MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
UK games industry charity GamesAid has appointed two new trustees to the board, Gina Jackson and Byron Atkinson-Jones. Jackson is a veteran of the games industry, starting as a producer in 1992 and now the head of games at Imaginarium, Andy Serkis’ production company. Atkinson-Jones is an indie game designer and developer, who has worked with EA, Rebellion, Lionhead, Sports Interactive and Mediatonic.
Hutch continued its recruitment push, hiring three new starters in its London office. James
Bruck joined as UI designer from Mediatonic, having also worked at Mind Candy. Kaneez Abbas and Pete Scott have both joined as marketing graphic designers. Abbas has recently completed a Master’s in Digital Games: Game Theory & Design and won the Accessibility Award for the 2017 Ukie Student Game Jam. Scott previously worked for digital creative agency This is Tommy for clients including Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros and Amazon.
HTC has hired Dave Haynes as the director of Vive X in Europe. The newly created role comes alongside HTC Vive’s expansion of its global VR/AR accelerator program. It will be opening its sixth location in London, with the aim to act as a hub for companies in Europe.
Sumo Digital has appointed Holly Youdan as talent acquisition manager. Based in Sheffield, she will head up recruitment across the developer’s four studios. Youdan commented: “I realised quite quickly that Sumo Digital is a place that cares about its employees. With an open way of communicating with each other, the culture is one of collaboration, accountability and a desire to keep getting better at everything.”
Former Green Man Gaming’s EVP publishing Gary Rowe has joined Curve Digital to become the firm’s first executive producer. Rowe will be responsible for Human: Fall Flat as well as the recently-revealed Narcos title. Rowe has also previously worked for companies such as Sega and Codemasters.
Bethesda Softworks has announced a new UK managing director, Roy Campbell, who will be joining the publisher’s London office, overseeing the UK and Irish markets. With 30 years of experience in the video game industry, Campbell has been consulting with Bethesda for the last year and is best known for roles with THQ, Rage, Virgin, Infogrames UK and City Interactive. Bethesda has also hired David Evans as senior European licensing and merchandising manager, joining from PlayStation. At Bethesda, he will oversee licensing for the firm’s entire portfolio and work on the expansion of its European online merchandise store.
Industry veterans Geoff Heath and Mark Hardy have banded together to found new VR-focused company Maze Theory, based in London. Co-founder Geoff Heath OBE has over 40 years experience in the industry, having founded and run Activision as European MD. Mark Hardy has spent years at PlayStation as marketing director, where he helped launch the PS3 and PlayStation Network.
Former Eidos COO Jürgen Goeldner has become chairman of Focus Home Interactive’s management board, following the resignation of president and chairman Cédric Lagarrigue. Goeldner said: “Focus has several licences that offer great potential and I am pleased to be joining this talented team and to be able to share my expertise in drawing on these licences to take the company to a new stage in its development.”
Head of Microsoft Studios Matt Booty has announced the appointment of Darrell Gallagher. Joining from Activision, he will be part of the executive leadership team, with more to be revealed at E3. He previously worked for the likes of Sony, Rockstar, THQ and Crystal Dynamics, where he was instrumental in the making of the Tomb Raider reboot.
Frontier’s associate PR manager Daniela Pietrosanu has moved to Square Enix Europe as senior PR executive. She commented: “I am thrilled to join Square Enix at such an exciting time! I look forward to working alongside the amazing team that has delivered so many great campaigns.”
PQube’s product manager Matthew Pellett has joined Dead Good PR as media and influencer consultant. He spent ten years at Future Publishing, in senior editorial roles at OPM, GamesMaster and Xbox World 360.
