Trion Adds Sony, NCsoft Veterans To Executive Team

Online game developer and publisher Trion Worlds has appointed three industry veterans as its SVP of Platform and Technology, VP of Digital, and VP of sales. Christopher Yates, Trion's SVP of Platform and Technology, comes to the company after spending seven years at various Sony units, including Sony Network Entertainment, Sony Media Software, and Sony Online Entertainment. He was also previously CTO at Electronic Arts, where he worked on Ultima Online and The Sims Online. The publisher's newly hired VP of Digital, Ricardo Sanchez, has spent nearly two decades in the industry. He helped launch digital distributor GameTap.com as the company's VP of content, and was also a founding member of IGN Entertainment, where he handled operations for IGN.Com, Rotten Tomatoes, GameSpy.com, and other properties. And sales VP Lisa Bell-Cabrera joins the company in the same role she served at NCsoft, where she managed internal sales teams for MMOs throughout North America and Europe. She also oversaw other divisions at the company like digital distribution, business development and partnerships. Trion says that Yates, Sanchez and Bell-Cabrera will be "essential" in building the foundation of its three upcoming titles, Rift: Planes of Telara, End of Nations (developed by Petroglyph Games), and an action MMO produced in a partnership with cable network Syfy. Rifts is scheduled to launch some time next year.