Destiny developer Bungie is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding studio. The company revealed today that it has added new members to its board of directors. Those include key media executives Trace Harris and ViacomCBS consumer products president Pamela Kaugman. The company is also growing its offices and bringing in new production talent. All of this is in preparation for the continued operation of Destiny as well as the release of a new Bungie property by 2025.
“We’re grateful and humbled that our independent success allows us to invest in our talented people and headquarters this year and are delighted to welcome Trace Harris and Pamela Kaufman to the Board of Directors,” Bungie chief executive officer Pete Parsons said. “The past several years have been a time of tremendous growth and opportunity for Bungie. We are home to some of the brightest and best talent in the industry, and we look forward to expanding upon both our talent pool this year and increasing the resources to support them.”
The addition of Harris and Kauman is notable because Bungie is now planning to push into other entertainment mediums. Harris spent 13 years at global multimedia conglomerate Vivendi. Kaufman, meanwhile, works on licensing and merchandising for Nickelodeon, MTV, and CBS properties.
“Trace and Pamela bring incredible media and entertainment experience,” said Parsons. “And we’re looking forward to taking advantage of their proven acumen as we continue to build the future of our company.”
Bungie gets bigger HQ, international office, and new talent
Beyond the board of directors, Bungie is also increasing the size of its Bellevue, Washington headquarters. The company is adding 84,000 square feet, which brings its HQ’s total square footage to 208,000. This add-on isn’t just about size — the studio wants to rework its space to facilitate more teams working on a wider variety of projects.
To help with that, Bungie is also opening an office in Amsterdam. This will act as the company’s first international location, and it will handle publishing and marketing for the studio.
Of course, offices and board members don’t actually make anything. To that end, Bungie revealed some changes and appointments for key roles within its hierarchy.
Most notably, Bungie is appointing executive creative director Luke Smith and vice president Mark Noseworthy as overseers of the Destiny franchise as it expands into other forms of media. Justin Truman will now move up into the role of general manager on Destiny 2 and take over leadership on that game. And new chief creative officer Jonny Ebbert and general manager of incubation Zach Russell will drive the vision of the studio as it creates new properties, including a game that will launch before 2025.
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Author: Jeff Grubb
Source: Venturebeat