Epic Games’ new president used to make shoes, although he still has plenty of video game experience.
Not every company has a president that is also the CEO. At Epic Games, the positions are separate. Why? No idea. Maybe Sweeney just wanted more time to make loaded speeches at games conferences.
In any case, Epic’s last president, Paul Meegan, stepped down last June. Since then, Epic has been sailing without a helmsman. However, that’s about to change as Adam Sussman takes the wheel. The former Chief Digital Officer at Nike has just announced that he’ll be moving to Epic Games as to take on the role of President.
“After 5.5 great years at Nike, I have decided to move on to my next opportunity as President of Epic Games,” Sussman wrote on LinkedIn. “Nike is an amazing brand, I got a chance to work with many great people and I am so proud of what we accomplished together. While it’s bittersweet, I am so excited to join Epic and honored to be part of the remarkable team that has built one of the biggest games in the world.”
Although his last job was handling Nike’s digital presence, Sussman has a lot of experience in the world of video games. His job before Nike was Senior VP of Global Publishing at Zynga, a mobile games publisher, and before that he was Senior VP of Publishing at DIMG Games. Sussman has worked as an executive at EA and Take 2 Interactive as well.
What will this mean for Epic? Probably not a whole lot. Epic is still making oodles of cash from Fortnite and selling their Unreal 4 Engine, and they’re still getting the Epic Games Store up and running in terms of features. They recently added coupons, game bundles, and an improved store layout so that the digital distribution platform looks a little less boring. Coming up will be curated collections, trending game lists, and critic review scores.
Sussman’s experience in the digital realm might prove beneficial to the Epic Games Store, but that really depends on whether the President of Epic spends any time away from board meetings.
Source: Gamespot, LinkedIn
