Mobile games jobs weekly: Supercell co-founder exits, Scopely snags Mike DeLaet

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

Supercell co-founder Mikko Kodisoja leaves the company

Supercell co-founder Mikko Kodisoja has revealed he has left the company to pursue other interests.

Kodisoja announced his plans on his personal Facebook account, stating that June 26th 2020 was his last day at the developer. He has not revealed what his exact plans are for the future but notes that he will not be joining a new games company.

Scopely hires Mike DeLaet as its new senior vice president for strategic partnerships

Mobile games firm Scopely has hired Mike DeLaet as its new senior vice president for strategic partnerships.

DeLaet’s new role will involve him overseeing partnerships, licensing, platform relationships and business development. Previously, he founded and served as the CEO of Rogue Games, a publisher based in Los Angeles.

MAG Interactive hires Tone Brennan as its new Brighton studio head

Swedish developer MAG Interactive has hired Tone Brennan as its new studio manager to its Brighton location.

Prior to joining MAG Interactive, Brennan worked in Dundee as a senior and executive producer for mobile games developer Outplay Entertainment. Before that, he was a 4 Games executive producer for Channel 4.

Studio news

Paradox Interactive acquires Playrion Game Studio

Publisher and developer Paradox Interactive has acquired French firm Playrion Game Studio for an undisclosed sum.

The Paris-based developer has become Paradox’s eighth internal studio. Founded in 2010, Playrion is best known for Airlines Manager, which has accumulated over 10 million players since arriving on mobile in 2014.

Update: Zynga closes acquisition of Toon Blast creator Peak Games for $1.85 billion

Zynga has now closed its acquisition of Peak Games for a total purchase price of around $1.85 billion, comprised of approximately equal parts cash and Zynga common stock.

The deal closed on July 1st 2020. As a result of the purchase, Zynga expects to update its full-year guidance when reporting its Q2 2020 financials on August 5th 2020.

Kongregate makes layoffs as it stops accepting new games on its web platform

US publisher Kongregate has made a number of layoffs in addition to halting its submissions process, with, many employees stating that they had been let go with no warning via social media.

Com2uS acquires online Go service Tygem

Mobile games firm Com2uS has acquired 86 per cent of Dongyang Online for an undisclosed fee.

With this acquisition, Com2uS plans to take its knowledge of the modern games industry to create a new direction for the market. To achieve this, the company has integrated new technologies with a focus on games development and artificial intelligence.

Jobs board

Check out a few select vacancies from our regularly updated jobs board:

Kwalee

Hypercasual specialist Kwalee is looking to expand its team. The indie studio is known for Draw it, Looper, Jetpack Jump, Shootout 3D, Go Fish!, Plank! and Rocket Sky, and more.

Publishing Executive (Game Design Focus) – Leamington Spa, UK

IP Administrator – Leamington Spa, UK