A Serious Move for Matthews

8th May 2007. Blitz Games, one of Europe's leading independent game development studios has strengthened its senior management team by recruiting Mary Matthews to a senior role for Strategy and Business Development. Previously at the regional development agency for the West Midlands, Advantage West Midlands, Mary joins Blitz's serious games division TruSim to develop strategy and new business but also has a remit to support strategic thinking across the company's divisions which now also include original games for digital download (Arcade) and of mature content (Volatile) in addition to the well recognized licensed family titles (Blitz Games).

Mary led regional strategy for public investment in digital creative industries, including the games industry, and secured more than £15 million of public and private investment to implement a 3 year development programme. Projects included an investment fund for film, TV and games production, an enterprise hub for digital media, securing high profile events like PACT Content Lab and the International Serious Games Event as well as funding for a Serious Games Institute. She was instrumental in raising the profile of creative industries as a key growth sector in a region, which has traditionally focused on manufacturing.

Head of TruSim Richard Smithies says, "TruSim is investing heavily in developing a new market for engaging and effective training and visualisation solutions using the skills and technology of the video games industry. Mary is a very talented individual and her knowledge and expertise will help greatly in growing this and other parts of our business."

Mary has recently been appointed as a director of the regional screen agency Screen West Midlands and also sits on the regional board leading strategy for Innovation and Enterprise in Warwickshire and Solihull.

Mary Matthews says "I'm delighted to be working with a company that has such a clear ambition and appetite for the future and welcomes new thinking from outside the games industry. As distribution platforms for media converge there will be new opportunities to be seized; I hope to bring new insights from other creative industries to support Blitz's future growth. Having championed Serious Games as an important sector for the region to support I foresee huge potential in this emerging sector."

Mary's early career was in broadcast journalism where she reported for and presented news programmes for BBC Radio and TV, Sky News, Channel Four News and LWT. She has also run her own media training company, was executive director for a Midlands PR company and supported early thinking on Media Literacy for the Independent Television Commission.

For further information please contact:

Alison Beasley, Lincoln Beasley PR. T: +44 (0) 1608 645756

E: Alison@lincolnbeasley.co.uk M: +44(0)7966 449130 www.lincolnbeasley.co.uk

About Blitz Games

Blitz Games is based in Leamington Spa and was founded in 1990 by twin brothers Andrew and Philip Oliver and now boasts over 180 staff. The Olivers are responsible for developing over 100 games since the early 1980s. The highly respected studio comprises four divisions: TruSim, for the development of engaging training and visualisation applications called serious games; Blitz Arcade for the development of digitally downloadable games; Blitz Games for the family/kids licensed titles and Volatile Games for content with a mature theme e.g. Reservoir Dogs (Eidos). Blitz Games is the only European studio to have a game released at the launch of Nintendo's eagerly anticipated Wii® console - SpongeBob Squarepants (THQ) and has just completed three Xbox 360 titles for a landmark advertising-funded Burger King/Microsoft US-wide promotion. The company continues its huge long-term investment into BlitzWare, its in-house technology and provides one of the best game development environments of any independent developer. www.BlitzGames.com.