Rockstar Games – Departures
Rockstar Games has confirmed to IGN that Rockstar London Studio Head Mark Washbrook and Studio Head Mark Lloyd of Rockstar Lincoln have departed the company.
Washbrook had been with Rockstar since 2005, has been credited with working on Midnight Club: L.A. Remix for PSP and Manhunt 2. Lloyd managed a QA facility for Rockstar.
Monumental - Nick Wheelwright
Monumental has announced that it has named Nick Wheelwright as CEO of the company. Founder Rik Alexander will now become chief creative and commercial officer.
"I'm genuinely thrilled to have Nick on board as CEO,” commented Alexander. “His appointment has already brought a fresh energy to the company and I'm looking forward to building the company alongside him.”
Wheelwright was CEO of Codemasters from 1996 to 2004. He's served as non-executive chairman of Monumental Games since April 2010.
"The dedication of the staff throughout the company is formidable," added Wheelwright. "We have some exciting times ahead building on the potential of our Prime engine, and I look forward to making a real contribution to the success of the company. Monumental is in an extremely good position with its browser-based technology, which is gathering widespread acclaim from a number of different partners."
Gaikai - Robert Stevenson and Tim Wilson
Gaikai has announced that they have hired Robert Stevenson to be Senior Vice President of Interactive Entertainment, and Tim Wilson as Executive Vice President, Strategic Relationships. They will strengthen the team's executive leadership.
“Robert and Tim will add further depth to the team giving our publishers and developers new opportunities to reach an even broader range of players,” said David Perry, CEO of Gaikai Inc.
Stevenson has a lot of experience in the game industry, especially will online activities. He was previously Vice President of Online Development at Namco Bandai Games America and Vice President of Business Development & Worldwide Publishing for Atari.
“Having followed Gaikai since the company’s initial announcement, I’m delighted to be part of something that will fundamentally change how consumers access games,” said Stevenson. “With the uptake of Digital TV predicted to grow rapidly through 2011 and beyond, entertainment-hungry consumers will demand more interactive services and Gaikai is ideally placed to deliver incredible gaming experiences to this audience.”
With 22 years of experience in the games industry, Wilson brings a wealth of technical expertise in online systems for console and PC games, engineering analysis and auditing to Gaikai. He spent 16 years at Electronic Arts, most recently as CTO of EA Redwood Shores.
"Gaikai is a true leader in the development of instant-access entertainment services,” added Wilson. “Consumers will be thrilled at the ease with which they can enjoy their favorite interactive content, while businesses will gain a fantastic new avenue to reach both existing and new customers. I am excited to join such a talented and innovative team.”
Meteor Games - Michael Hurley
Recently, Meteor Games announced that Michael Hurley has been named Senior Technical Recruiter. He will be charged with seeking out and securing the industry’s top talent.
“Our role in defining the next phase of social gaming not only hinges on our ability to create compelling gaming concepts but to also secure the talent necessary to bring them to market,” said Zac Brandenberg, CEO of Meteor Games. “Michael’s ability to identify top players in the technology field has been evidenced by his numerous previous successes, and we are confident that his talents will play an important role in our continued expansion.”
Hurley began his career as a technology recruiter over a decade ago. Within three months of taking over as Division Director of IT Search with Robert Half International Inc, he led the division to a new all-time high in revenue. Previous to joining Meteor Games, Hurley served as Senior Technical Recruiter for Disney Interactive Media Group, where he played a key role in helping rebuild technology recruitment and client management within numerous DIMG divisions and hiring 245 technology employees within three years.
“I’m thrilled to join the team at Meteor Games as they continue to build the most innovative and cutting edge social gaming team in the industry,” said Hurley. “They have an amazingly talented staff in place and continuing this trend will be challenging and rewarding.”
Mobilenter - Louise Goddard
Mobilenter, a mobile games publisher mostly in the 3D genre, has announced that Louise Goddard has been named the new CEO. She started at the beginning of 2011.
“Louise was always our key player,” said R.Noyan Culum, CEO of CeptekiDunya Mobile and founder of Mobilenter. “Louise had been a mobile entertainment veteran when joining us 2 years ago; then she worked tirelessly on growth. She is the manager of our partner network and is already an organic member of the team. Since we started to think about the structural growth of Mobilenter, she was always the right person to execute the new system, as she was already the person who was executing the original!”
Goddard served as head of content and product manager of pioneering mobile entertainment companies such as MonsterMob/Zed and Rok Media, where she spent her career in content management, administration and marketing. She joined the mobile game developer CeptekiDunya Mobile Software Co. in September 2008 as business development director. Goddard actively worked on the formation of Mobilenter, managing to form its large partner network and helped its mobile games get published in more than 60 countries and in 11 world languages.
“I have found working with Culum and his team both exciting and challenging, they are always looking to cross boundaries with new games across all territories,” said Goddard. “It is a pleasure to be associated with such a dynamic team.”
GOG - Trevor Longino
GOG recently announced that they have hired a new Head of PR and marketing in Trevor Longino. He will give the PR marching orders to Tom Ohle in North America and Lukasz Kukawski in Europe.
Longino has an extensive background in marketing & PR that has spanned the last decade. He has worked for Electronic Arts (Tiburon studio) and been a director of marketing for a few public companies. Longino will operate out of Poland for GOG.
Disney Interactive - Layoffs, Management Changes
As part of Disney Interactive's shift towards casual, social and mobile titles, Lane Merrifield, creator of Club Penguin, will now be overseeing children and family games, while Alex Seropian will oversee internal development of the games division. There have been around 200 layoffs so far. Read more about it here.
_ _
If you have any news about game industry personnel, feel free to e-mail it to us
