Future bullish in the face of video game departures

Future Publishing insists it is ‘business as usual’ despite losing entertainment chief Simon Maxwell.

It is the second senior Future games exec to leave this year, with James Binns departing the firm in January to launch his own initiative, Network N.

Maxwell has joined Eurogamer as Group Publishing Director. In his place at Future, the firm has promoted digital development boss and CVG publisher Clair Porteous to manage the entertainment business.

For me it is very much steady as she goes,” Porteous told MCV.

The rules haven’t changed. It’s still about understanding the audience, managing brands, driving digital growth, serving clients, looking at trends and evolving. As well as continuing to innovate.

Simon was at Future for nine years, so you could say it was a natural progression for him. James Binns went on to launch his own business.

People leave to pursue other opportunities and they leave for many reasons. Nobody stays in the same business forever.

When people depart that enables change, and change is always an opportunity to do different things. Future is very good at embracing change. We are very good at adapting and evolving.

It’s a fun and exciting time at Future. We are doing a lot of new things.”

Porteous only joined Future last year following a nine-year stint at IPC.

I wanted to be part of how Future were innovating in the digital area. I’ve never regretted a day.

Future will continue to manage its business in a positive way. It really is business as usual.”