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Tencent
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Tencent hires big names including Ken-Ichiro Imaizumi and Scott Warner in blockbuster game push

  • Tencent is hiring for at least five game-related positions in California, requiring candidates to have experience creating blockbuster games
  • Its recent hires include industry veterans Ken-Ichiro Imaizumi and Scott Warner, known for their work on games like Metal Gear Solid and Halo 4

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An image from Arena of Valor, the international version of Tencent’s Honour of Kings.
Josh Ye
Chinese gaming giant Tencent Holdings has hired Kojima Productions founding member Ken-Ichiro Imaizumi and Halo 4 lead designer Scott Warner, both industry veterans, as part of its efforts to produce block buster games and court hard core gamers in the West.

Confirming the new hires to the Post, a spokeswoman for Tencent said that Imaizumi will join as production director of Tencent Games, while Warner will head the company’s marquee gaming studio TiMi Studios in North America, which is behind games such as Call of Duty Mobile and Honour of Kings.

The high-profile hires come as Tencent, the largest gaming company in the world by revenue, seeks to expand its audiences abroad amid slowing growth in its home market and regulatory pressure from Chinese authorities, which have in the past withheld approvals for new games.

Vincent Gao, international business director of TiMi Studios, said last month that the studio wanted to hire an American chief and set up an international base to drive a broader effort to craft games for audiences beyond China.

“Our goal in North America is to hire an experienced leader who will build a world class team to create new games for any platform,” Gao said.

According to a job ad posted on the company’s official WeChat account last week, Tencent America is looking to fill 13 game-related positions in California. Five of the positions specifically require experience working on AAA games and most require at least five to 10 years of experience.

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