Jagex appoints PayPal CEO to accelerate international growth
New CEO Geoff Iddison will drive the continued growth of RuneScape and bring new online games to market
UK, Cambridge, 23rd October, 2007 - Jagex Ltd, the online games developer, announced that Geoff Iddison, the former European CEO of PayPal, has joined the company as CEO. Iddison has extensive experience in leading international e-commerce-based businesses.
Iddison takes over from Constant Tedder, who will remain on the board of Directors. Iddison held the position of CEO of eBay-owned payments business PayPal Europe Ltd from August 2003, having originally led the first expansion of PayPal from its base in California. Geoff joined eBay in 2000 from Christies Inc. where he held the role of COO.
"I am very excited about joining Jagex. The company has built an amazing international playing community through the RuneScape game. The technology used to distribute the game and the incredible depth offered to anyone playing RuneScape makes Jagex a very different gaming company," said Iddison. "Jagex's mantra is to offer fun, meticulously written and deep storyline-driven online games, at a price which offers unmatched value for money. This will continue to be the basis of the future strategy for the company."
RuneScape has over 6 million regular players worldwide. The browser-based game has attracted popularity across the globe with strong subscriber communities in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Scandinavia. In addition, Jagex recently launched a new German-language of RuneScape, packed with the same number of features that have made the English-language version so widely popular.
"I am delighted that Geoff has joined us. His track record in e-commerce will definitely help us achieve our next level of goals," said Andrew Gower, Founder and Head of Game Development. "I, like the rest of Jagex, am excited about how Geoff will lead the business. There are many exciting projects in the pipeline and we can't wait to further improve our service and the games we offer."
About Jagex Ltd
Jagex Ltd is an independent developer and publisher of online games headquartered in Cambridge, England, with over 400 employees. With proprietary graphics compression, game engine and network communication technologies; Jagex has proved its effectiveness with its most popular browser based game, RuneScape, with over 6 million active players of the game.
Press Contact:
Niall O'Malley
Jagex Ltd
Head of Corporate Communications
press@jagex.com