Sega's president calls it quits, heads to ngmoco

1:40 PM on 06.16.2009   |   Colette Bennett

11 comments

Oh, how the tides turn. One moment, Simon Jeffery was the President and COO of SEGA of America. Now, he's Chief Publishing Officer at ngmoco, whose name may ring a bell since they made the rather memorable Rolando. Hey, SEGA needs a new president!

Jeffery will head up a new ngmoco division called Plus+ Publishing, which aims to partner with other iPhone/iTouch developers and boost use of the Plus+ Network. From what they're saying, the Plus+ Network is aiming to accomplish something like what Xbox Live does by giving gamers a way to interact and play against one another, sharing scores, etc. Being more of a solo gamer, this isn't something I personally crave, but I know a lot of the rest of you do. Would a fully functioning network like that boost your iPhone gaming time, you think?

ngmoco Names Former SEGA of America President and COO Simon Jeffery

Chief Publishing Officer to Helm Plus+ Publishing

Plus+ Publishing Offers Developers Access to ngmoco’s Infrastructure and Key Technologies Including Plus+ Network
 
San Francisco – June 15, 2009 – ngmoco, leading developer and publisher of games for iPhone and iPod touch has named former SEGA of America president and COO Simon Jeffery as its chief publishing officer to helm the company’s new Plus+ Publishing group.  The new initiative is an opportunity for partner companies to access ngmoco’s innovative publishing framework, including the new Plus+ Network.

“We are excited to welcome Simon to ngmoco,” Neil Young, founder and CEO, ngmoco, said.  “ngmoco is dedicated to bringing a connected community of gamers the very best native iPhone & iPod touch games.  Today’s announcement of Simon, Plus+ Publishing and Plus+ Network continues and extends our commitment beyond creative collaboration by opening our innovative publishing infrastructure to others.”

Simon Jeffery brings 22 years of games industry experience to ngmoco after more than four years as president and COO of Sega of America, where he oversaw all publishing and product development activities for the top ten publisher.  Prior to Sega, Jeffery was president and COO of LucasArts.  Jeffery moved to LucasArts in 1998 after working in a number of marketing, business, and development roles for Virgin Interactive and Electronic Arts, both in the United States and Europe.

I am delighted to join ngmoco,” Jeffery said.  “It’s a very exciting time to be shaping a new games landscape with a super-talented team.  With Plus+ Publishing we are going to be able to create a system for great developers to plug directly into an incredible, proven publishing framework & network technology to help accelerate their games.”

Plus+ Publishing will offer an infrastructure for developers to take advantage of ngmoco’s innovative publishing systems, provide access to the Plus+ Network and give custom support to participating partners.

Plus+ Network, which Young teased on stage during the Apple WWDC keynote last week, harnesses the latest OS3.0 technology for iPhone and iPod touch games to give a powerful social network to gamers.  Centered around a persistent profile, Plus+ allows players of all skill levels to connect, compete and progress.  ngmoco will be rolling out details of Plus+ Network over the summer in parallel with new game launches.
 
“We have a long-term vision for Plus+ Network to grow to become the definitive service for iPhone and iPod touch gamers to discover games and friends, play against each other and ultimately gain success, bragging rights and rewards in the community,” noted ngmoco founder and COO, Joe Keene.  “We are thrilled to have Simon lead the efforts on bringing partner games into the network, and help build a robust community of players.”
 
Established in June 2008, ngmoco has already developed and successfully released multiple iPhone and iPod touch games including the award-winning Rolando and chart toppers MazeFinger, Topple, Topple 2, Dr. Awesome, Dropship, Word Fu and the just released Star Defense.  With five top ten products and its games having been installed more than nine million times, ngmoco is one of the leading game makers and publishers for the iPhone & iPod Touch.
About ngmoco
 
Headquartered in San Francisco, ngmoco was founded in 2008 by games industry veterans committed to the new mobile landscape opened up by Apple’s iPhone. ngmoco creates and publishes games built specifically for the iPhone made in collaboration with the best and brightest game makers in the world. Founded by Neil Young, Bob Stevenson, Alan Yu and Joe Keene, the company’s investors include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Norwest Venture Partners & Maples Investments.
 
To witness the lives and minds of the ngmoco team at work on the future of iPhone and iPod touch games, visit http://www.ngmoco.com