US game start-up Shiver Entertainment has been launched with investment from Asian F2P publisher Nexon. John Schappert, the new studio’s CEO, is a former game developer and executive at Zynga.
“Consoles are still very strong in the Western market, but the future is free-to-play.” said John Schappert. “Nexon is focused only on free-to-play. They are interested in the Western markets. That is what I have done for 20 years, so it’s a perfect marriage.”
“John is an extremely talented and experienced veteran of the games industry, and he has an extremely long and very distinguished track record of developing AAA franchises in the West,” said Owen Mahoney, CFO at Nexon America. “He has experience in free-to-play and he has very been an online person. We share a similar vision for what the future holds in the US and Europe. It is an opportunity to expand our business in the West.”
Nexon has also recently invested in SecretNewCo, founded by Brian Reynold and also from Zynga, as well as Rumble Entertainment, launched by industry veteran Greg Richardson.
