Outspark, who recently signed a deal to operate a free-to-play/microtransactions supported dance based title in conjunction with Electronic Arts, just announced that they’ve appointed long time EA veteran Owen Mahoney to the position of Chief Executive Officer. Needless to say, it looks like there was more than just the operating of the game going on behind the scenes, and yet another indication that EA isn’t taking the casual/free-to-play/microtransactions market lightly.
Current (or should we say, now former) CEO and founder Susan Choe will continue her involvement with Outspark, serving as the Chairman of the Board, and will work with game developers on partnering deals with Outspark, i.e. unofficially, Business Development.
“Since founding Outspark in early 2007, the Freemium MMOG market has evolved dramatically. Outspark`s team has built a leading game publishing company, executing solid growth while bringing together a unique MMOG publishing platform with social community elements,” said Susan Choe. “With Owen`s leadership and business experience in the global gaming industry, Outspark will evolve as a leading global game industry player.”
Mahoney comes to Outspark from Electronic Arts Inc., where he’s filled a number of senior executive management roles, as well as his previous experience in online media. Most recently, he served as EA’s Senior VP of corporate and business development. With EA since 2000, Mahoney has led a number of the company’s global corporate development activities including acquisitions, equity investments and strategic partnerships. Prior to joining the EA team, Mahoney held executive positions with PointCast, Claris Japan, and Radius.
The plan is for Mahoney to add his expertise to the Outspark team and accelerate the company’s continued expansion into the North American market. While North America constitutes Outspark’s largest market, they are also developing traction in Europe and the Pacific Rim. Globally, Outspark counts 4.7 million users, and since their launch in 2007, have attracted around 5.4 million unique visitors per month.
“Having the opportunity to build on Susan`s success is a great privilege and I’m honored by the board’s endorsement,” said Owen Mahoney. “Outspark appeals to a vast global user base and to everyone who wants to establish a connection with gamers around the world in real time. Outspark`s game publishing platform and portal also offer fantastic opportunities to both content developers and game publishers, and I look forward to providing value for Outspark, our loyal user base, investors and our great staff.”
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We took a long hard look at not only the technologies that we’ve developed in house, the experience and knowledge that we’ve gained, but also at what players and publishers across the world are looking for in a gaming experience. Combine that with the current state of the industry and the tremendous interest and revenue streams in the micro transaction field, adding the fatfoogoo partnership program was a no brainer.
Being back in Europe the jetlag still doesn’t allow me much sleep at night but – and what’s a lot more relevant – I am looking back to a super exciting week at fatfoogoo.
