IGN’s Ian Chambers joins GAME as digital boss

IGN’s international director Ian Chambers is leaving the media giant to join GAME.

He will take the role of chief digital officer at the UK High Street chain at the end of July. He will be responsible for the digital development of the business, overseeing marketing, online and business development.

Chambers has spent the last three years working at IGN, and launched the brand in 11 territories.

Before IGN, he was digital distribution manager at Electronic Arts and digital marketing manager at Ubisoft.

IGN’s management will remain the same at the moment, and is looking to hire a VP of international Ziff Davis (IGN’s parent company). This is a wider role to the one that Ian previously held, and encompasses not just IGN, but sister site Ask Men and the various tech websites, too.

I am delighted with the appointment of Ian into this new role," said GAME boss Martyn Gibbs.

"We have made excellent progress over the last 12 months with our strategy to build the UK’s most valuable community of gamers and Ian will lead the next stage of our development as digital becomes the headline under which the rest of our business aligns.

Ian’s experience, acumen, industry relationships and ability to build communities will be invaluable as we execute the next stage of our digital strategy.”

Ian Chambers added: Having worked in the games industry for more than a decade, this is an incredible opportunity for me, as I’ve long admired the GAME brand. GAME has made great strides into digital in the last 12 months and I’m looking forward to taking the business further. I will leave behind an experienced management team at IGN who continue the company’s aggressive growth curve in all corners of the globe.”

Chambers joins a raft of new senior recruits at GAME, including former BA man Fred Prego, who signed up as insight director, Benedict Smith (formerly of Harrods) who joined as CFO and Helen Irving who was recruited as HR director – a role she previously held at Dixons.

Will Guyatt, Head of Communications at Ziff Davis Inc, said: Under Ian’s leadership IGN has transformed. We have significantly grown our market-leading position in the UK, while becoming the world’s only global games media brand with editions in 10 languages. The plan to further increase our local presence and number of international licensing partners continues under IGN’s management team, headed by Rich Keen and Adam Hopkinson. We have begun the process to find a new leader for our international business with broader media experience that can grow the business as part of the broader Ziff Davis portfolio.”