Meet MCV’s 30 Under 30 2015

MCV reveals the 30 brightest and most talented people under the age of 30 currently working in games retail, community management, publishing, events, marketing, PR and journalism

30 Under 30 is sponsored by recruitment firm OPM.

Ami Langton
PR and Marketing Manager, All 4 Games Age: 28

Langton’s career started back in 2006 when she joined Bizarre Creations as a PR assistant and helped lead the studio’s PR department after it was acquired by Activison Blizzard in 2007. Following the developer’s closure in 2011, she moved to indie publisher Ripstone, where she supported developers and helped build the firm’s PR department from scratch. Developers have praised her for delivering campaigns that integrate a wide mix of PR, social media and community. She is now heading up PR for Channel 4’s new Glasgow-based publishing arm All 4 Games.

Bear Parker
Community Manager, Xbox/Edelman Age: 27

As Xbox’s community manager at PR agency Edelman, Parker’s co-workers praise him for being ‘in tune with the needs and desires of Xbox fans’. Before his time at Edelman, Parker worked at Sony Computer Entertainment UK as community manager, where he was the man responsible for the #PlayStationMemories hashtag prior to the announcement of the PlayStation 4 in 2013.

Chris Slight
Freelance TV presenter Age: 29

Chris has quickly racked up an impressive CV within the games industry, having already worked for the likes of Explosive Alan Productions and The GameJar, before taking on a role at game-focused TV channel Ginx TV. He has also contributed video games content to TV giant Sky as a correspondent and CNBC as a talking head. In addition to all that, he helps run Dalston-based game bar Loading’s streaming output on Twitch. Alongside Julia Hardy, he hosted MCM London Comic Con’s League of Legend championships.

David Scarborough
PR and Marketing Assistant, Deep Silver Age: 29

Scarborough started out in the media as a staff writer on Imagine’s GamesTM brand in 2011, before taking on the role of features editor and then acting editor of that brand and the Xbox-focused X-One. Since then, he has departed games journalism and joined Deep Silver as a PR and marketing assistant. He is credited for his ‘professionalism, creativity and passion’, and for constantly going above and beyond what is needed. Recently he dressed up as a cow to promote Farming Simulator at consumer events.

Gem Woolnough
UK PR Manager, 2K Games Age: 28

After joining the games market in 2010 from iTunes, Woolnough has made a name for herself; she is well-known amongst the games media and described as one of the best PRs in the business. As international PR coordinator, and later UK integrated comms exec, for EA, she worked on some of the publisher’s biggest titles, including last year’s Dragon Age: Inquisition, ensuring a large amount of coverage for BioWare’s game. She also looked after The Sims and Plants vs Zombies. She has since moved to 2K Games where she is now UK PR manager.

George Morgan
Product Manager, Sold Out Age: 26

Morgan has already worked in a wide array of sectors within the games industry. Starting out in retail at his local GAME, he spent several years working as an ‘excellent’ QA tester for Sega and Feral Interactive. That was before he took the huge step up to becoming a product manager at publisher and distributor
Sold Out.

Hannah Whittaker
Events Coordinator, SpecialEffect Age: 26

Whittaker has been working for video games charity SpecialEffect since 2011. Her largest contribution to date has been the many brief yet powerful video showcases that show the good work the firm is doing for severely disabled people across Britain. Her videos now have hundreds of thousands of views and, according to the charity, her work has had a ‘significant’ global impact in raising awareness about the positive impact of video games on the lives of the severely disabled.

Holly Quinn
Creative Director, PQube Age: 29

Starting her career at UK-based Japanese publisher Zen United, Quinn has gone on to work at PQube where she handles the firm’s niche Japanese releases. During her time as creative director at the company, she has been responsible for the releases of BlazBlue titles, as well as visual novel Steins;Gate. She co-founded Japanese game-focused editorial outlet Rice Digital with PQube’s Geraint Evans, which has been hugely successful with that audience.

Jake Mackey
Community Manager, Capcom Europe Age: 29

Mackey is described as a vital member of the Capcom team and has been instrumental in the growth of the Monster Hunter franchise in Europe. A fan first, Capcom hired him for his passion for the series. He is very active within the industry, attending Monster Hunter events and lending assistance to those who want to launch their own fan gatherings. He has taken great strides to acclimatise new players to the series, and recently commissioned a ‘how to’ series for the Nintendo eShop.

Jake Tucker
VR Editor and Events Content Lead, Pocket Gamer Age: 26

Tucker has been one of the hardest working freelance journalists working in the games media in the last few years, and has had bylines at the likes of Vice, Pocket Gamer and Bit Tech. Now he has left the world of freelance journalism to work as Pocket Gamer’s VR editor and events content lead. And if that wasn’t enough, last year he launched VideoBrains, a monthly collection of talks to do with video games featuring developers, journalists and players.

