Ins and Outs – July 2020’s industry hires roundup

Here are the highlights from the recent industry hires and moves, as published in MCV/DEVELOP’s July issue.

Richard Barnes has joined Unity Technologies as head of international communications, and will be heading up international comms based in London, with his main focus being the UK. Barnes has come from Rockstar Games, having spent 15+ years there. Speaking to MCV/DEVELOP, Barnes said: “It’s exciting to be joining a company that has an incredible vision for the future and one that empowers developers from all walks of life. The commitment Unity shows to creativity is second to none.”

Games industry legend Tom Hall has officially joined Resolution Games as a senior creative director. Hall’s career spans more than 30 years and includes fundamental work on a number of iconic franchises including DOOM, Duke Nukem, and Rise of the Triad. As director and co-designer of Wolfenstein 3D, Hall has been credited with the co-creation of one of the most popular video game genres of all time, the first-person shooter.

Green Man Gaming has expanded their marketing team with two new hires:

Helen Churchill joins as SVP of publishing. Having previously worked for over 16 years in senior global brand and marketing roles at Eidos and SEGA, Churchill has also spent time with The Guinness Book of Records, and Chelsea Football Club before happily returning to the games industry.

And Wayne Greenwell joins the team as a product marketing manager within their publishing team. Greenwell has nine years of experience within the games industry, having previously worked at Ubisoft and a brief period at Athlon Games. Green Man Gaming CEO Paul Sulyok celebrated the new hires, stating that:

“Helping us celebrate GMG’s 10th birthday, and already planning to announce two new titles means this is a very exciting time for Helen and Wayne to join the team and we are thrilled to welcome them on board.”

Heaven Media has appointed Gary Burns  as head of public relations. Burns has worked in PR for approaching 20 years. In 2008 he took his first job in the games industry, joining specialist games agency Barrington Harvey with later spells at Mischief PR and Bastion.

After European PR and event management roles, in-house, for both Trion Worlds and Jagex he was appointed head of PR and content development at MCM Comic Con.

Also at Heaven Media, Burns has promoted Will Butler to senior publicist. A former journalist with NME, Butler has spent two years with the company; working across a number of games and hardware clients.

Finally at Heaven Media, former Little Big PR founder Gareth Williams has left his position as global PR director at Heaven Media, though continues working in a strategic consultancy position, dedicated to special projects, alongside his old team.

Mike Gamble has moved to a new position within Epic Games. Formally responsible for Unreal Engine licensing Gamble has now assumed the title of director, business development, Epic Online Services. His mission will be to drive services adoption in games independent of the engine or platform. Gamble has been with Epic for nine years now, having joined in 2011 as head of games licensing EMEA.

Sumo Digital has appointed Stewart Neal  as the new studio head at Sumo Pune. Neal is joining Sumo Pune with more than 15 years of experience in the games industry, six years of which he spent at Sumo Sheffield.

“I am delighted and truly humbled to be appointed the role of studio director for Sumo Pune,” said Neal about the new job.

“Having worked with the studio directly throughout my time at Sumo, I have witnessed the team grow from strength to strength over the six years. It is a very exciting prospect to further grow the team.”

As part of the launch of the Tonic Games Group, Mediatonic’s Haley Uyrus has a new job tite, and is now head of brand communications at Tonic Games Group. Speaking to MCV/DEVELOP, Uyrus stated: “Heading up the central marketing team of our newly announced Tonic Games Group is a hugely exciting new adventure. The best part of games marketing is being able to aid developers in making all their hard earned efforts known to the world and now I can empower even more teams – it’s going to be an exciting year!”

Mobile game developer MAG Interactive has appointed a new studio manager to help grow the Brighton studio’s games and raise its profile – Tone Brennan. Brennan is joining MAG Interactive from mobile game developer Outplay Entertainment in Dundee where he was a senior and executive producer. Previously in his career, Brennan was an executive producer at All 4 Games for Channel 4

Got an appointment you’d like to share with us? Email Chris Wallace at chris.wallace@biz-media.co.uk