PopCap promotes Gwertzman

PopCap Games has announced that James Gwertzman, a longtime senior business development executive with the company, has been promoted to VP of Asia/Pacific and has relocated to Shanghai.

Gwertzman will manage a team of developers, artists, business development executives, and other staffers charged with bringing titles such as Bejeweled, Chuzzle, Peggle and Zuma to Asian audiences at the company's new Shanghai office which opened this month.

The new location will also feature a development studio tasked with creating new games specifically for Asia/Pacific consumers.

"This is the opportunity of a lifetime," Gwertzman said. "The casual games space in Asia is totally different than in North America or Europe, but if we can get it right, it's a tremendous opportunity."

"We've had a modest 'stealth' presence in the area for two years now, but now we're ready to open a fully-staffed office.

"We have enough confidence in our strategy to make a sizable investment, but we're humble enough to realise that these are very different markets, and so we have designed our organisation here first and foremost to be nimble and flexible."