LIVERPOOL-based mobile games company Thumbstar Games has opened an office in Newcastle.
The firm recently announced it had brought in as its CEO the former managing director of Newcastle-based games studio Ubisoft Reflections, Gareth Edmondson, while his brother Martin would also be leaving Ubisoft to become chief creative officer.
Thumbstar’s North East outfit of artists, programmers, designers and professionals will be headed up by Martin Oliver, who most recently worked with the Edmondsons on the Reflections title Driver: San Francisco.
Mobile games service provider Thumbstar represents more than 100 developers, and operates in markets including the UK, Europe, Asia, America, Australasia and the Middle East. It started as a mobile games aggregator and publisher of mobile games for platforms such as RIM BlackBerry, but has since also moved into publishing for Apple’s iOS and Android.
Talking to The Journal shortly after his appointment, Gareth Edmondson said Thumbstar was a “good, solid, profitable company” and that the mobile market offered “room for exploration and innovation”.
Oliver’s task will be to lead the team in producing “high-quality mobile gaming IP for its worldwide customers”. The firm said the first of these games “will be announced in the not-too-distant future”.
Gareth Edmondson said: “We have worked with Martin for over 10 years at Reflections and his contribution, in particular to the success of Driver San Francisco, puts us in no doubt that he is the right man for the job. We are absolutely delighted Martin has joined us and look forward to creating some top class product.”
Thumbstar’s new chief creative officer Martin Edmondson set up Reflections in 1984, while Gareth had been at the company for 13 years. The firm won fame for titles such as the Destruction Derby series, and has operated under GT Interactive, Atari and now Ubisoft during its lifetime.
Its most recent game Driver: San Francisco was well received, and received a best racing game award during 2011’s E3 event.
Oliver was at Reflections for the release of all of the Driver titles, and said re-joining the brothers at Thumbstar was a “hugely exciting prospect”.
He said: “Martin is somewhat of a legend in the development world and has produced some classics in Shadow of the Beast and Driver, to name just two.
“We already feel we have a strong team in place to continue this tradition in the mobile space.
“Although we have a full complement within the studio we are always in need of ‘work for hire’ developers to support the many projects we have on the go.”
