EA Europe marketing boss to depart

Electronic Arts' director of consumer marketing for Europe, Al King, has announced his decision to leave the company after over a decade of working with the publisher - a career which has spanned much of EA's meteoric rise.

In an email sent to colleagues in the industry, King stated that "I have taken the monumental decision to leave EA. After 10 and a half years I have got to the top in European marketing and achieved what I set out to. Itâs time for a new challenge."

A regular face on the industry's party scene and considered to be one of its characters, King has been instrumental in building the EA brand into one of the most powerful in the European marketplace, forging alliances between the company and many other key media brands as well as co-ordinating the company's own mass marketing efforts.

King now plans to go travelling for a while before weighing up his future options - while he's certain to be head-hunted by games companies given his experience in the field, there's also speculation that a move into the music industry may be in the cards. King will leave his position at EA in early to mid December; no information is available from the publisher as yet regarding a replacement in his role.