Capcom vet leads Japanese hitmaker Gumi's expansion into Canada

Mobile game company Gumi is a big deal in the remarkably lucrative Japanese mobile game market, and this week the company made good on its global expansion plans with the launch of its second Western studio: Gumi Canada in British Columbia. Former Capcom Vancouver senior producer Chris Rowe (pictured) will lead development efforts at Gumi Canada, which is tasked with creating mobile games specifically for the North American market. Before his time at Capcom, Rowe worked as a producer for Ninja Theory on titles like Devil May Cry and Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. Gumi's VP of Western Studios (and former Microsoft Game Studios GM) AJ Redmer is overseeing Gumi Canada as part of his efforts to spearhead the company's Western expansion. Gumi has already launched a studio in Austin, Texas and still plans to open studios in Stockholm, Sweden and Kiev, Ukraine, as well as a business development office in San Francisco. Outside of Japan, Gumi is perhaps best known for the success of its Chain Chronicles mobile games. The franchise earned Sega over $70 million in nine months, driving the publisher to bring it to the West.