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Improbable have created two new roles in their leadership team which will be filled by Bill Roper and Jason Jhonson.
Following the $500m investment from a Series B round of investing led by Japan’s SoftBank, the new roles are intended to help build the leadership team at Improbable. "Too often, startup stories focus on the founders," said Improbable CEO and founder, Herman Narula.
"We are building a world-class team at Improbable. These two critical hires bring a wealth of experience and a record of success with some of the biggest names in entertainment and technology. We’re delighted to have them at Improbable, as we move into a new stage of our history.”
Bill Roper joins as chief creative officer, leaving his previous role as head of DI Central Creative with Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media (DCPI) Labs. Roper was one of the team at Blizzard Entertainment around the the time of the both the StarCraft and Diablo franchise creation, and also founded Flagship Studios which created Hellgate: London.
"I’ve always focused on the opportunities created by new technologies to design richer, deeper experiences," said Roper in a statement. "By enabling developers to transcend the limits of traditional server-based gaming, SpatialOS and Improbable are opening up new possibilities in game design. I’m greatly looking forward to exploring this new potential with developers.”
Jason Jhonson joins from GitHub where he was senior director of developer and product marketing, and has previously been in senior roles at both PayPal and Yahoo. Now chief marketing officer with Improbable, he’ll be responsible for driving adoption of SpatialOS with developers.
“It’s hugely exciting to be joining Improbable at this stage in its journey," added Jhonson. "The first games built on SpatialOS are entering the market, and the recent investment has raised the company’s profile. This is an opportunity to build a foundational developer platform, which could transform games and many other applications.”
