Foundation 9 - Dan Murray
Foundation 9 has announced that it has named Dan Murray to lead business development. He will foster and build upon Foundation 9’s existing relationships with leading game publishers and entertainment brands, while identifying new opportunities to grow the company.
“As the game industry evolves, new technology comes available and opportunities for digital distribution expand, Foundation 9 Entertainment finds itself uniquely positioned to grow our business,” said James North-Hearn. “As Director of Business Development, Daniel Murray combines the industry expertise, the strategic vision, and strong relationships to guide that growth.”
Murray has extensive experience in the entertainment industry, including founding Apartment A Productions. He joined Foundation 9 in 2006 as the company secured investment from Francisco Partners for the acquisition of additional studios. In 2008, Murray turned his attention from independent developers to large game publishers as he transitioned into a business development role, with a focus on publishers like Activision Blizzard, EA, Warner Bros., THQ and Disney.
“This is a very exciting time to be at Foundation 9 Entertainment,” said Dan Murray. “We’ve enjoyed long-standing and prolific relationships with the best game publishers in the world. It’s my goal to continue to foster and build those relationships, leveraging the talent, deep multiplatform technical skills, and worldwide development resources of Foundation 9 to create great entertainment in partnership with those publishers.”
Neonga - Markus Melching
Neonga announced that Markus Melching has joined the company as Chief Operating Officer. He will be responsible for Product Management, Community Management and Support.
“Having Markus on board of our evolving flagship makes our team confident that we can run Neonga at full throttle and conquer our key markets fast and efficiently,” said Rolf Kloeppel, CEO of Neonga AG.”His outstanding experience in building up the operational infrastructure to provide online games is a key success factor for us!”
Melching has been a gamer for decades, but became interested in online games with Ultima Online. He started his career in early 2000 at Uni-X in Osnabrück as IT specialist for system integration and application engineering, later joining Gamigo AG where he worked as head of the engineering department for 5 years. In 2005, Melching co-established the company Linuworx GmbH as a specialized service provider for the development and advancement of automated payment systems for online enterprises. In July 2006 he co-founded Yusho GmbH, a German company for the operation and billing of virtual worlds. In July 2008, Yusho merged with OnlineWelten GmbH and changed its company name into Frogster Online Gaming GmbH. In his most recent job, Melching was the COO at Frogster Online Gaming GmbH responsible for Support, QA, IT, Research & Development as well as major parts of the product management.
“Working with this unique team of professionals here at Neonga is a milestone in my career. I am proud to be able to help developing the company in a way that fits my philosophy perfectly,” said Melching. “Neonga meets the requirements to become a sustainably successful player in the online gaming market!”
Future - Commercial Management Changes
Future announced several key changes to their Game portfolio. Tim Clark takes up the position of Editor-in-Chief of the games portfolio, managing content in print, online and on consoles. Graham Dalzell will work alongside Clark as Group Art Editor. James Binns has been promoted to oversee GamesRadar.com, CVG.co.uk, officialnintendomagazine.co.uk and oxm.co.uk. Mark Wynne, has been promoted to Senior Art Editor of Official PlayStation Magazine, and will head up a three-man art team working across the brand. Steve Gallagher has been promoted from Deputy Art Editor to replace Wynne as Art Editor on Official Playstation Magazine.
“The two new editorial appointments are an important strategic step for the Games portfolio,” said Simon Maxwell, Group Publisher for Future’s Entertainment portfolio. “With the experience and expertise that Tim and Graham bring with them we will see our brands go from strength to strength and further cement their sector leading status. James has unrivalled experience and understanding of the games business and his recent brilliant work launching the all-conquering PCGamer.com makes me confident that he will take these properties to the next level of their development. We will be appointing an Associate Publisher to assist James in the near future as we look to expand the business and drive the brands forward.”
Clark came to Future in 2002 as Online Editor, and was most recently promoted to Editor-in-Chief of OPM. Dalzell joined Future in 1998 as Art Editor on GamesMaster before joining Official PlayStation 2 Magazine; he's overseen the redesign of several Future brands such as Total Guitar and Digital Camera magazine. Binns has been and will continue to oversee the PC Gamer and Edge brands, as well as exploring further digital opportunities.
Gazillion - David Brevik
Gazillion announced this past week that it promoted former Blizzard executive David Brevik to President and COO. Check out the story here.
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