James Duffield
Commercial Solutions Manager, Twitch Age: 26

Duffield’s work at Twitch has been instrumental in the success of the streaming giant’s UK arm. He is described as ‘a true renaissance man of the UK games scene’. Since being hired in November 2014, he has orchestrated influencer streams and worked on over 30 different campaigns. He has no problem staying late until the job is done, and has been known to pull several all-nighters to ensure his tasks are completed to the best possible quality. He also hosts several eSports events, such as Counter-Strike tournaments for the ESL.

James Salmon
Product Marketing Manager, EA Age: 26

Since he joined EA, Salmon has been put in charge of the marketing campaigns for the blockbuster FIFA franchise in the UK and Ireland. Previously, he worked as digital coordinator for the FA. His superb football knowledge has helped him deliver high-quality integrated marketing pushes, while his knowledge of digital marketing has helped EA reach players in a more sophisticated manner. He is credited by EA as driving the success of FIFA Ultimate Team in the UK.

Jaspreet Marwaha
Product Executive, Reef Entertainment Age: 27

UK fans of niche Japanese games have a lot to thank Jaspreet Marwaha for. He has been instrumental in Reef Entertainment’s partnership with Japanese publisher NIS America, which has yielded such fruit as Persona 4 Golden and Danganronpa coming to the UK. Since he joined Reef in 2012, he has worked with the firm’s PR and marketing teams, as well as assisting with its community management. He has also helped out with various expo shows, such as MCM Comic Con.

Jenny Brammall
Commercial Services Coordinator, UKIE Age: 22

Working at trade body UKIE, first as community and engagement assistant and then as commercial services coordinator, Jenny Brammall is already a well-known and well-loved member of the industry. She helped manage UKIE’s largest-ever stand at Gamescom 2015, and assisted at GDC San Francisco and Game Connection Paris. That’s on top of her work with UKIE’s Video Game Ambassadors programme,
as well as running UKIE’s student membership schemes.

Jonathan Edwards
Senior Brand and Communications Executive, Konami Age: 26

Edwards joined the games industry from food and drink. He originally joined Konami to work on marketing strategies for Northern Europe. Since then, he has helped launch some of the publisher’s biggest titles, including Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. He is credited with putting PES back in front of a mainstream audience by collaborating with some of YouTube’s biggest games personalities.

Kate Gray
Video Producer, GameSpot UK Age: 23

Within just 18 months of working in the games industry, Kate Gray has already built up a healthy CV. She has held roles at Future, working on its Official Nintendo Magazine and Official Xbox Magazine titles as a staff writer, and creative firm Attention Seekers, where she helped launch its Xbox On YouTube channel. She recently joined GameSpot UK as a video producer, and in her spare time works on a number of podcasts, including her own, Toku Podcast, which she presents with freelance journalist Holly Nielsen.

Kelsey Christou
Publicist, Premier PR Age: 25

Kelsey joined Premier PR in 2012 and has already worked on the accounts of some of the biggest names in games, including The Pokmon Company, Multiplay, Warner Bros and King. She has more than proven her worth to the market, and is referred to as ‘the most dedicated and hard-working individual’ her nominee has ever met. If that wasn’t enough, she is learning to speak Japanese in her spare time.

Laura Henwood
London Team Manager, Event Prop Hire Age: 28

Henwood is said to be one of the games industry’s unsung heroes. She manages Event Prop Hire’s London team, which works for the likes of Multiplay and GAME. She has been one of the biggest creative driving forces behind some of the industry’s best events this year, including Multiplay’s Minecraft event Minecon in July, as well as GAME’s new Galleon exhibition stand at Insomnia. Her creativity and passion are highlighted as bringing life to some of the most exciting events in the games industry.

Laura Kate Dale
UK Editor, Destructoid Age: 23

Despite her hard work and excellent output, journalist Laura Kate Dale has faced sexism, homophobia and transphobia. But these challenges weren’t enough to phase her, and she has risen to be the UK editor of Destructoid. She started her career working for MCM Comic Con website MCMBuzz.com for free, and helped found indie-focused website Indie Haven. She has written for a wide array of media outlets including Kotaku UK, The Guardian and Rock Paper Shotgun. She also works on six different podcasts, including Destructoid UK’s, The Jimquisition and Laura’s Gaming Butts.

Laura McGreary
Senior Marketing Manager, Jagex Age: 29

McGreary joined Jagex – and the games industry – just two years ago as a marketing communications manager. Now a senior marketing manager, she spearheads the comms strategy for the firm’s RuneScape MMO, as well as handling the relationship between the brand and the publisher’s PR teams. In addition, earlier this year, Laura orchestrated a charity campaign between RuneScape and the WWF, raising more than $150,000 in the process.

