Closure
Disney Canada layoffs as Club Penguin Island closes
The web version of the social game had shut down the year prior
Legal
Former employee hits Telltale Games with a class action lawsuit
Redundancies made “without cause” may have broken state and federal labour laws
Cut
Big Fish Games cut 15% of workforce eight months after $1 billion takeover
Company out to restructure around social casino and casual games as executive roles also cut
Telltale Signs
Failure to finalise new funding round the catalyst for mass Telltale Games layoffs
Sources claim Lionsgate stopped funding Telltale to refocus on its own business
Cliffhanger
Telltale moves to quell fan fears over The Walking Dead amid pressure to offer ex-employees severance
The developer offered the update on Twitter
Road To Investments
Scopely swoops for Glu’s Rob Ricca to lead M&A activity
Rob Ricca previously led M&A at Glu Mobile, during which time it purchased Crowdstaf and Plain Vanilla
Opening
Shop Heroes developer Cloudcade opens 50-person studio in Pakistan
Cloudcade hopes the new South Asia location will help the studio develop 4 games simultaneously
Cancelled
Telltale’s The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us unlikely to see completion, claims voice actress
Clementine voice actress Melissa Hutchinson took to Twitter to share the news
Jobs
Games industry opens its doors to laid off Telltale employees with #telltalejobs
Online support and a California-based Meet the Dev event hope to transition stranded developers into new roles
Studio Closure
“I'm mostly saddened for the people who are losing their jobs”: Ousted Telltale CEO speaks out on studio closure
Kevin Bruner was originally ousted from the company last year by investors
Lay-off Woes
Game Workers Unite issues scathing response to Telltale Games layoffs
“The system for creating games is broken, and it will result in the collapse of many other beloved studios”
Job News Klaxon
Former Netflix publicity director joins Scopely as head of corporate communications
Geldmacher will be responsible for strategy and oversight of the company’s global brand and worldwide corporate narrative
Jobs In Games
Jobs in Games: Space Ape’s Ioannis Lefkatditis on leading the charge with Transformers: Earth Wars
From degrees to job misconceptions, Lefkatditis on how to get a job as a product lead
Canada Expansion
Improbable opens new Edmonton office helmed by BioWare veteran Aaryn Flynn
"SpatialOS is going to transform how people make and play games, and with this new office we want to help that to happen"
Shutting Down
Dead Rising and Puzzle Fighter studio Capcom Vancouver closes
Around 158 job losses as a result
Signed Up
Scottish developer Outplay snags Crackdown creator for VP of operations role
Phil Wilson will be tasked with evolving Outplay’s live ops production processes and technology
Company Expansion
Talking Tom developer Outfit7 to open new Barcelona studio
Team led by company's own senior director of design and animation Dani Bajc
Jobs News
Tencent's director if investments and biz dev in the West departs
Jonathan Lai’s new employer Coatue Management and is looking for new investments in games
Leadership Shuffle
HQ Trivia dev gets new CEO as it reveals latest game HQ Words
Colin Kroll takes the reins as Rus Yusupov named chief creative officer
Job News Klaxon
Nordisk Film Games eyes further investments as it snaps up new director of partnerships
Sofie Filt Læntver will enter the fray on October 1st
New Studio Alert
World of Tanks maker Wargaming opens UK games development studio
Free-to-play specialist rolls into Guildford
Jobs In Games
From the world's top Clash of Clans player to game dev: Space Ape's George Yao on getting a job as a product manager
"It all boils down to personal attitude and the desire to learn."
Mighty Recruits
Singapore’s Mighty Bear Games lands senior ex-Bigpoint and Bandai Namco devs
Jan Richter and Pauline Pun join the team
Company Shake-up
Service provider Pole To Win drafts up new regional structure after strong growth
Services provider divides itself into three new regions with three new presidents
Job News
Spil Games appoints Patrik Wilkens as new VP of mobile
Publisher makes its third internal promotion, completing the formation of a new senior management team
Jobs In Games
Jobs in Games: Jam City's Brooke Costa on how to get a job as a lead engineer
"Everyone makes mistakes, but being able to take responsibility for them and learn from them is not a universal skill"
Jobs In Games
Jobs in Games: Nanobit's Jure Rasic on how to get a job as head of product
"I love the feeling when we’re thinking up new ways to entertain and make more fun for our players."
