Creative Assembly hires new COO

In a major reshuffling of roles, Creative Assembly, SEGA subsidiary and the creator of Alien Isolation & Total War games, has hired James Clarke as its new COO. This is according to a report by GamesIndustry.

Clarke was previously an executive at Electronic Arts, having joined their UK studio as a Financial Analyst in 2005. Over the last fifteen years, he had made it big, climbing up the corporate ladder. In February 2015, he had served as the Senior Director of Strategy at EA Studios Europe as a part of their team of executives. He was also a business and product strategist for EA’s Need for Speed & Battlefield series. In December 2016, he was appointed the Head of Operations at EA Studios Europe.

Clarke’s recruitment comes after a role-shuffling exercise carried out by the parent company in April when Tim Heaton moved in as SEGA Europe’s Chief Studio Officer. Tim Heaton was also formerly employed by EA as their Senior Development Director and served under their banner between 2002-2008. Until April 2020, he occupied the dual role of Executive Vice President and Studio Director of SEGA Europe and Creative Assembly respectively. Heaton currently oversees the joint actions of SEGA’s subsidiaries, namely: Creative Assembly, Sports Interactive, Relic Entertainment, Amplitude Studios, Hardlight and the recently acquired Two Point Studios.

So, this happened. @NeillBlomkamp dropped by CA HQ for a behind-the-scenes look at the development of our brand-new FPS IP! pic.twitter.com/hXEAnAHEEX

— Creative Assembly (@CAGames) February 4, 2019

James Clarke’s entry in Creative Assembly will fill the shoes of Gareth Edmondson, former COO of Creative Assembly who was recently appointed as their new Studio Director. It is possible that these series of developments are closely related to the new FPS IP that the company hinted at, as being in the works, back in February 2019.