Interactive Entertainment Veteran Louis Castle Joined Browser-Based Gaming Innovator InstantAction
Industry Leader Reveals Plan to Expand the Company’s Development Capabilities, Bring All Game Publishers to the Web, and Provide Innovative Direct to Consumer Online Game Distribution NEW YORK, Aug. 10
NEW YORK, Aug. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — IAC (Nasdaq: IACI) today officially announced that interactive entertainment veteran and lifetime achievement award recipient Louis Castle has joined IAC’s InstantAction Holdings as its new CEO. Under Castle’s leadership, InstantAction will pursue an expanded business strategy that will build upon the vision of true, frictionless web publishing, and will more effectively connect developers directly to consumers while creating all new IP across multiple gaming platforms and genres. Castle, a 26-year gaming industry veteran, joins the online gaming leader to help spearhead the transition of mainstream video games to the web.
“As the first major native web video game publisher that brings together developers, gamers, web publishers and consumers, InstantAction needs a leader who can seamlessly integrate all of these components and continue to push the boundaries in 3D browser-based gaming,” said Barry Diller, Chairman and CEO of IAC. “Lou Castle has the right combination of skills to do exactly this. He is not just a proven business leader, but also an accomplished story-teller, visionary, artist and inventor.”
Since launching in March, 2008 InstantAction has become the leader in high-quality browser-based 3D gaming. Under Castle’s leadership, the company will pursue a three-pronged strategy that will encompass an expansion of the company’s browser-based interactive media publishing leadership to any and all publishers on the web; an easy-to-access, direct to consumer strategy ideal for all game developers; and the launch of new Portland and Las Vegas-based studios that will leverage Castle’s significant knowledge and experience in the gaming industry in the creation of innovative new IP. More details on each strategy will be revealed throughout 2009.
“As the gaming industry evolves, successful companies will be the ones that leverage technology to up the ante on what is delivered to consumers,” said Castle. “The future of gaming is on the web, and forward-thinking publishers are already looking for ways to move in that direction. The team at InstantAction has uniquely sophisticated knowledge of both web publishing architecture and browser distribution technology, which has positioned the company at the nexus of innovation for the industry. The combination of the company’s strengths with my own – true web publishing, the ability to connect developers directly to consumers, and new, creative IP that connects disparate gaming platforms and genres – creates a complete package that is incredibly compelling for the industry’s future. We will change the game.”
Castle succeeds former CEO Josh Williams who will assume the role of fellow and chief technologist at InstantAction.
“Bringing Lou on board is a huge win for us,” said Williams. “His wealth of experience and expertise will bring our game and tool development to the next level making the InstantAction platform the best way to deliver and play games on the web. I couldn’t be more excited about the future of InstantAction.”
About Louis Castle
Known throughout the game industry for his creative vision, Castle is the co-founder of Westwood Studios and formerly the Vice President of Creative Development for EA’s Los Angeles Campus. His resume includes the creation of over one hundred top selling games including Blade Runner, The Lord of the Rings – the Battle for Middle Earth II and the original Command & Conquer series of games. Most recently, Castle worked closely with Steven Spielberg to create BOOM BLOX, BOOM BLOX Bash Party and other collaborations.
Castle was the general manager of Westwood Studios from 2000-2003 and served in creative, business and finance roles while growing Westwood from two employees in 1985 to over 250 in 2002. In his creative roles, Castle has contributed as executive producer, creative director, technical director, programmer and artist over the past 24 years.
His business positions at Westwood Studios include serving as the COO, finance officer and legal liaison between 1992 and 2000, a period in which the company negotiated 4 multinational acquisitions. Louis is the second of a handful of individuals in his industry to have been honored with the Game Developer Associations lifetime achievement award (1999).
About InstantAction Holdings
InstantAction Holdings owns GarageGames, the Torque tool set and the InstantAction web platform. GarageGames, founded by a handful of interactive entertainment veterans, continues its mission to change the way games are made and played. With original IP like Legions and Marble Blast, GarageGames has a proven ability to develop games for nearly every platform in existence from Microsoft’s PC and Xbox 360 to Apple’s Macintosh and iPhone. Torque is a collection of game engines and technologies available at reasonable price points that allow game developers to publish on most of today’s available gaming platforms. InstantAction is a publishing platform that allows any game to be deployed to a browser and a web distribution network that allows players to play those games from anywhere on the web. InstantAction’s scalable architecture, rich analytics, e-commerce and community supportive features make it a truly integrated web platform.
About IAC
IAC operates more than 50 leading and diversified Internet businesses across 30 countries… our mission is to harness the power of interactivity to make daily life easier and more productive for people all over the world. To view a full list of the companies of IAC please visit our website at http://iac.com/.
