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Ex-IUGO and Glu Mobile exec Sarah Thomson joins OpenFeint as director of developer relations

Right person to keep platform growing

Ex-IUGO and Glu Mobile exec Sarah Thomson joins OpenFeint as director of developer relations
After a short and not very sweet experience at Glu Mobile, Sarah Thomson has been appointed director of developer relations at social mobile gaming platform OpenFeint.

Previously veep of business development at Canadian developer IUGO, she 'moved' to Glu to head up its gPartners scheme in July.

However, a month later, following the acquisition of two studios, Blammo Games and Griptonite Games, Glu decided to shelve gPartners, letting go several execs in the process, including Thomson.

She didn't even have time to relocate from Vancouver to San Francisco. That geographic shift will now be happening, though, as she takes up a similar role at the GREE-owned OpenFeint, where she will be responsible for recruiting and working with independent developers.

Rise up higher

She'll report to senior vice president of marketing and developer relations Eros Resmini.

"OpenFeint is going through an exciting phase of growth right now and Sarah is exactly the kind of person we need to keep up the momentum," he commented.

"Sarah's deep history in mobile gaming paired with her connections to the developer community made her a great fit for OpenFeint."

OpenFeint is currently going through an interesting phase of its growth, with CEO and co-founder Jason Citron leaving in mysterious circumstances earlier in September. He's been replaced by GREE's CFO Naoki Aoyagi.

The company also recently lost its senior director of developer relations Tina Tran, who's joining HTML5 gaming start up FunSockets.

But, on the plus side, it recruited ex-Playdom exec Ethan Fassett, as its senior vice president of product in July.

Contributing Editor

A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.