D3Publisher Announces Appointments, Plans

Japanese-headquartered video game publisher D3Publisher has announced key new appointments for its North American office, D3 Publisher of America. The company's wholly owned American subsidiary was founded in November 2004, and continues to appoint new staff as the company ramps up toward publishing titles in the North American market. In particular, D3 has added Kim Motika (formerly at Ashton-Tate, SoftMart, and Ingram Micro) as vice president of sales and operations and Alison Quirion (formerly director of global brand management at THQ) as vice president of marketing. D3 was founded in 1992 in Japan, and is particularly known for its specialization in custom created, value-priced console games, with the PlayStation 2-specific 'Simple 2000' series, now spanning 80 volumes, a particular highlight, following the similar success of the 'Simple 1500' series on the original PlayStation. Parent company D3 itself is now owned by Japanese pachinko giant Fields Corporation, which, according to reports from late last year, also owns the computer game rights to the K-1 martial arts fighting league and former boxing champion Mike Tyson, both possible game subjects. Yoji Takenaka, executive vice president and chief operating officer of D3PA, commented: "Our goal for D3PA is to become a key player in the video game industry in North America." "For 2005, we have a very select release schedule focusing on platforms and genres where we see market opportunities," Takenaka continued. "In 2006 D3PA will expand our reach through licensed properties on existing platforms and developing original games for new platforms." It's presumed that D3's first step will be to translate and release some of its more notable PlayStation 2 'Simple' series titles in the U.S. at a value price point, but the company has not yet announced any specific games that it will be publishing.