Welcome to our new and improved regular article where we round-up the week’s big movers and shakers across the mobile games industry.
The focus of this weekly article will be to compile all of the big job appointments and departures in one easy to read place, alongside some standouts from our own jobs board and some useful articles for those job seeking at this time.
You can also catch up with all of the job news from last week right here.
Got any jobs news you’d like to share? Contact PocketGamer.biz staff writer Matthew Forde at matthew.forde@steelmedianetwork.com.
Movers and Shakers
Reggie Fils-Aimé joins Rogue Games as a strategic advisor
Rogue Games has added former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé as a strategic advisor as it continues its expansion into the console market.
Ubisoft appoints Christophe Derennes as Montreal studio head
French publishing giant Ubisoft has tapped Christophe Derennes to head up its Montreal studio.
Derennes is a 25-year veteran of the company who previously served as executive VP of production.
Entravision hires Stephen Chung as its new chief revenue officer
Marketing and advertising tech firm Entravision has hired Stephen Chung as its new chief revenue officer for its international digital business unit.
As part of his role, Chung will be responsible for team development and service quality, as well as oversee the growth of global programmatic and performance business sales.
Bad Robot Games appoints Anna Sweet as CEO
The former head of Oculus’ developer strategy team Anna Sweet has been appointed CEO of Bad Robot’s games division.
Sweet will be trying to expand the company’s games business, working alongside Bad Robot president Dave Barnoff.
Zynga adds Noel Watson to its board of directors
Zynga has welcomed Noel Watson to its board of directors as an independent director.
With this new appointment, Watson becomes Zynga’s ninth member on its board of directors, after previously acting as the chief accounting officer for TripAdvisor.
Studio news
Tilting Point acquires mobile games and assets from Playtech
Mobile games publisher Tilting Point has acquired a number of free-to-play titles and assets from Playtech.
As part of the deal, Tilting Point will obtain the assets of FTX Games, the San Diego-based studio which published The Walking Dead: Free Casino Slots and Criminal Minds: The Mobile Game. On top of this, the firm will acquire Plamee Studios, best known for developing Narcos: Cartel Wars.
Israel-based games-focused fund VGames committing $30 million to studios in the region
Israel-based games fund VGames has announced plans to invest $30 million in local studios with an eye to grow this to $40 million. The fund will be used primarily for studios in Israel and Eastern Europe.
Huuuge Games acquires interactive ads firm Playable Platform
Developer and publisher Huuuge Games has acquired Dutch advertising start-up Playable Platform.
The purchase gives the company 11 offices around the world, with an employee count of over 600.
Nifty Games opens a new studio in Chicago
Head-to-head sports games developer and publisher Nifty Games has formed a new development studio in Chicago, Illinois.
The US-based office will be led by David Michicich and serves as the company’s first internal development studio.
Animoca Brands acquires social games platform GAMEE
Technology investor Animoca Brands has acquired casual social gaming platform GAMEE.
The Hong Kong-based company has paid €4 million ($4.5 million) for the platform in shares. However, there are additional earn-out payments of up to €1 million ($1.1 million) in either cash or shares.
Jobs board
Check out a few select vacancies from our regularly updated jobs board:
Community Manager (Splash Damage) – Bromley, UK
Technical Artist (Roll7) – Remote Working/UK
Lead Game Designer (FuturLab) – Brighton and Hove, UK
Animator, Senior Level (Twisted Pixel Games) – Texas, US
Junior Unity Engineer (AudioMob) – London, UK
Senior Game Client Developer (Warducks) – Dublin, Ireland
The jobs board list can be viewed in full here.
Got jobs news you’d like to share? Contact PocketGamer.biz staff writer Matthew Forde at matthew.forde@steeelmedianetwork.com.
