Nick Thompson appointment

Promoted to chief technical officer at Jagex.

News by GamesIndustry International Contributor

Published on May 5, 2010

Wednesday 5th May/...Jagex Games Studio, The UK’s largest independent games developer and publisher, today announced that Nick Thompson has been promoted to the position of Chief Technical Officer. Thompson, who has extensive games industry experience spanning over twenty years, has been appointed to the post of CTO after five and a half years in key roles within Jagex and, most recently, as the Head of Core Technologies.

Thompson has led a distinguished career in the games industry with roles including Director of Dreamforge Software and Software Engineering Manager at MicroProse UK. He has also worked with Codemasters and Simergy, having started in the industry in the late 80s as a Production Manager. Thompson has played a key part in Jagex’s recent success and most prominently their flagship title RuneScape.com, which has held the title of the world’s most popular fee-to-play MMO for the last three years running.

“Jagex continues to remain at the cutting edge of the video game industry and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to take on the role of CTO and particularly looking forward to the prospect of evolving our market leading online game platforms and technology” Thompson said. “Jagex is an incredible place to work, full of fun talented people and having the opportunity to build on Jagex’s phenomenal success in such a key role is a real privilege.”

“Like so many members of the Jagex family it’s a real privilege to work alongside awesome people. I fondly recall the day I joined Jagex Games Studio as the CTO, it’s a challenging, stimulating and strategic role and I know it is in excellent hands. In so many respects Nick embodies the very essence of Jagex DNA; smart, passionate, honorable and hard working, so it’s only fitting that the CTO role is championed by such a high caliber individual moving forward.” Gerhard added, “Nick joined Jagex way back in 2005 as the 90th member of the family, starting his career with us as our first programmer to develop our suite of in house Tools. He went on to become Head of Core Technologies, a team that includes Game Engine, Tools and R&D, a team I’m also proud to say nobody has ever left in 10 years.” Gerhard went on to add “It’s in Jagex’s DNA to stretch and develop our talent from every part of the Studio, Nick’s most recent appointment is just another example of that fact.”

About Jagex – Just About the Game Experience

Jagex Games Studio is a world leading developer of high quality browser-based games and is the largest independent games developer and publisher in the UK, with 400 staff across two studios in Cambridge, England.

Jagex has a long standing reputation for creating the world’s best online games by developing hugely popular, high quality, accessible, free-to-play games and for providing an unbeatable community experience for millions of players around the globe.

Jagex has developed and self-published over 40 online titles including the world’s most popular free multiplayer online game, RuneScape.