EA CCO Gordon To Depart For iFund Backer Kleiner Perkins

Venture capital firm KPCB -- the investor group behind Apple's $100 million iFund to seed third party iPhone development -- has announced that Electronic Arts chief creative officer William 'Bing' Gordon will be joining the firm as Partner as of June 2008. The firm says Gordon will retain some connection with Electronic Arts as its Chief Creative Officer Emeritus, and will "return to the company to lead periodic workshops on innovation with EA Studio leaders." Gordon joined Electronic Arts in 1982, and, says KPCB, was "integral to the creation of more than 20 different award-winning game franchises, including Madden NFL, The Sims and Need for Speed," serving variously as EA's marketing executive VP, EA Studios executive VP, and entertainment production senior VP. Apart from its role in setting up the iFund, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers has, since its inception in 1972, backed entrepreneurs from ventures including AOL, Amazon.com, Citrix, Compaq Computer, Electronic Arts, Genentech, Genomic Health, Google, Intuit, Juniper Networks, Netscape, Lotus, Sun Microsystems, Symantec, VeriSign and Xilinx. Said Gordon on the move, "There is a new generation who have grown up 'always on, always digital.' Driven by their creativity and new usage habits, entertainment and communications are on the verge of previously unimaginable changes. Ever since KPCB funded Electronic Arts' initial business plan in 1982, I have watched the KPCB team find and support brilliant company-makers to harness disruptive digital technologies that benefit people. I cannot wait to join the firm, and work directly with an all-new generation of entrepreneurs."