Ray Gresko, Bjorn Tornqvist, Sean Schoptor, Jay Ong
Provided by Disney (4)
The Walt Disney Company is ramping up its video game business, announcing new hires and promotions in the gaming division as it looks to expand its presence in the field.
The newly expanded executive ranks come just months after Disney announced a major deal with Epic Games. The deal calls for a $1.5 billion investment in the company to create new game worlds using Disney franchise IP.
Sean Shoptaw, head of Disney's games division, has been promoted to senior vice president of the division.
The department has also announced two major new hires. One is Ray Gresko, who will be senior vice president of product development. and Bjorn Tornqvist, who will become vice president of game technology. Gresko joins from Blizzard Entertainment, where he developed games such as: overwatch and Diablo III; Tornqvist, on the other hand, worked in technology at Ubisoft.
Meanwhile, Jay Ong, who led the Marvel games team for 10 years, has been promoted to head of Disney's global game licensing business. Hulk Mentes will replace him as head of Marvel Games.
“Under Sean and Jay's leadership, Disney's games business is perfectly positioned to deliver world-class storytelling in this medium,” said Tasia Philippatos, president of Disney Consumer Products. “We would like to thank all the members of the Disney Games team for contributing to our success and helping shape the future of this industry through genre-defining entertainment.”
