Industry Movers: CrowdStar, BioWare and More

CrowdStar – New Management Leaders

Social games company CrowdStar announced this past week that it has named Pete Hawley as Vice President of Product Development, Mark Hull as Vice President of Product Marketing & Community, Mike Ouye as Vice President of Monetization & Merchandising, and Robert Einspurch as Director of Business Development. Hawley, will be responsible for expanding the company to more users worldwide, Hull will lead Product Marketing and Community, Ouye will lead CrowdStar's monetization, merchandising, and revenue-generating programs and Einspurch will work in finance, product management and business development.

"Mike, Pete, Mark, and Robert share the singular vision of CrowdStar as an agile, creative company gunning to be number one," said CrowdStar CEO Niren Hiro. "Their global and entrepreneurial perspective is a perfect match for CrowdStar as we continue to scale with great games that delight our users."

"These executive appointments signify an exciting time for CrowdStar as we continue to deliver to our customers new levels of entertainment and engagement," said CrowdStar Co-Founders Suren Markosian and Jeffrey Tseng. "They are a welcome addition to our team and will play a crucial role in how CrowdStar will define this industry."

Hawley, a 15-year veteran of the gaming industry, was previously lead product development at Electronic Arts and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. "I'm happy to join CrowdStar at the most exciting and challenging time of growth and change in social gaming," said Hawley. "It's great to be back to a small, entrepreneurial company, full of the talent, energy and ambition to be the best."

Hull brings more than 14 years of experience building mass-market community and gaming businesses, including products at Yahoo, iWin and Vivaty. "I'm thrilled to join the team and to build on CrowdStar's laser-like focus on creating fantastic and engaging experiences for our user community," said Hull.

Ouye is an industry veteran previously of Playdom. "CrowdStar is a leader in bringing innovation to social games," said Ouye, a long-time leader in revenue-generation in the tech industry. "I'm very excited to be part of the monetization and merchandising strategies that will redefine not only CrowdStar, but this industry as well."

Einspurch has over 15 years of finance, product management and business development experience from Wall Street, Apple and Amazon. Most recently he was the Director of Digital Distribution and Business Development at MumboJumbo. "I'm happy to join CrowdStar as it extends its reach throughout the gaming universe by forming new partnerships and deepening existing ones," said Einspurch.

BioWare - Manveer Heir

Recently, Manveer Heir announced via Twitter that he's joining BioWare Montreal as a senior level designer for the Mass Effect franchise. He was formerly a lead designer for Raven Software.

"I'm a big fan of the Mass Effect series, so to get a chance to join the team and help build an amazing game is such a tremendous privilege." said Heir. "I cannot elaborate beyond Mass Effect franchise."

One PR – Scott Fry

Scotty Fry recently sent out notification that he's leaving One PR. He did not say where he was going but did indicate he, “will continue to work in our great games industry.”

“It is with very bittersweet emotion that I announce today will be my last day at One PR Studio.  In the 4 years that I have worked here, I have grown professionally and personally and have enjoyed working with so many of you fine journalists, developers, publishers and PR colleagues.  Being here has been a wonderful experience and one that I won’t forget anytime soon,” wrote Fry. “I’ve had the extreme pleasure to work on so many great games and projects over the past four years that I can’t possibly name them all here, but I will remember my time working with all of you fondly and wish you all the best for the future.”

Firaxis- Layoffs

Civilization develooper Firaxis recently confirmed that they had to cut 20 employees from the company. The layoffs were part of Take-Two's strategy to realign resources. Read more here.

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