Trip Hawkins, an American entrepreneur and the founder of video game company Electronic Arts (EA), is joining a web3 gaming startup, according to a Reuters report.
Hawkins told Reuters he would join Barcelona-based Games for a Living (GFAL) as co-founder and chief security officer. GFAL develops AAA-quality blockchain games and tools for gamers and developers. The company was founded in 2021 by CEO Manel Sort, the former general manager and VP of King, the studio that created the highly popular Candy Crush with over 3 billion downloads.
“I’m excited to begin my journey with Games for a living, leveraging new and emerging technologies to enhance performance and create exciting, immersive experiences for gamers,” Hawkins said in a press release.
Hawkins held the role of founder & CEO at EA from 1982–1994. He now joins several former EA execs in his foray into the world of web3 gaming. These include Jamil Moledina, Jean-Charles Gaudechon, Mark Otero, Chris Akhavan, Chris Bowden, David Daumas, Chris Fortier, and Isabelle Henriques, among others.
The former VP of EA Mobile Chris Akhavan was appointed chief gaming officer at Magic Eden last December. Mark Otero, a former general manager at EA, leads web3 games studio Azra Games, which has raised a total of $25 million, including $10 million in extended seed funding announced on Feb 21.
In Nov 2022, blockchain and NFT game studio Vulcan Forged hired former EA execs Chris Bowden and David Daumas as chief communications officer and chief marketing officer, respectively. Bowden enjoyed a nine-year career in APAC leadership roles at Electronic Arts, while Daumas was the global engagement & acquisition marketing manager at EA from 2014–2017.
Last August, Moledina joined Neal Stephenson’s layer-1 blockchain for the metaverse, Lamina1, as its first VP of games partnerships & media. In the same month, EA veteran Jean-Charles Gaudechon, who spent 16 years at the company, was appointed CEO at OneFootball Labs to bring football to web3. Yuga Labs hired Chris Fortier, a former director of product at EA, as VP of product.
Former EA studio director Isabelle Henriques joined Berlin-based game development studio Klang Games as co-CEO after it completed a $41 million funding round last July led by Animoca Brands. Klang is building Seed, a space-themed metaverse game with AI-driven virtual humans.
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