Ins and Outs – January 2022’s industry hires roundup

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

Samuel Roberts has joined Frontier Developments as their new PR manager, working on games like Elite Dangerous and Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters. Roberts was previously editor-in-chief of PC Gamer up until 2019, and has spent the past two years working as a senior editor for TechRadar.

Lucy Jones has joined the YRS TRULY team as their creator campaign manager, from her previous position at Game If You Are, where she was senior marketing manager.

Merge Games has hired Callum Ayers as their new product manager. Ayers joins from PQube, where he has worked for the past ten months.

Alexander Hainsworth joins as associate product manager. Prior to joining the team at Merge Games, Hainsworth was working at Digital Tales where he was junior marketing manager.

Next up at Merge is Danny Aindow, who joins the team as their new community manager. Aindow joins Merge from ReedPop, where he worked for three years, most recently as celebrity talent manager for MCM Comic Con.

Still at Merge Games, Alex Harkin joins as    production coordinator. Prior to joining the Merge team, Harkin was working at Traveller’s Tales, where he spent the past four years, most recently as junior project coordinator.

Finally, Merge Games has promoted Ade Lawton to head of publishing, as part of a year of rapid change for the company, which was acquired by the Swedish group, Zordix, in May this year.

“The promotion is well-deserved,” said operations director and co-founder Joanne Keighran. “Ade is steeped in what makes a great indie game, and also a kind, effective manager who can balance pipeline management with teamwork and positive career development.”

BAFTA Chief Executive Amanda Berry OBE has announced that she intends to step down from her role in the autumn of 2023 – after 25 years at the arts charity. “As we approach BAFTA’s 75th anniversary next year I have reflected on what I, Kevin and the truly brilliant team at BAFTA have achieved, and it feels like the right time to plan to pass on the mask,”
said Berry.

Also leaving BAFTA is chief operating officer Kevin Price, who will leave in September 2022, after 20 years working alongside Berry at the charity. “We shall look back at the 2000s, 2010s and the early 2020s as the ‘Berry years’ and I feel privileged to have been part of that journey,” said Price.

There’s a new face at BAFTA, with Luke Hebblethwaite joining as head of games. The former Ukie insight and innovation manager joins BAFTA at a pivotal moment as it aims to consolidate its position as the foremost global cultural organisation in games.

Developer Keen Games, the studio behind the award-winning Portal Knights, has announced the hire of new creative product manager David Welch as the company looks to take its first steps into the world of self-publishing.Welch arrives at Keen Games with a wealth of experience after a twelve-year stint with 505 Games

London based mobile game development studio Hutch has announced the addition of three new senior hires. First up is Charmaine St John, who joins as head of people. St John kicked off her diverse, and 20-year long, career in HR at M&C Saatchi, and has since worked across a wide variety of companies and agencies, such as PHD and Fuse.

Next up is Damian Hosen, who joins as game director. With an extensive portfolio of game companies under his belt, including Sony, NaturalMotion and Sumo Digital, Hosen brings more than 25 years of expertise to Hutch.

Finally at Hutch, April Huang  joins the team as a licensing manager. Huang started her career in games at Codemasters. Over a ten-year period, she worked on all major titles in Codemasters and advanced from an initial research role, to a senior licensing executive role overseeing all F1 titles.

It wouldn’t be Ins and Outs without a league of hires over at Splash Damage, and here’s just a sample of the new faces. Dirk Lalleman joins Splash as associate lighting artist. Before starting at Splash, Lalleman was studying at the Breda University of Applied Sciences.

Another fresh face at Splash Damage is Britney Martin-Smith. Martin-Smith started off as a game design student, and is now moving up into games production

Finally at Splash, Jade Gunner joins as assistant audio designer, having previously interned at Criterion Games.

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