The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences has announced that it has named Zynga chief game designer Brian Reynolds and Nexon vice president of live games Min Kim to their board. The two parties, responsible for much of the success of FrontierVille and MapleStory respectively, are leaders in the social gaming field.
“Zynga has been leading the charge for delivering quality social gaming to an ever expanding demographic,” said Martin Rae, president, Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. “And they have been at the forefront of one of the major shifts in our industry. Brian’s work at Zynga has helped redefine how people enjoy and interact with the medium of gaming, and we are proud to have his experience and deep insight on the Board as gaming further becomes a part of everyone’s everyday life.
“I’m incredibly excited to be joining the Academy Board,” said Reynolds. “Their awards program has always been a gold standard of recognition and career advancement for game makers and I’m honored to have a chance to help advance it. Likewise, the D.I.C.E. Summit blows me away every year with the quality and caliber of developers they bring together. I believe this opportunity is an important step in the continuing assimilation of social games into the broader game community.”
“As one of the earliest advocates of Free-to-Play online games, Min has been instrumental in bringing this business model to gamers worldwide,” said Rae. “Their introduction of Free-to-Play, giving players free access to games in favor of generating revenue from micro-transactions, has quite literally been a game changer. Nexon has been quite involved already with Academy activities and we’re really excited to have Min’s input at the board level.”
“Min will make a welcome addition to the Board,” said Shuhei Yoshida, president of worldwide studios, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and member of the Academy’s Board of Directors. “Through games such as their flagship title, MapleStory, and now recently, Dragon Nest and Vindictus, Nexon has paved the way for Free-to-Play titles over the last decade to push this genre forward to ever expanding audiences in MMO gaming. We will greatly benefit from that same passion – there is no doubt he will work to make great strides in pushing the mission of the AIAS forward.”
