Jamie Macdonald appointment
Former Sony man joins Codemasters as senior VP of production.
Monday 10th May/... Following the recent investment from Reliance Big Entertainment, Codemasters is building on its strategic focus of a future portfolio created by its world-class internal game development teams and today announced a strengthening of its studio leadership with the appointment of key game development executive Jamie Macdonald as Senior Vice President, Production.
Previously Vice President at Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, Jamie Macdonald joined Codemasters’ studios management team on May 4th. As SVP, Production, he will direct the company’s production and engineering strategy and manage the business operations of its studios in Birmingham, Guildford, Kuala Lumpur and at its headquarters in Warwickshire, UK. He reports to Barry Jafrato, SVP Brand.
“As the gaming landscape shifts, we are creating both a pipeline of world-class titles from our Studios and strengthening our production operation to exploit existing and future digital delivery channels,” says Barry Jafrato, SVP Brand. “In creating this role and bringing Jamie on board, we add further focus to the production of that pipeline to benefit and complement the creative expertise of our Studio teams.”
“Joining a company with such a rich heritage as Codemasters is a real honour,” says Jamie Macdonald, SVP Production “This is an incredibly exciting time to become part of the Codemasters family and I am relishing the opportunity to work across the company’s globally appealing content on multiple platforms while exploring new delivery methods and revenue models.”
Jamie Macdonald has over 15 years of studio management experience and has been responsible for developing such innovative products and franchises as The Getaway, EyeToy:Play and SingStar. He has also been responsible for the groundbreaking PS3 network services the SingStore, MySingStar Online and PlayStation Home. Jamie transformed the Sony London Studio into one of the most successful Product Development studios within SCE, achieving both critical success, with three BAFTA and two AIAS awards, and commercial success with franchise sales in excess of $1 billion.
About Codemasters
Codemasters, the award winning games developer and publisher, has a 24-year heritage and annual revenues in excess of US$ 150 Million. The company’s dominant brands include Colin McRae DiRT, Race Driver GRID, Cricket and Operation Flashpoint; the company retains the exclusive worldwide video game rights to FORMULA ONE. Codemasters operates three UK development studios – one at its Warwickshire HQ with further sites at Guildford and Birmingham. An additional art studio is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In 2009 Codemasters won the coveted Grand Prix Award at the 2009 Develop Industry Excellence Awards, an award bestowed on the company felt by Develop to have contributed the most to the games medium in recent times. Across the group, Codemasters employs over 450 people. In March 2010, Reliance Big Entertainment Ltd. (RBEL), a part of India’s Reliance ADA group, acquired a 50 per cent shareholding in the company, alongside existing investor, Balderton Capital, the leading European venture capital firm that first invested in Codemasters in 2005. For more information on Codemasters’ product portfolio, please visit www.codemasters.com