Industry Leader Reveals Plan to Expand the Company's Development Capabilities, Bring All Game Publishers to
the Web, and Provide Innovative Direct to Consumer Online Game Distribution NEW YORK, Aug. 10NEW YORK, Aug. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- IAC (Nasdaq: IACI) today officially announced that interactive entertainment veteran and lifetime achievement award recipient Louis Castle has joined IAC's InstantAction Holdings as its new CEO. Under Castle's leadership, InstantAction will pursue an expanded business strategy that will build upon the vision of true, frictionless web publishing, and will more effectively connect developers directly to consumers while creating all new IP across multiple gaming platforms and genres. Castle, a 26-year gaming industry veteran, joins the online gaming leader to help spearhead the transition of mainstream video games to the web. "As the first major native web video game publisher that brings together
developers, gamers, web publishers and consumers, InstantAction needs a leader who can seamlessly integrate all of these components and continue to push the boundaries in 3D browser-based gaming," said Barry Diller, Chairman and CEO of IAC. "Lou Castle has the right combination of skills to do exactly this. He is not just a proven business leader, but also an accomplished story-teller, visionary, artist and inventor."Since launching in March, 2008 InstantAction has become the leader in high-quality browser-based 3D gaming. Under Castle's leadership, the company will pursue a three-pronged strategy that will encompass an expansion of the company's browser-based interactive media publishing leadership to any and all publishers on
the web; an easy-to-access, direct to consumer strategy ideal for all game
developers; and the launch of new Portland and Las Vegas-based studios that will leverage Castle's significant knowledge and experience in the gaming industry in the creation of innovative new IP. More details on each strategy will be revealed throughout 2009."As the gaming industry evolves, successful companies will be the ones that leverage technology to up the ante on what is delivered to consumers," said Castle. "The future of gaming is on
the web, and forward-thinking publishers are already looking for ways to move in that direction. The team at InstantAction has uniquely sophisticated knowledge of both web publishing architecture and browser distribution technology, which has positioned the company at the nexus of innovation for the industry. The combination of the company's strengths with my own - true web publishing, the ability to connect
developers directly to consumers, and new, creative IP that connects disparate gaming platforms and genres - creates a complete package that is incredibly compelling for the industry's future. We will change the game."
Castle succeeds former CEO Josh Williams who will assume the role of fellow and chief technologist at InstantAction.
"Bringing Lou on board is a huge win for us," said Williams. "His wealth of experience and expertise will bring our game and tool development to the next level making the InstantAction platform the best way to deliver and play games on
the web. I couldn't be more excited about the future of InstantAction." About Louis Castle
Known throughout the game industry for his creative vision, Castle is the co-founder of Westwood Studios and formerly the Vice President of Creative Development for EA's Los Angeles Campus. His resume includes the creation of over one hundred top selling games including Blade Runner, The Lord of the Rings - the Battle for Middle Earth II and the original Command & Conquer series of games. Most recently, Castle worked closely with Steven Spielberg to create BOOM BLOX, BOOM BLOX Bash Party and other collaborations.
Castle was the general manager of Westwood Studios from 2000-2003 and served in creative, business and finance roles while growing Westwood from two employees in 1985 to over 250 in 2002. In his creative roles, Castle has contributed as executive producer, creative director, technical director, programmer and artist over the past 24 years.
His business positions at Westwood Studios include serving as the COO, finance officer and legal liaison between 1992 and 2000, a period in which the company negotiated 4 multinational acquisitions. Louis is the second of a handful of individuals in his industry to have been honored with the Game Developer Associations lifetime
achievement award (1999).About InstantAction Holdings
InstantAction Holdings owns GarageGames, the Torque tool set and the InstantAction web platform. GarageGames, founded by a handful of
interactive entertainment veterans, continues its mission to change the way games are made and played. With original IP like Legions and Marble Blast, GarageGames has a proven ability to develop games for nearly every platform in existence from Microsoft's PC and Xbox 360 to Apple's Macintosh and iPhone. Torque is a collection of game engines and technologies available at reasonable price points that allow game
developers to publish on most of today's available gaming platforms. InstantAction is a publishing platform that allows any game to be deployed to a browser and a web distribution network that allows players to play those games from anywhere on
the web. InstantAction's scalable architecture, rich analytics, e-commerce and community supportive features make it a truly integrated web platform.About IAC
IAC operates more than 50 leading and diversified Internet businesses across 30 countries... our mission is to harness the power of interactivity to make daily life easier and more productive for people all over the world. To view a full list of the companies of IAC please visit our website at http://iac.com/.
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