Ins and Outs – July 2019’s industry hires roundup

Here are the highlights from the recent industry hires and moves, as published in MCV’s August issue.

Eurogamer has welcomed three new starters since last month. First, Lottie Lynn joined as guides writer, with previous bylines including PCGamesN and Rock Paper Shotgun. The editorial team then welcomed its annual reporter intern in the form of Imogen Beckhelling, who had just completed a degree in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. Finally, Zoe Delahunty-Light joined Eurogamer’s video team, where she will be working alongside Aoife Wilson and Ian Higton.

Jagex’s made a number of new appointments bringing experience from EA, Zynga and Splash Damage. Former EA executive Melissa Bachman-Wood joined as VP of studio, while James Burns will work on the company’s unannounced online action RPG as technical director. Formerly of Nintendo Europe, Malachy O’Neill has been appointed as director of QA, while Mark Faulkner returned to the company as director of the publishing platform.

Sumo Group has announced plans to boost its staff count by 15 per cent over the next year and it’s appointed talent acquisition manager Kieran Holland to spearhead the projected growth by mid-2020. He comes from recruitment teams at Amazon and BP, and will support the growth of Sumo’s nine studios in the UK, India and Canada.

Meanwhile, former producer at Coatsink Sophie Smart has joined Sumo Digital Newcastle as producer.

Gaëlle Caballero has been promoted to head of localisation QA at Testronic. She joined the firm in 2012, her most recent role being localisation QA manager. She played a significant role in establishing the
LQA team at Testronic’s Warsaw division, and also acts as co-chair of the company’s Learning & Development Committee.

Influencer marketing agency Fourth Floor Creative has hired its first chief operating officer,  Catherine Cheetham. An operations and product specialist, she joins the Bristol agency from renewable energy company Good Energy where she oversaw product. She brings more than 15 years of specialist experience.

The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) and the IGDA Foundation (IGDAF, the charitable organisation that champions diversity and inclusion in games) have named their new executive directors, Renee Gittins and Nika Nour, respectively.

Gittins has worked as a technical producer at several game studios and served on the IGDA board of directors for
more than two years. She replaces Jen MacLean, who stepped down in April 2019.

Meanwhile, Nour was formerly head of public affairs at the  Entertainment Software Association (ESA).

The No More Robots team has expanded with the addition of Arwyn Brock, who joins the company from Rockstar and will be leading the publishing label’s quality assurance work. Following this appointment, QA testing will be offered to No More Robots’ developers for free.

Disney has hired former PlayStation executive John Drake as its new VP of business development and licensing for games. Drake had previously been with Sony for five years, working his way up to global head of portfolio strategy and content acquisitions and senior director. Prior to that, he spent seven years with Harmonix.

Edinburgh-based indie developer Ant Workshop has hired programmer Martin Scott as its first employee. Scott comes from Ninja Kiwi and Blazing Griffin, and will increase the studio’s ability to help other indies bring their games to console, while maintaining its original IP development.

Ant Workshop founder Tony Gowland commented: “It’s a very exciting time as we build on what has been a very successful year and put ourselves in a strong position going forward. I’m delighted Martin’s bringing his experience to Ant Workshop, and it’ll be lovely to have someone to chat to in the office!”

Green Man Gaming has made a few senior appointments beefing up its partnerships team. Pete King, a gaming industry veteran, has joined the digital retailer as SVP business development after leaving Fanatical. King has significant publisher and retail experience spanning almost 30 years working at companies such as Activision Blizzard UK, 1C and Novologic.

Marion Feldhofer has also joined Green Man Gaming as SVP corporate partnerships to manage the company’s existing partnerships with technology brands. Previously with Polystream, Feldhofer brings over 15 years experience of working in sales and marketing roles for the likes of McAfee, Microsoft and HP.