Midwest Games appoints Alyssa Walles as COO

VentureBeat's Gina Joseph joins the firm's board of directors and Larry 'Major Nelson' Hryb its advisory board

Image credit: Gylee Games' Ra Ra Boom

News by Marie Dealessandri Deputy Editor

Published on Dec. 13, 2023

Midwest Games has appointed a new COO, with Alyssa Walles joining the publisher.

With over 20 years of experience, Walles was on Atari's board of directors for almost a decade, and ran her own consulting company called Amplitude for over 17 years. She currently is also the part-time executive director of the IGDA Foundation.

Midwest also made an appointment to its board of directors, with VentureBeat's chief strategy officer Gina Joseph joining.

Finally, Xbox veteran Larry 'Major Nelson' Hryb joined Midwest Games' advisory board.

Commenting on the appointments, Midwest Games CEO Ben Kvalo said the trio will play "a crucial role" in realising the publisher's mission of "fostering and creating more opportunity no matter where you are."

Kvalo founded the company with XSET alum Rob Martin back in August, with the publisher securing $3 million in funding in October with the aim to "create opportunities for underserved communities in the games industry."

Its first published title will be Gylee Games' Ra Ra Boom.