Apple Hires IGN Editor As App Store Game Editorial Chief

Apple has reached into the world of video game journalism to head up editorial content for the game section of its iPhone and iPad App Store, hiring longtime IGN editor Matt Casamassina for the position. Casamassina announced on his personal weblog that today was his last day at IGN, and that he will be starting at Apple as the App Store's global editorial games manager next month. Extrapolating from his comments, Casamassina's responsibilities appear to include serving as a tastemaker for the growing game-playing audience that owns Apple's various mobile devices. While some highlighted games are part of charts that are automatically assembled by sales figures, others such as 'What's Hot' and 'What We're Playing' -- as well as some standalone custom-compiled App store pages -- are editorial choices made by Apple staff. "In a nutshell, I will be leading the charge for games on the App Store," he wrote, "so whether you browse through iTunes, iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, the games content you see will be handpicked and organized by me and my team." Casamassina's last position at IGN was editor-at-large, but he is best known as one of the key figures behind its editorial divisions dedicated to Nintendo platforms, where he served his first 12 years out of his total 13 years with the online publication. Early in his career, he was a team member on IGN64.com.