BigWorld has recently expanded its presence in both the Japanese and South Korean markets. Gavin Longhurst, BigWorld VP for Business Development, announced that this move bolsters BigWorld's ability to provide direct sales and support to the increasing number of game developers using the BigWorld MMO engine in the region. Longhurst said that BigWorld has appointed James Hursthouse, formerly founder and CEO of Online Game Services Inc. (OGSi), as Director, Business Development and Yoshikazu Furuhata as Account Executive.
"BigWorld's client base", Gavin said, "continues to grow and this recent expansion now provides a local presence in the USA , China , Australia , and Japan."
"2008 has been a fantastic year for BigWorld", Gavin said, "Working with an ever increasing number of licensees around the world has helped cement our position as the middleware engine of choice for the development and operation of MMOGs. One of our major titles, NetEase's (NTES) Tian Xia 2, recently launched in China, fully supported by our local office. The establishment of our direct presence for Japan and Korea continues to emphasize the importance we place on working directly with local developers, publishers and agents to both understand and support each market."
James Hursthouse is an experienced global online game business developer and entrepreneur. After ten years living and working in Japan, James moved to the United States in 2004 to set up OGSi, which rapidly established itself as a leading infrastructure provider to the online games industry, offering a broad spectrum of solutions including hosting, billing, customer support and market development consultancy. In January 2007 he sold OGSi to GNi, a leading provider of dedicated hosting services, and worked as Global Director for Games and Entertainment Services at GNi. He returned to Tokyo in October 2007. James is currently the Chairman of the Advisory Board for the ION Game Conference, and was previously Chairman of the IGDA's Online Games SIG.
"I have worked with BigWorld as a partner for over five years. During that time I have seen the company establish itself as the dominant middleware in the MMO space and I am extremely excited to be joining such an innovative and motivated company. We are already encountering a significant amount of interest in the tech from the Japanese and Korean markets and look forward to helping developers in these markets take advantage of the risk and cost savings BigWorld affords them, particularly as we continue to develop our capabilities with regards to consoles such as the PlayStation 3," James said.
Yoshikazu Furuhata (Yoshi) has a great deal of experience in both the online game business and dedicated server hosting business in Japan. He has an extensive network of contacts among online game related companies, both in Japan and Korea.