UTV-owned developer and publisher Ignition Entertainment appointed Shane Bettenhausen, former senior executive editor for EGM and 1UP, as its new Business Development director.
Bettenhausen's departure from 1UP and EGM two weeks ago was revealed when parent company Ziff Davis announced that it was selling the 1UP network to Hearst's UGO Entertainment division. With the sale, Ziff Davis laid off some 30 employees from its Game Group, including the staff of EGM Magazine and some elements of 1UP's web staff.
Ignition hopes to use Bettenhausen's extensive background with video games and his "encyclopedic knowledge of the video gaming industry" to head the company's development initiatives.
His move to Ignition follows other recent migrations 1UP's former staff have made towards the development and publishing side of the industry, with several 1UP alums now working at Sega, Bungie, 2K Boston, and Insomniac Games, among other studios.
Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Essex, England, Ignition was acquired by UTV Software Communications, a media conglomerate based in Mumbai, India. The company has development studios in Florida and Tokyo, and also recently installed Ajay Chadha, one of its co-founders, as the president of its U.S. arm.
The company's products include puzzle game series Mercury Meltdown and SNK Playmore's Metal Slug 7 for the Nintendo DS.
"I've spent the past nine years dissecting and evaluating games as a journalist, and I'm incredibly eager and humbled to finally get the chance to learn the other side of the business," says Bettenhausen. "I'm tremendously excited to help shape the direction of Ignition's future products, and I feel that together, we'll be able to craft experiences that entertain, challenge, and emotionally impact gamers."
"We couldn’t be more pleased to have found Shane for this key role within our Company," Chadha adds. "He is smart, versatile, passionate, energetic and crazy - a perfect fit for Ignition!"
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