Sony London Studio Head MacDonald Exits

Sony Worldwide Studios VP and Sony London (Singstar, The Getaway) studio head Jamie MacDonald will be leaving the company at the end of this month, SCEE confirmed today. In a statement to media outlets including UK trade magazine Develop, SCEE said MacDonald's last day would be May 28, but did not elaborate on the circumstances motivating the exec's exit. MacDonald first entered the game industry in 1995, when he joined Criterion Software to head up their newly-formed games initiative, and delivered their first 3 games for PC and Dreamcast, the becoming involved in early planning, staffing and R&D for the RenderWare engine. The executive joined SCEE in 2001 to lead the London studio. He's overseen franchises like EyeToy and The Getaway, and received his promotion to Worldwide Studios VP in 2005. MacDonald's is the second executive departure from Sony London in less than a year. In September 2008, Paulina Bozek, former head of the SingStar franchise, left to head a new studio at Atari -- led by former Worldwide Studios boss Phil Harrison.