously been at Crytek and SOEDESCO.

KIRSTI HOOPER is the latest influencer relations consultant to join the team at Dead Good Media. She comes to the role after spending time as a freelance community manager and content creator.

JOHN CHALKLEY is now the director of talent acquisition at recent start-up Lighthouse Games. He was most recently at Jagex, as its head of talent.

MARK O’LEARY has become a junior account manager at Raptor PR. He works on web2 gaming, web3 and media for accounts like Xsolla Europe, Bidstack, and Tiny Digital Factory.

CRAIG CHAPPLE has also joined the Raptor PR team, leaving behind roles at Sensor Tower and PocketGamer.Biz. He previously worked on Develop magazine, so he obviously knows what he’s talking about.

BERNARDO DELGADO is now at British Esports as its full-time head of marketing. He used to work for The Great Run Company and Effect Sport.

AARON ROOK has also joined British Esports in the role of social media and community manager. He used to work for Ubisoft Reflections, We Are Reach, and Motorsport Network.

JONATHAN LINSLEY is another new arrival at British Esports, joining as its graphic designer. He used to work on brand and communications projects for Grid Smarter Cities.

DES GAYLE is now at Radical Forge, and is joining the team as a studio executive producer. He’s the deputy chair of BAFTA Games, and was a co-founder of POC In Play. He’s also worked with studios like Altered Gene, EA, Exient, Microsoft, Square Enix and Fellow Traveller.

DAN AHERN has also joined Radical Forge as lead QA. He was most recently at Mediatonic Games as a QA analyst, and is the mind behind the EGX Full-Ride Fund. He’s also a Lv. 60 Samurai in Final Fantasy XIV.

GREGAN DUNN is now director of operations at Offworld Industries. He came to the Squad developer from the PopReach Corporation, where he was vice president of game studios.

BEN SZOKE has joined Sump as its latest assistant finance manager. He comes to the group after eight years of working in corporate finance at BHP Chartered Accountants in Sheffield.

PEDRO MAMELUQUE is now a lighting artist at Sumo Sheffield. He got his start in the industry at a Finnish VR company called ZOAN, before working on Call of the Sea and American Arcadia at Out of the Blue Games.

TERRY GOODWIN is the latest studio director at Lab42 Games. They’ve been promoted after eight years on the Lab42 team, where they were most recently a technical director.

AARON MORLEY has joined Sumo Leamington. Before joining the team, they ran an indie mobile games company. In total they have about 10 years of F2P experience, which they are pleased to bring with them to Sumo.

ED BLINCOE is taking on the job of vice president of publishing at Secret Mode. Blincoe is the former studio director of Lab42. He’ll work closely with the former director of publishing, James Schall, who has had his role expanded to focus on strategy.

DAVE EVANS is now the lead QA manager at Auroch Digital. They started out in the industry about ten years ago, working in QA on CSR Racing with NaturalMotion. They’ve also worked at companies like Playdeo, Fusebox and Netspeak.

MATTHEW MORRIS, is now chief creative officer at Code Wizards. He has a reputation for building teams that can solve complex business challenges.

ROB OBRECZAREK is also at Code Wizards as the head of new projects. He has worked in a range of roles across the entertainment industry, including time at Devskiller, Netguru and the Universal Music Publishing Group.

MAYUMI O’SHEA has left Marvelous Europe, and is headed up north to Merge Games in Chelford. She’s an experienced producer that has also worked with well-known companies like PQube, Square Enix and IGN.

Finally, BEN ATKINS CHAFER has left By Gamers, For Gamers, where he worked as a product specialist for WePC, and a commercial copywriter for AgencyGMR. He’s headed to Yarnham for a bit of a break before he starts on his next challenge.