Port Plexus hires Jim Merrick for US expansion

Port Plexus, the company that creates and advises on videogame special editions, has told GamesIndustry.biz that it has appointed Jim Merrick to the role of US consultant.

Merrick, who has worked in the business for the past 16 years - and was a senior director at both Microsoft and Nintendo - will take responsibility for driving the company's strategy in the region.

Port Plexus, which recently announced that former THQ and Nintendo exec Marko Hein has joined the company as COO, has worked on creating Special and Limited Edition versions of games from publishers including EA, Bioware, THQ, Crytek and Namco Bandai - and also has plans to branch out to the music and film industries as well.

The company will look to Merrick to use is experience as technical director for Nintendo of America, where he led the developer relations, game evaluation and development projects for all Nintendo platforms, before taking on the role of senior director of European marketing.

In 2007, Merrick joined Microsoft Xbox as Senior Director of Global Marketing and Consumer Strategy, where he developed programmes to broaden company's audiences through enhanced market research and business intelligence, and to drive the global strategy.

A full interview with Marko Hein, which outlines Port Plexus' strategy and explains why he believes there's a strong future for high value physical products, is available on GamesIndustry.biz now.