Ins and Outs: June 2022’s industry hires roundup

Here are the highlights from the recent industry hires and moves, as published in MCV/DEVELOP’s June 2022 issue. 

There’s going to be some changes around these parts, as MCV/DEVELOP’s staff writer Chris Wallace is leaving the magazine after over two years to pursue freelance opportunities. Wallace, the handsome and charming author of this page, is going to miss MCV/DEVELOP terribly, and would like to thank Richie Shoemaker for all his support.

Jeremy Peel has been hired as features editor for TechRadar Gaming, helping the team define its voice and build a prestige reputation for the site. Peel has spent the prior three years freelancing for the likes of Edge, PC Gamer and Rock Paper Shotgun.

Jesus Bosch has taken up the new role as MD of the new Product Madness studio in Barcelona. Previously founder and CEO of Game Troopers and Starloop Studios. Barcelona is the fifth location for Product Madness after opening locations in UK, Ukraine, Israel and Poland.

There’s some new faces over at Bastion, winner of the 2022 MCV/DEVELOP PR agency of the year award. First, Thanos Tsonakis joins the team as account manager. Formerly at Kazoo PR, Tsonakis was in charge of accounts like Riot Games, Codemasters, NVIDIA, Deezer. For Riot, Thanos oversaw the PR in the UK and Nordics for the launch of the Arcane TV show.

Next up, Toby Pearce joins as account executive. Previously working in a media agency with British Airways as a client, Pearce traded planes for games and moved into the PR space. Going against his dad’s recommendation of utilising his height and becoming a rugby player.

Syed Aadil Ali also joins as account executive, having previously worked at SEGA on Total War: Warhammer 2 and A Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia and most recently worked over at Raptor PR as junior PR consultant prior to joining the award-winning team over at Bastion.

Airship Images has turned up the heat on their expansion plans with two new hires at the company. First, growth specialist and games industry consultant Tim Horton joins Airship as the new chief commercial officer (CCO). Horton has spent 14 years working in commercial growth strategy, partnership, operations, and investment procurement.

Also joining Aiship is business evolution specialist and Women in Games ambassador, Viki Freeman, who joins as workplace strategy director. Freeman has spent 15 years consulting businesses on areas such as talent, transformation, and growth.

David Lilley has been officially appointed to Diva creative agency’s board as non-executive director (NED). His role is to keep Diva in firm touch with the changing needs of games producers – ensuring that the agency works in tandem with the games industry as it evolves, changes and atomises.

Our friends over at Ukie have some new hires to shout about too. First, Dr Helen Johnson has joined as the trade body’s membership officer. Johnson is also an independent researcher and video game specialist, and has assisted the likes of Wyrdren Games with their debut game Spellbound: The Magic Within at EGX, and is a contributor for WireFrame Magazine.

Still at Ukie, Siân Mayhall-Purvis has become the organisation’s first education programme coordinator. Prior to joining Ukie, Mayhall-Purvis was a marketing officer for Nick Hern Books, where she worked for over six years.

Finally at Ukie, Colm Seeley has been promoted from industry analyst to become Ukie’s insight & innovation manager. Seeley first joined the trade body back in November 2020 as a data analyst, and has previous experience working for the likes of Creative Tax Reliefs Limited and as a video games analyst for the BFI.

And of course, there’s some new faces over at Sumo Group too. First, Abbie Dickinson joins Sumo Group as a marketing manager. Dickinson previously worked as a consultant and held senior roles at several marketing and advertising agencies including Ogilvy – one of the largest advertising agencies in the world.

Meanwhile at Sumo Nottingham, Dave Smethurst joins the team as studio technical director. Smethurst previously worked for Team17 Digital in the Wakefield office as the head of programming, leading the programming team on both internal IP and supporting multiple external partners through the Games Label.

Our last hire this month is over at Sumo Sheffield, Darren Lambourne joins as a senior principal sound designer. In his previous role at Cloud Imperium Games, Lambourne served as principal sound designer and audio director, working on Star Citizen.

Got an appointment you’d like to share with us? Email new guy Vince Pavey at vince.pavey@biz-media.co.uk