SGN Founder Steps Aside. Randy Breen Takes CEO Role

SGN, a mobile gaming platform and publisher based in Silicon Valley, has named former EA and LucasArts executive Randy Breen as CEO. Founder and former CEO Shervin Pishevar continues at the company as executive chairman. Breen first joined the company in 2009 as COO.

SGN is one of the top gaming publishers on the iPhone, with 15 million unique installs of games like F.A.S.T and Skies of Glory. Revenue in this market will almost certainly explode this year with the October 2009 launch of in-game payments for free Apple appstore applications.

Companies like SGN, ngmoco and Tapulous are all in a prime position to tap into that growth. 2010 may be as good for these companies as 2009 was for the social gaming companies like Zynga, Playfish and Playdom – big financings and acquisitions across the board.

The press release is below.

SGN NAMES RANDY BREEN CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Founder Shervin Pishevar Continues as Executive Chairman

Palo Alto, Calif. – January 14, 2010 – SGN, a leader in mobile social gaming, today announced that Randy Breen has been named SGN’s chief executive officer. Shervin Pishevar will remain focused on SGN in his day-to-day role as founder and executive chairman.

Since joining SGN in an interim role as chief operating officer, game industry veteran Breen has been pivotal in providing leadership in all aspects of corporate operations including game production, business development, marketing, strategy and executive management.

“Over the last five months, Randy has done an incredible job leading the company and I look forward to continuing to work closely with him,” said Pishevar. “With the industry preparing for explosive growth this year – resulting from massive expansion in the iPhone, Android and tablet marketplace – I strongly believe that Randy’s experience and knowledge will be instrumental in building SGN into the largest mobile social gaming company of 2010 and beyond.”

SGN entered into the iPhone market in 2008 and has since had more than 15 million unique downloads – resulting in an average of one in three iPhones and iPod Touches that run at least one of SGN’s games. To date, the company secured $15 million in one round of funding and has expanded globally with more than 100 employees worldwide.

“Working with Shervin and the team over the past five months has exceeded all of my expectations coming into the company,” said Breen. “I’ve witnessed the birth of EA and Lucas Arts’ gaming business, but I’ve never seen such an immense opportunity in gaming as SGN has ahead of it.”

“This is a great day for SGN as Shervin Pishevar – one of the most dynamic, passionate and innovative entrepreneurs I’ve worked with – has joined forces with one the most experienced gaming leaders to help take SGN to the next level,” said David Sze, Greylock Partners. “Shervin has been instrumental in taking SGN from being just an idea to one of the leading mobile social gaming company’s in the world. Breen and Pishevar are a dynamic duo that will push SGN forward in the mobile social gaming space.”

Breen brings over two decades of industry gaming experience to SGN including fifteen years at EA. Starting off in production roles, Breen moved into the lead executive producer and creative director position for EA. His next five years were spent at LucasArts Entertainment, a subsidiary of LucasFilm, as vice president of product development where he helped build and scale their gaming business. For more information, please see http://www.linkedin.com/in/RandyBreen.

About SGN
Headquartered in Palo Alto, California with offices in Beijing and Argentina, SGN is one of the largest developers of mobile social games. SGN’s current stable of advanced games has led to more than 15 million unique downloads on the iPhone and iPod Touch. SGN specializes in advanced games such as Skies of Glory and F.A.S.T. that have console quality graphics and live multiplayer features over 3G, WiFi and Bluetooth. F.A.S.T, the company’s new 3D jet-fighting game, was listed as #5 on Apple’s App Store Top Paid Games list for the iPhone and #6 on the Top Paid Apps list in the U.S. within the first two weeks of its launch. SGN’s games are on 1 in 3 iPhones and iPod Touches. For more information, please visit www.sgn.com or www.twitter.com/sgn_tweets.