Leading British developer and publisher continues to expand, recruiting talent with a wealth of industry experience
Jagex, a leading UK developer and publisher of living games, has announced it has further strengthened the studio’s development team. The hires will drive forward the company’s plans to continue growing the RuneScape franchise and to build new game experiences. Even with the current coronavirus situation, 2020 is poised to be yet another year of significant investment in recruiting.
Jesse America has been appointed Executive Producer of an unannounced online action role-playing game. Jesse has more than 18 years of experience in the games industry, working across various aspects of game development, from prototyping to live game operations. Jesse joins Jagex from Activision Blizzard King, where he held senior production roles working across the Candy Crush Saga Franchise and Call of Duty Mobile.
Mario Rizzo has joined Jagex as Executive Producer of an unannounced massive multiplayer online role-player game. Mario has been developing MMORPGs for 17 years, having begun his career working at Sony as a producer on the EverQuest series & Star Wars Galaxies. Mario was later responsible for the global publishing of Games as a Service at Electronic Arts and Ubisoft. He most recently co-founded Artisan Studios and led the company as CEO.
Jendrik Posche joins as Technical Executive Producer with over three decades of experience in technology and production. At Jagex, Jendrik will be working across the entire Jagex studio to help guide and support complex technical initiatives, ensuring the service continues to grow and that new features are produced in-line with the business and team’s goals.
Nick Beliaeff, SVP Game Development, said:
“We are delighted to welcome these three remarkable talents to the Jagex team. Each one of them brings a wealth of industry experience to the role and tremendous leadership experience in the oversight of high-performance development teams that release industry-leading products. They will play a crucial role in the continuous evolution of Jagex by building and expanding the RuneScape Franchise and the technologies that makes them great, while developing exciting new games that build upon our portfolio of living games.”
Phil Mansell, CEO, Jagex said:
“Even through this unprecedented pandemic, we recognise the importance of investing in exceptional talent and we still plan to continue to build our talent pool throughout 2020. Jesse, Mario and Jendrik have joined the leadership responsible for vibrant, dedicated and talented development teams, and I couldn’t be more excited to see the foundations laid for the next exciting chapters in Jagex’s story.”
To find out more about further career opportunities at Jagex, visit the studios careers portal, www.jagex.com/careers
About Jagex
A leader in creating deep and engaging experiences on PC and mobile, Jagex was founded in 2001 and is today one of the UK’s biggest and most respected video game developers and publishers. Famed for its flagship MMOs RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, Jagex has welcomed more than 270million player accounts to its world and created a $1bn lifetime franchise revenue. Today the RuneScape franchise exists beyond running games in live operations; our titles are living games that connect and inspire millions of players, with content and experiences both inside and outside of inexhaustible game worlds. Both RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, on PC and mobile, offer ever-evolving, highly active worlds and our community-focussed development ethos empowers players to have a real say in how each game is shaped. Jagex is expanding and extending its portfolio with fresh franchise titles, new IP and, in 2018 launched Jagex Partners, delivering third-party publishing and operational services exclusively for the living games of the future. Jagex employs more than 360 people at its Cambridge headquarters and is on the hunt for talented people to work across the business to help the company to achieve yet another year of record growth and player satisfaction. For more information visit, www.jagex.com.
