Nifty Games is very pleased to announce our great new additions for 2019 as we round out our management and leadership team, and build momentum into 2020. Below is the full article from our friends at Gamasutra.com, from December 18, 2019.
San Francisco/Los Angeles, CA – December 18, 2019, – Nifty Games, a venture funded games developer & publisher focused on quick session, head-to-head sports games for mobile devices, announced today the hiring of a high profile roster of industry veterans who will take the field for the company beginning January 2020.
Joining the LA and Bay Area based company co-founded by Jon Middleton and Pete Wanat, are an extensive team with decades of experience building sports video games. Nifty Games is proud to announce the following new team members:
Tom Shoenhair – VP of Product: With over 25 years leading game development teams and companies, Mr. Shoenhair has held senior roles with Zynga, Page 44 Studios, and Warner Bros. Games. Mr. Shoenhair has a proven track record of delivering profitable franchises in highly competitive markets.
Ryan Winterholler – General Manager: Mr. Winterholler comes to Nifty as an industry veteran with over 16 years in the mobile games space. His production experience has led him to create an array of award-winning mobile games such as NBA Jam and Frozen Free Fall, grossing revenues in the hundreds of millions.
Tiburcio de la Carcova: CTO: Tiburcio is a serial entrepreneur with more than 20 years in the video game industry. Tiburcio has built and run companies that generated multi-million dollar revenues. In 2002, he co-founded Wanako Games, a console game developer acquired by Vivendi Games. He co-founded Atakama Labs, a mobile game developer, acquired by DeNA in 2011. In 2014 he started his third studio, Giant Monkey Robot.
Ibrahim Rageh – Technical Director: Mr. Rageh started in QA in 2003 with EA Sports and has worked his way up to Engineering Leadership via stints at Page 44 Studios, Zynga, and Warner Bros. Games over his 16+ years in the industry.
Arthur Klein – Art Director: A games art veteran who has led internal and external art teams to produce high quality game visuals for multiple genres and platforms. Mr. Klein is proud to have worked on compelling games at global studios, including Facebook VR, Electronic Arts, and Page 44 Studios.
Johnson Lee – Director of Studio Operations: Mr. Lee is an 18+ year industry veteran with expertise in building world class internal teams and scaling external partners, and former head of QA for Warner Bros. Games, Age of Learning, and Rockyou. Mr. Lee has released titles such as The Sims, SimCity 4 and Harry Potter Wizards Unite.
David Price – Senior Producer: With over a decade of production experience in the games industry, Mr. Price, David has amassed over 1 billion downloads across games on mobile, console and PC. From Minion Rush to Jurassic World, David has helped to refine the gaming identity for major entertainment brands
Jon Middleton, Nifty Games CEO commented, “Since inception Pete and I set out with the intention to build an all-star team of the most talented game creators in the business. As we enter 2020, we’re excited by our results to date, and we’re confident Nifty Games can deliver the most fun, free to play sports games designed for mobile.”