Lucy Pullinger
Co-Owner, Loading Bar Age: 25

Dalston’s Loading Bar has fast become one of the coolest games hangouts in London, and Lucy Pullinger is one of the main reasons why. She has helped with the organisation of games industry
and community events, as well as the management of the bar and its patrons. That’s on top of the Wednesday live streams, which she hosts alongside a number of other games industry personalities. If that wasn’t enough, she has developed a number of smaller games herself.

Mike Adebajo
Marketing Executive, Square Enix Age: 27

According to his nominations, Adebajo has ‘always shown a passion for the marketing side of the games business’. He started out in the industry as an operations assistant in PlayStation’s Store team, where he helped to launch a number of games. He then moved to Square Enix, where he currently works as a marketing executive. He is also one of the hosts on the We See In Pixels podcast.

Niall McGuinness
National Account Manager, Nintendo UK Age: 28

A relatively new addition to the games industry, McGuinness joined Konami in 2014 as its national account manager. There he was responsible for the firm’s day-to-day releationships with its UK and Irish accounts, including the likes of Amazon, The Hut and HMV, as well as some of the market’s biggest distributors. He was incredibly passionate about his work, and helped to launch record-breaking title Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Following this, he moved to Nintendo UK to serve as its national account manager.

Nick Marshall
Social Media and Content Manager, Get Games Age: 25

Nick Marshall wears a number of different hats within the games industry. By day he works as both social media and content manager for Get Games and assistant producer for publisher Mastertronic, and is described as a ‘digital publishing and retail maestro’. By night, he has been known to moonlight for Hotline Miami publisher Devolver Digital, and is active within BAFTA, as well as the London indie community.

Patricia Ryniak
Associate Community Manager, Blizzard Entertainment Age: 24

Ryniak joined the games industry in 2011, starting off as a marketing coordinator for Toronto-based developer TransGaming. Since, she has held community roles at a number of high-profile UK-based studios including The Creative Assembly, NCSoft and SkySaga studio Radiant Worlds. She is credited with having been the single-biggest influence on the growth of SkySaga’s community. Last month, she moved to Blizzard, where she will now be managing the studio’s Starcraft and Heroes of the Storm fans.

Paul Watson
Senior Account Manager, Gamer Network Age: 25

Gamer Network’s Watson has fast become a force to be reckoned with in games marketing. He started his career as an intern at Green Man Gaming, where he was hired for his work aptitude and contributed to the retailer’s marketing and trade teams. He moved to Gamer Network as an advertising manager, before being hired by developer Curve Digital where he helped lead the company’s rebrand as an indie publisher. He returned to Gamer Network earlier this year, and he is working on a number of commercial projects.

Peter Willington
Producer, Auroch Digital Age: 29

Willington will soon be leaving the world of
journalism, but he departs with his head held high. As both the deputy editor of Pocket Gamer and the boss of its video-focused sibling AppSpy, in the last year he has turned the channel into a prominent mobile games outlet and set up Twitch’s most successful mobile stream to date with five million views. He has been described to MCV as a standout employee. Now, he joins Auroch Digital as a producer.

Sarah Moffatt
Specialist PR Manager, SCEE Age: 26

Aged just 26, Moffatt is credited as the glue that holds PlayStation’s UK PR team together and is not only popular within the industry, but incredibly talented, too. She has overseen the Sony developer sessions at EGX for two years in a row, and has delivered a great line-up for those in attendance including An Uncharted Retrospective with Naughty Dog and The Journey of PlayStation VR, as well as development boss Shuhei Yoshida’s recent look back at PlayStation’s 20 years.

Sean Toole
Content Manager, Green Man Gaming Age: 27

Since he joined the digital retailer in 2012, Sean Toole has been invaluable for his expertise in managing Green Man Gaming and Green Man Loaded’s digital stock and providing support for its commercial and marketing activities. He is praised for his utter dedication to the cause, and for being able to quickly create pages and content for new products to ensure the smoothest releases possible across the globe.

Tim Breach
Senior Product Manager, Sega Europe Age: 28

Breach joined the games industry having worked for three years as international product manager for Universal Music. Now, he has swapped concerts for EGX and platinum-selling records for one of the biggest PC games on the market. His first role in the games sector was at Sega, where he took on the role of senior product manager for the Football Manager series.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Dave Jewitt (GameSpot UK), Gareth Bagg (Bandai Namco), Graham Day (Konami), George Osborn (freelance journalist), Holly Nielsen (freelance journalist), Lydia Ellery (Edelman), Jon Blayney (Xtreme Gaming), Natalie Johnson (Green Man Gaming), Daniela Pietrosanu (Premier PR), Ben Perkin (Attention Seekers), Omar Khan (Titan Books).