Social gaming publisher SGN has announced Randy Breen has taken over from founder Shervin Pishevar as CEO.

Breen (pictured), who has previously held roles at both Electronic Arts and LucasArts, joined SGN last year as the company's COO.

"Working with Shervin and the team over the past five months has exceeded all of my expectations coming into the company," Breen said.

"I've witnessed the birth of EA and LucasArts' gaming business, but I've never seen such an immense opportunity in gaming as SGN has ahead of it."

SGN had something of a bumper 2009, the studio's social gaming bent enabling it to take advantage of the genre's rise in fortunes. Titles such as Skies of Glory and F.A.S.T. enjoyed critical acclaim and sales success. F.A.S.T. sold over one million units.

Former CEO Pishevar - who will stay on at the publisher as executive chairman - believes his successor's "experience and knowledge will be instrumental in building SGN into the largest mobile social gaming company of 2010 and beyond."

Indeed, Breen takes over a publisher many believe is well placed to make full advantage of the current growth in the iPhone and iPod touch userbase. SGN claims it has had more than 15 million unique downloads on the App Store since 2008.

Apple's move to allow in-game purchases in free apps back in October is also likely to bear fruit for SGN over the course of 2010 with both Skies of Glory and F.A.S.T. adopting the freemium business model where gamers buy virtual items to improve their gaming experience.