Ngmoco names TV veteran as chief operating officer

Mobile gaming firm Ngmoco?has named a TV executive as its new chief operating officer. The move positions Ngmoco to offer broader entertainment on its mobile social gaming network.

The San Francisco company named Joanna Drake Earl, former chief strategy officer and chief operating officer at Al Gore’s media startup Current TV, as head of day-to-day operations at Ngmoco. Her job will include driving the launch of Mobage, which is Ngmoco’s global mobile entertainment network.

Ngmoco has been primarily a developer and publisher of mobile games. But it was purchased last year by Japan’s mobile gaming network DeNA and focused on making DeNA’s Mobage mobile social network into a global service. In Japan, DeNA makes money not only from mobile games but from other forms of entertainment as well.

In the rest of the world, Ngmoco has launched an English version of Mobage as a beta test, and it plans to bring all sorts of entertainment to the network, not just games. That’s where Drake Earl’s expertise comes in. Neil Young, chief executive of Ngmoco, said that Drake Earl’s expertise at the “crossroads of media and technology” was valuable to Ngmoco. Drake Earl said in a statement, “Games are only the beginning.”

Before joining Current TV, Drake Earl held executive jobs at Moxi and ReacTV.

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Tags: Mobage, social games, social mobile network

Companies: DeNA, Ngmoco

People: Joanna Drake Earl, Neil Young

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Zynga confirms it hired EA’s Jeff Karp as marketing and sales chief

Confirming previous reports, Zynga verified that it poached another Electronic Arts executive. Jeff Karp, who was formerly executive vice president at EA Play, has joined Zynga as chief marketing and revenue officer.

Under his new role, Karp will oversee all aspects of marketing at the social gaming company, which has been able to recruit a number of traditional video game executives in part because of its fast growth and upcoming initial public offering.

Before Karp, Zynga hired away John Schappert, the former No. 2 executive at EA. Karp will also optimize and drive revenue with game studios and oversee international sales.

AT EA, Karp was in charge of the label that is home to the billion-dollar properties such as The Sims, SimCity, Spore and MySims. (EA Play now falls under the management of EA executive Frank Gibeau, who aslo manages the company’s sports and hardcore games). At EA, Karp had to manage tasks such as setting the roadmap for development studios, defining the product plan, managing the profit and loss statement, and delivering the games to audiences around the world.

Karp was also a leader in the EA Games label and held a variety of positions at EA over 11 years.

As we’ve noted before, Zynga has been successful at raiding EA’s talent pool in part because it has considerable market potential, even though it’s a private firm. Zynga can hand out shares of the company in the form of stock options, and those options could become extremely valuable if Zynga goes public, as it has announced it plans to do. This could be a powerful motivator for EA executives.

Other former EA executives who have joined Zynga are Steve Chiang, Mark Skaggs and Colleen McCreary. Of course, EA still has more than 7,000 employees, while Zynga has closer to 2,500, so not everyone is jumping ship. But when company leaders leave, it’s worth noting.

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Tags: EA Play, The Sims

Companies: Electronic Arts, Zynga

People: Jeff Karp

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Zynga confirms it hired EA’s Jeff Karp as marketing and sales chief

Confirming previous reports, Zynga verified that it poached another Electronic Arts executive. Jeff Karp, who was formerly executive vice president at EA Play, has joined Zynga as chief marketing and revenue officer.

Under that role, Karp will oversee all aspects of marketing at the social gaming company, which has been able to recruit a number of traditional video game executives in part because of its fast growth and upcoming initial public offering.

Before Karp, Zynga hired away John Schappert, the former No. 2 executive at EA. Karp will also optimize and drive revenue with game studios and oversee international sales.

AT EA, Karp was in charge of the label that is home to the billion-dollar properties such as The Sims, SimCity, Spore and MySims. (EA Play now falls under the management of EA executive Frank Gibeau, who aslo manages the company’s sports and hardcore games). At EA, Karp had to manage tasks such as setting the roadmap for development studios, defining the product plan, managing the profit and loss statement, and delivering the games to audiences around the world.

Karp was also a leader in the EA Games label and held a variety of positions at EA over 11 years.

As we’ve noted before, Zynga has been successful at raiding EA’s talent pool in part because it has considerable market potential, even though it’s a private firm. Zynga can hand out shares of the company in the form of stock options, and those options could become extremely valuable if Zynga goes public, as it has announced it plans to do. This could be a powerful motivator for EA executives. Other former EA executives who have joined Zynga are Steve Chiang, Mark Skaggs and Colleen McCreary. Of course, EA still has more than 7,000 employees, while Zynga has closer to 2,500. Not everyone is jumping ship. But when company leaders leave, it’s worth noting.

Next Story: Skype purchasing GroupMe to ramp up group?communications
Previous Story: Why HP needs to merge with?SAP

Tags: EA Play, The Sims

Companies: Electronic Arts, Zynga

People: Jeff Karp

View the original article here