New staff additions at Atari

by: Tina - posted: 10/7/2009 6:30:00 PM

Atari has appointed two new VPs to their staff – VP of Business Development Anthony Jacobson and VP of Product Development Pierre Hintze. They are both said to have a background in both the business and creative angles of the industry, so we’ll see what  this collaboration of knowledge will amount to.

Jacobson’s new title, the VP of Business Development, will cover product development resource deals, licensing across platforms, and all the other fancy shmancy business that comes with being Vice President of Business Development. Hintze will be focusing on all things Atari franchise – so any packaged goods you see will certainly have something of his doing.

They both obviously come from a lengthy background in the industry. Jacobson’s most recent gig was as Senior Vice President of Game Studios at PlaydayTV where he was in charge of content programming and acquisition strategy for the television channel.

Hintze’s résumé is just a bit more appealing to me because of all the awesome name drops: Rainbow Studios (his most recent position as senior producer), THQ UK, Tiburon Studios, EA Canada, EA Europe, and Sega of Europe (where he first began his career).

Hearty congratulations to the both of them; happy producing and businessing.

ATARI, INC. APPOINTS NEW BUSINESS AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT VETERANS



Atari Hires Anthony Jacobson, Vice President of Business Development and

Pierre Hintze, Vice President of Product Development



New York, NY – October 07, 2009 – Atari, Inc., an interactive entertainment company, announced today the appointment of Anthony Jacobson as Vice President of Business Development and Pierre Hintze as Vice President of Product Development. The announcement was made by Atari, Inc. CEO and President, Jim Wilson to whom Jacobson and Hintze will report.



Both Jacobson and Hintze bring years of experience and a vast knowledge of game development from both business and creative sides of the business. In his new role as VP of Business Development, Jacobson will focus on deals for product development resources, licensing Atari content to both interactive and non-interactive platforms and new business opportunities. As VP of Product Development, Hintze will assume responsibility for planning and executing the development of Atari franchise priorities across relevant platforms, ranging from packaged goods to online businesses. Both will be based in Atari, Inc.’s new Los Angeles office.



“Building the Atari team, and bringing in both Anthony Jacobson and Pierre Hintze, is essential to continuing our growth plan,” said Wilson. “They are both extraordinarily talented with strong industry expertise and I look forward to their success.”



Jacobson most recently served as Senior Vice President of Game Studios at PlaydayTV, the Softbank funded, branded, free to play, ad-supported interactive television channel featuring casual game play. At PlaydayTV he was responsible for the creation and implementation of content programming and acquisition strategy.



Prior to joining PlaydayTV, Jacobson was the CEO and Founder of the Shanghai based AAA game development company, Spicy Horse Games, as well as The Mauretania Import Export Company, the video game production company. While there he was responsible for all aspects of business development, finance, legal, partnerships as well as strategic planning. Jacobson has also held roles at Creative Planet, The William Morris Agency and Sony Pictures Classics.



Hintze brings to Atari over 13 years of experience as a producer with an extensive online sports background and multiple AAA sports titles. He most recently served as senior producer at Rainbow Studios, where he was responsible for the production coordination for hand-held and last-gen platforms of CARS (Xbox, NGC, PSP, GB, GBA).



Prior to his work at Rainbow, Hintze held the title of project manager for THQ UK, where he was responsible for the MotoGP product line (Xbox, PC, Xbox 360) as well as serving as the product and creative manager for Juiced 2and MotoGP and creative lead for new THQ Intellectual Property. Hintze has also held various roles at Tiburon Studios, EA Canada and Electronic Arts Europe. He began his career at Sega of Europe.