THE BRIT LIST: PUBLISHING


GEORGE GEORGIOU, BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT


FORMERLY of Vivendi Games, Georgiou heads up Blizzard’s marketing for the UK and has driven the PC giant’s success in the country. Last year he helped launch Blizzard’s first console game for almost 15 years, teaming up with GAME for a national lock- in event. He is a marketer with some 20 years experience and his peers have dubbed him a ‘visionary’ in his field.


HARVEY EAGLE, XBOX UK


BACK when Xbox first launched, Harvey Eagle was the ad manager that commissioned the memorable and controversial TV advert with the tagline ‘Life is short, play more.’ It was instantly banned, but the ad went viral and became a huge success. Today, Eagle remains Xbox’s top marketing expert and was behind the events and TV ad campaign that launched Xbox One, the fastest selling console in Xbox history.


KARL GOOD, APPLE


EVER wondered how the games on Apple’s App Store come to be there? You have the likes of Karl Good to thank for that, working at the company’s World Wide Developer Relations department. In this role he fosters relationships between the phone giant and studios from around the world in order to bring their hit games to a global audience.


JOHN CLARK, SEGA


CLARK is proof that you can teach old games execs new tricks. Having started off in retail and sales, Clark is now charged with driving Sega’s digital and cloud businesses across both the UK and America. He has openly shared download data in an effort to encourage publishers to do the same, whilst also highlighting the true power of download platforms, namely Steam.


ROB COOPER, UBISOFT


BACK in 1990, a young Rob Cooper – a Nintendo employee at the time – approached the buyer at Dixons regarding a product called the Game Boy. He managed to sell 5,000 of the portable into the store. Those were the first Game Boys sold in the UK. Today, Cooper is the UK MD of Ubisoft, a place where he has created many new memories. “The first week of sales of Just


Dancewas a big disappointment – only 3,000 units sold,” he recalls. “But then the advert on X-factor


hit. For the next 18 months every week’s sales was more than the first.” With Just Dance, Assassin’s Creed and the Tom Clancy series, Ubisoft has become a true giant in games, and Cooper cites Yves Guillemot – the firm’s CEO – as one of his big influences. Along with a gentleman by the name of Graham MacPhee. “There are still a few people in the market who knew Graham, a tough operator, ex-policeman and we were like chalk and cheese, but he taught me how to negotiate


PETER STONE, KONAMI


KONAMI’S decision to move its European base to the UK, not to mention open a UK studio, saw a promotion for Stone, who this year celebrates 22 years at the Pro Evolution Soccerpublisher. He is now branch director for the entire of Northern Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The popular Konami exec has a 35-year history at the top working across retail and games.


MURRAY PANNELL, PLAYSTATION UK


PANNELL is a marketing expert with one impressive CV. He helped launch Xbox 360, Just Dance, Assassin’s Creedand last year was the man behind the UK campaign for PS4. With the help of his team, which includes PR boss David Wilson and trade marketing exec Rosemary Buahin, Pannell was responsible for one of the most original and effective console launch campaigns in history.


JONATHAN GRIMES, MICROSOFT


GRIMES is a true Microsoft veteran, having worked at the firm in some capacity or another since 1993. During this time, he has seen the firm go from selling just Windows computers to being one of the giants in video games. Last year he played a major role in the launch of Xbox One, and was one of the men behind the launch of GAME’s Xbox-only shop at London’s Box Park.


www.mcvuk.com RICCARDO ZACCONI, KING


THE decade-old UK-based casual games giant King.com attracts over 280m unique users, a rise of 50m over the last year, primarily due to the smash-hit Candy Crush Saga. And at the heart of that company is the softly-spoken Italian Riccardo Zacconi. His business has recently been valued at a huge £4.6bn for IPO, and in February, the firm said that 144m users played their games on a daily basis.


MICHAEL PATTISON, SCEE


FORMER Capcom exec Michael Pattison only joined PlayStation eight months ago, but he’s already made a significant impact and is the main contact for all third- parties trying to publish on Sony’s various platforms. He played a major role as a marketer at both Capcom and THQ in the past, and is seen as a real coup for PlayStation.


and be strong in business. He was not to every one’s liking but he had a big effect on me in the early ‘90s. Sadly he is no longer with us, but he helped me a great deal.” Cooper is now in his third decade in the games industry, but his thirst for success remains unquenched. “My aspirations is to remain in the industry for the rest of my career and to see Ubisoft become the biggest publisher in the world.”


March 28th 2014


09


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52