Gree appoints Vice President of RPGs

Mobile developer and publisher Gree announced today that it's hired Keith Kawahata to take on the role of Vice President and General Manager of Role-Playing Games, "overseeing one of the company's strongest internal game studios." Specifically, he will oversee first-party development of franchises like Modern War, Crime City, and Knights & Dragons, while also leading Gree in developing new RPG titles as the company seeks to bolster its Western portfolio.

"Keith is a talented leader and passionate game developer. In his new role as VP and General Manager, Keith will help elevate the excellence of our existing games and lead development of our next generation mobile games," said Andrew Sheppard, COO of Gree International, Inc. "His extensive experience in mobile and free-to-play positions him well to succeed as the leader of the RPG Studio."

"I'm excited to be joining Gree and working with the RPG studio, a team of talented game developers as passionate about the genre as I am. RPGs have not reached their full potential on mobile yet which gives us a huge opportunity to take advantage of," said Kawahata. "My focus at Gree is about embracing Andrew's vision for the company as a whole and more specifically helping to define what RPG is within the mobile space."

Kawahata has many years of mobile and free-to-play experience, most recently at Kabam where he initially led the Kingdoms of Camelot franchise and one of the main studios in San Francisco. Then Kabam promoted him to VP of Revenue where he led product optimization, behavioral analysis and all customer-facing functions at a global level. Before Kabam, Kawahata worked at Aeria Games' U.S. studio.

In Gree's most recent quarter, the company recorded a loss of around $65 million (only the second time the company has ever posted a loss since going public in 2008) but emphasized to GamesIndustry.biz that it's still very much focused on expanding its Western presence. Today's appointment of Kawahata is a testament to that.