PlayStation PR veteran David Wilson has been appointed as NetEase Games’ new director of public relations in Europe.
Wilson is best known for his time heading up comms at PlayStation for almost 20 years, from 2000-2019.
Prior to that he served as head of European PR for EA from 1992-2000, and began his career working on several beloved games magazines.
“This is a fantastic time to be joining NetEase Games and I’m very excited about it,” Wilson told mobilegamer.biz. “The potential for NetEase in the West is incredible. NetEase has a very healthy attitude and ambition towards the games business, a great ethos for its developers, and, of course, fantastic products.”
Wilson’s appointment will galvanise NetEase’s increasing focus on cracking western markets. Just this month, NetEase Games announced it would be opening its first US studio, Jackalope Games, in Austin, Texas. The new studio is led by MMORPG veteran Jack Emmert, whose credits include City of Heroes, Neverwinter, Star Trek Online and DC Universe Online.
NetEase said that the new studio will be run independently and have complete creative control over its projects.
Earlier this year, NetEase also appointed Sega veteran Toshihiro Nagoshi to head up its new Japan studio, created to develop “high-quality console titles that will be released globally”.
International expansion is a big focus for NetEase, which has told investors that it is aiming to boost overseas revenue from 10% of its business to 50%.
The giant Guangzhou-based company is best known for operating Minecraft and Blizzard’s titles in China, as well as hits like Onmyoji and Harry Potter: Magic Awakened. It also recently released strategy titles The Lord of the Rings: War and Vikingard. Its big brand MOBA Marvel: Super War is in soft launch currently, with a global launch to come.