Boss It
Former Paradox CFO Andras Vajlok joins Like A Boss board
Six-year grand strategy veteran joins mobile sports maker
Co-op
Jagex launches third-party publishing label Partners as RuneScape revenue crosses $1bn
Will offer up live game publishing and operational services to third-party studios
Job News Klaxon
RuneScape dev Jagex snags ZeniMax and Trion Worlds vets for senior roles
New starters take on SVP of game development and VP of tech roles
Jobs In Games
Jobs in Games: Dream Reality Interactive's Anna Hollinrake on how to get a job as a senior artist
"There's something delicious and intangible about focusing in on exactly what makes the game feel the way it does and how to communicate that as a whole"
Write In
Interactive fiction specialist Dr Emily Short joins the Spirit AI board
Two-year Character Engine product manager takes on the role of executive director at Spirit
On Job
Ad platform Bidalgo taps up former Clicktale CFO to bolster executive team
Nir Ackerman will join as CFO and will be tasked with overseeing all of the company’s financial operations
Blocked
Minecraft movie faces delays as director Rob McElhenney exits project
Film faces major rebuilding efforts and is certain to miss its planned May 2019 release
Jobs In Games
Jobs in Games: Space Ape's Johnathan Rowlands on how to get a job as a product owner
"Ultimately though, my role distils down to making sure we deliver a great experience, every single week, to our dedicated and loyal community"
Job News Klaxon
Softgames taps ex-Smilegate Europe head of studio to lead its in-house development team
Bernd Beyreuther joined the games developers as Head of Studio on August 1st
New Management
Sega of America names Ian Curran as new COO and president
Industry veteran steps into the new role effective today alongside serving position on Atlus USA’s board
Jammin’
Jam City signs up ex-EA creative director Chris Tremmel
Tremmel will provide design direction for Genies & Gems and Wild Things: Animal Adventure
Closure
Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire dev MZ lays off 125 staff as it shuts down ad-tech branch Cognant
The entire Cognant team and about half of its in-house media buyers are said to have been laid off in June
Job News
Venatus appoints Tom Briant as new head of business development
Briant brought on board to strengthen the sales house’s global development strategy
Expansion
Swedish mobile developer Funrock raises $2.5 million for expansion in the Middle East and North Africa
Funrock has already opened a new studio in Alexandria, Egypt
Job News Klaxon
Keywords shakes up senior management structure with new chief commercial and marketing roles
EA vet Efremov is Keywords Studios' new CCO while Coke and Activision Blizzard alum Andrew Brown coming on as CMO
Catch Of The Day
Big Fish appoints 15 year industry veteran Jeff Karp as new managing director and president
Karp brings aboard executive experience from some of the industry’s biggest players
Job News
Resolution Games brings Mogi creator Mathieu Castelli aboard as chief creative officer
Stockholm studio also expands with Mojang and Paradox alumni
Job Klaxon
Animoca Brands signs up former Rovio EVP of games Wilhelm Taht for strategic advisor role
Taht also holds positions at Nitro Games, Dodreams and Remedy
Switch Up
Nintendo Europe names new CEO as Shibata leaves role after 18 years
Satoru Shibata will head back to Japan to take up a new position
Job News
Kabam co-founder Holly Liu joins the Animoca Brands board of directors
Leading games entrepreneur sees potential in Animoca’s AI and blockchain endeavours
Lovestruck
Intel CEO steps down after breaching "non-fraternisation" policy
Brian Krzanich resigned from the tech giant after five years
It's Snow Joke
Cuphead developer Studio MDHR signs up former Alto’s Odyssey producer Eli Cymet
The former mobile games journalist served a producer on Alto’s Odyssey
Job News
Two Owlchemy Labs bosses are leaving to co-found a new venture
VR studio CEO and studio director depart for projects unknown