MARKET NEWS
SPOSORED BY
PERSONNEL APPOINTMENTS WARNER BROS NAMES NEW VP OF PUBLISHING Publisher promotes Haddad Rovio introduces new licensing team Google Glass engineer joins Oculus
WARNER BROS | The publisher has promoted DAVID HADDAD to the newly created role
of VP of publishing. Haddad was previously SVP
of digital for Warner Bros and his promotion follows a managerial shake-up by the company. He has only been with the publisher for a year and previously held the role of COO for both Activision’s Guitar Hero brand and Sierra Online at Vivendi Games. He will now report directly to WBIE president MARTIN TREMBLAY and will oversee worldwide sales and distribution for console and digital games, digital publishing, live publishing and business intelligence.
“I am pleased to help extend
our reach and operate as effectively as possible to maximise future endeavours for continued positive results,” said Haddad. “We are focused on distributing high-quality games across all platforms and we will look to expand further into digital, games as a service, mobile and emerging markets.”
ROVIO | The Angry Birds creator has named a new licensing team to handle
consumer products as it expands beyond games. Leading the team will be NAZ CUEVAS (above) as executive
vice president of global consumer products who is promoted from within the firm having joined Rovio in 2012. A trio of executives will also join the team to represent North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific/Latin America. RANDY SPIEKER will take
on the role of VP of licensing and retail for North America having previously worked at Mattel and Paramount Pictures. JOE LAWSON will become
VP of Asia Pacific and Latin America. He joins the team with extensive experience in the entertainment industry having had stints at both DreamWorks and 20th Century Fox where he worked on The Simpsons.
PAUL BUFTON will handle duties here in the UK as VP of licensing and retail for EMEA. He was most recently with
Warner Bros.
OCULUS | Google Glass engineer ADRIAN WONG has joined Oculus. Wong began
at Google in 2010 working on Google[x] – a team dedicated to the firm’s experimental projects including its driverless car and Project Loon. Most recently he worked on Google Glass as senior hardware engineer. Whilst Oculus is yet to confirm the announcement, Wong is listed as an engineer for the firm via his LinkedIn page.
AROUND THE INDUSTRY
THREE FIELDS ENTERTAINMENT | The former founders of Burnout developer Criterion Games have established a new studio: Three Fields Entertainment. Created by Criterion founders
FIONA SPERRY and ALEX WARD, Three Fields is formed entirely of around ten full-time staff from the Burnout studio. The most recent addition to the team is fellow Criterion veteran PAUL ROSS who served at the developer for 18 years before departing to join Sperry and Ward’s newest venture. Three Fields is yet to detail
what projects the studio is working on but it has confirmed that two titles are currently in development.
PIXELOPUS | The new first- party Sony studio is to be revealed at this year’s E3 alongside its debut game.
June 6th 2014 14 Named Pixelous, it is
believed to house developers from a games course at the Carnegie Mellon University, which saw students working on prototype titles for the PS Vita.
CODEMASTERS | The UK developer is opening a new studio in Malta. Set to open its doors later this summer, it will be the second overseas office for Codemasters, which previously opened up a studio in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Talent acquisition manager SIMON MILES is leading recruitment for the studio in Malta and says it will focus on the development of games for smart devices. “Building on the success
of our first overseas studio in Malaysia, we will be opening our next in Malta; it’s a hotbed for local programming and development talent,” said Miles.
www.mcvuk.com
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 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71