22cans, the studio born from the mind of Peter Molyneux, has decided to change its management.
The new CEO of 22cans will now be Simon Phillips and co-founder Molyneux will be left to focus on his role as a creative director. Phillips has shows his enthusiasm as he says “It’s a great time to be part of the games and entertainment industry right now,”
Simon continues “Running a business, especially a fast paced business like this, takes a lot of energy and focus. At 22cans we have a mission statement and that is ‘To create World Changing ideas’ and with Peter now able to fully immerse himself in the Creative Direction of not only Godus but The Trail and all the really smart, cool ideas we have, I believe we can do just that. It’s important for us, as a studio, to fully understand what it is we do best and what our role is in delivering our ideas. I want to ensure the lifeblood of the studio is as creative and dynamic as possible.”
Here’s what all the fuss is about
The new staff on hand as well as Simon Phillips include Colin Gallacher as new PR Manager, Richard Williams a new programmer, Shay Hulbert and Annah Wootten-Pinéles in the art department, Ryan Singh as an intern programmer and Anthony Straub as producer. Close to all of these new recruits have held respectable positions in previous companies such as VG247, Average Gamer, Playgen etc.
The last year was a period of time where Peter Molyneux has promised never to speak to the press again after series of blunt interviews caused him to face his unfulfilled promises. The incompletion of Godus too has landed 22cans in bad favour with consumers who had kickstarted the game trusting the word of Peter Molyneux, only to be sorely disappointed. And then there’s the Curiosity Cube that saw Molyneux promising a “life-changing” prize that winner, Bryan Henderson, never had.
Hopefully with the new changes to the company, 22cans, and Peter Molyneux specifically, can attempt to move on from the various amounts of backlash they have received over the last year.
Sources: Gamasutra, gamesindustry, IGN