Ins and Outs: April 2021’s industry hires roundup

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

Rocksteady has two new starters to shout about, starting with Kate Watson, who joins Rocksteady as a senior scriptwriter on Suicide Squad. Previously she has worked at Rare Ltd and Creative Assembly on a range of titles including Sea of Thieves, Total War and Alien: Isolation.

Meanwhile, Lewis Williams also joins Rocksteady, as an audio programmer. Lewis previously headed up the audio programming team at Splash Damage, working across a variety of projects.

Conor Clarke, formerly of the National Videogame Museum and the BGI, has moved onto a new role at Gang Beasts developer Boneloaf as marketing and communications manager.

There’s yet more changes over at the BGI, as its founder and CEO Rick Gibson has announced he is departing the charity in July 2022. The charity is currently advertising for a new CEO based in Sheffield.

Leeds-based developer Just Add Water has three additions to its leadership team. The team will build upon the legacy of the studio’s sadly-departed co-founder Stewart Gilray, who passed in January this year. First, Joel Benton joins as business development director. Benton has over 20 years’ experience, having worked for studios including Kuju Entertainment, Sumo Digital and many others.

Second, Viktorya Hollings joins as chief operations officer. Hollings brings a wealth of experience in leading large studios and small, specialist teams, guiding them from start-up growth to IPO.

Finally, Bec Gilray has joined Just Add Water as their new director. Gilray is an award-winning entrepreneur who has run her own creative, design business for 12 years. As a champion of her late husband and the whole team at Just Add Water, she brings her marketing, social media and entrepreneurial expertise to the team.

Lockwood Publishing has appointed Jon Goddard as its new senior director of corporate brand & communications. Goddard joins the team following a three-and-a-half-year stint at Jagex where he served as head of corporate communications.

Anni Valkama has joined games publisher Super Rare Games as their new ‘head of saying stuff.’ Though in more businessy terms, Valkama is the PR and marketing assistant to Ryan Brown, Super Rare Games’ head of PR.

Bee Fogah has secured her first job in the games industry, joining Modern Wolf as their new social media manager. Fogah is also marketing manager at BAME in Games, and is also a Women in Games ambassador.

Georgie Christoforou has been appointed as Into Games’ new careers coordinator, having been a CRM Administrator through the Kickstart scheme since October.

Publisher Secret Mode has four new hires. First, Vicky Howat joins as product marketing manager. Howat joins the team with a background in marketing and global consumer insights.

Next up at Secret Mode, Jack MacIndoe joins as their new marketing assistant. MacIndoe first made his mark in the gaming industry as a popular Twitch streamer, partnered since 2014. Since then, he has completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees before joining the team at Secret Mode.

Alison Fraser joins Secret Mode following 20 years in retail with tenures at Gamestation, GAME and ShopTo, taking on the role of account manager.

Finally, Matthew Pellett has joined Secret Mode as their new PR Manager. Pellett spent the past four years working at Dead Good PR, where he was a senior account manager and worked with clients such as Larian Studios and Secret Mode!

Meanwhile, ustwo games has a number of promotions to brag about. First, Jane Campbell has been promoted from studio operations lead to her new role as commercial manager. Campbell first joined Ustwo in 2010, under the role of studio manager.

Next up, Angel Spence-Lewis, formerly studio assistant at Ustwo, has been promoted into her new role as studio co-ordinator.

Still at ustwo, Holly Pickering has been hired as the studio’s new senior artist. Prior to joining Ustwo, Pickering worked as a freelancer, working with a multitude of clients, largely helping with pre-production and prototypes.

Finally at ustwo games, Ian Zell has been promoted to senior artist. Zell had been working for ustwo as a 3D Artist contractor, and has previously worked as an animator and artist on a number of published games at King, Zynga, and Akupara Games.