Epic Games, the company that brought us Gears of War and Unreal, just lost it’s top marketing guy. In many respects Kendall Boyd is likely the reason why Gears of War has remained a household name and why Infinity Blade got around so well. Epic’s loss is Microsoft’s gain because Boyd is joining Microsoft Studios as Director of Halo Global Marketing. Presumably, he will work his marketing magic for the Halo brand which should help the series regain it’s footing since Halo 4 sold less copies than Halo 2 & 3.
This is not the first high profile departure from Epic Games as last year Cliff Bleszinski (no description needed), Mike Capps (president), Rod Fergusson (Gears of War exec producer), and Adrian Chmielarz (People Can Fly co-owner & creative director) also left. This comes, unsurprisingly, after Chinese mega-conglomerate Tencent bought 40% of Epic Games in June 2012 for $330,000,000. Since then, Tencent has appointed it’s own board members to Epic which surely has effected how the company runs.
Are we watching the fall of Epic Games? Sound off.