Launching last year, MCV Pacific’s 30 Under Thirty list celebrates the achievements of the brightest young talent in the video game industry across Australia and New Zealand.
Twelve months later we’re back to do it all over again with a mix of familiar and fresh faces from all sectors of the industry - from development and education, from marketing and retail, from sales and media, and from PR and community management.
Read on and you’ll meet our 30 picks for 2014...
Lauren Agiostratitis
Senior Account Manager, Ubisoft
In over five years at Ubisoft Australia, Lauren’s looked after just about every Australian gaming retailer there is. At the beginning of 2013 she was promoted to Senior Account Manager and was also part of the Ubisoft sales team that scooped the Sales Team of the Year award at last year’s MCV Pacific Awards.
Aaron Beasley
Account Manager, Activision
As account manager at Activision, Aaron oversees the key accounts of Dick Smith Electronics and Kmart while also providing support to the wider team on EB Games and Big W. A 2013 highlight for Aaron was managing the fastest growing Skylanders retailer as well as securing vital incremental space to ensure the franchise's success at retail.
Stephanie Bendixsen
Presenter, Good Game
"Hex" has co-presented ABC TV’s Good Game and Good Game: Spawn Point since 2010. A strong advocate for female gamers, she has a legion of loyal fans online, from the TV shows and her readers in Dolly magazine. In 2013 she reported from both E3 and the Tokyo Game Show and also hosted a panel about Storytelling in Games for the Vivid Festival.
Chris Bowden
EA Sports Community Coordinator, EA
At just 21, Chris is the community coordinator for EA Sports, managing digital marketing across APAC, the Middle East and South Africa. He was nominated as 'Twitter Character of the Year' in the 2013 Football Fans Down Under Awards and also works by night directly for the EA Sports team in Vancouver, Canada.
Josh Cavaleri
Legal and Policy Counsel, IGEA
Josh is the legal expert for the industry, providing counsel to the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association. He was instrumental in the campaign for an R18+ rating and continues to work towards further classification reform. He's also super helpful whenever the MCV team needs some legal advice!
Melissa Davey
EB Games Buyer, EB Games
Melissa began her career at EB Games as a store casual eight years ago and has worked her way up to be an integral member of the EB buying team. During her first year as a Buyer, Mel launched the biggest Nintendo software title ever, Pokemon X & Y, as well as the new 2DS and Zelda 3DSXL consoles, and single-handedly merchandised the world's largest EB store at EB Expo.
Rebecca Fernandez
Chapter President, IGDA Sydney
Rebecca holds a Masters of Computer Science AI from the University of Wollongong and is employed as a programming teacher at AIE in Sydney. She is the chapter leader of IGDA Sydney, where she is an incredible support to local indie developers, and has been a Global Game Jam (Sydney) organiser for the last three years.
Henry Gordon
Merchandise Assistant for Gaming, Dick Smith
As an avid gamer, Henry's enthusiasm for the category is evident on a daily basis. Responsible for catalogue execution, in store layout, and involved in the decision making process, Henry is backbone of Dick Smith's gaming team and the first point of contact on most occasions for both stores and suppliers.
Papu Hassan
Brand Manager, Activision
Papu joined Activision after working at Microsoft on the Xbox team for four years as Integrated Marketing Executive. Papu works across all Activision brands assisting the product team on planning and execution. Papu has a key role on the Call of Duty digital business including DLC and first party liaison which will also include the Call of Duty Championships in 2014.
Daniel Hindes
Editor, Gamespot Australia
Dan spent most of 2013 as PC PowerPlay editor overseeing a 22% audited rise in readership before moving to the editor's chair at Gamespot Australia. In addition, Hindes managed the successful launch of independent print publication Sneaky Bastards: The Stealth Gaming Magazine, a 100-page, full colour, ad-free companion magazine to the Sneaky Bastards website.
Eve Jenkin
National Account Executive, Incomm
Eve started at JB Hi-Fi at store level as a games coordinator before she was called up to the Support Office, eventually becoming a key member of the Games Buying team. After five years at JB, last year Eve moved to Incomm as a National Account Executive, specialising in bringing prepaid digital gaming solutions to Australian retail, launching Google Play and World of Tanks prepaid gift cards into the market.
Robert Kingston
Managing Director, All Interactive Entertainment
Of all the candidates eligible for the 30 Under 30, it's likely that Rob holds the most senior position, a reflection of the contribution he's made over the past eleven years to AID and now AIE. During 2013 his capable and resilient leadership steered the company through some troubled times when others may have floundered.
James Kozanecki
Marketing Coordinator, Mindscape
"Koz" is an important member of the Mindscape marketing team and the chief point of contact for all Konami and Tecmo-Koei related media enquiries. He handled the PR for the first R18+ title launched in Australia - Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus on PlayStation Vita and his social media efforts grew the Mindscape Facebook page by over 400% last year.
Trent Kusters
Co-Founder and Director, League of Geeks
A former Lead Designer at Torus games, Trent has gone on to become Creative Director at Divisive Media and co-found the indie collective, League of Geeks, who are working on their debut title Armello. Trent is a regular presenter and panelist at games industry events, teaches games writing at the Victorian College of the Arts and is now on the board of the Freeplay Independent Games Festival.
Harry Lee
Independent Developer
Harry's enthusiasm for games is infectious. Whether's he releasing absorbing puzzles games on iOS (Stickets), winning independent game design competitions (Ludum Dare), organising indie games to be played on the big screen at Melbourne's Federation Square, inventing hilarious and clever new forms of physical games, or co-directing 2013's Freeplay festival, Harry just wants everyone to enjoy playing games.
Ryan Lock
Marketing & Events Supervisor, EB Games
With five years experience in EB's Events and Digital Marketing team, Ryan plays a vital role in dealing with game publishers who showcase their games during EB Live Presentations at EB Expo as well as designing advertising and marketing creative for the show. He is a standout and the EB Live Presentations would not be the high quality they are without him.
Kate Maconachie
PR Coordinator, EA
Kate's meteoric rise over the past eighteen months has been a pleasure to watch. In her first full-time job in the industry she is a crucial member of EA's PR team, providing reliable support at every stage of the publisher's campaigns. A career highlight from last year was the Dine With DICE activity, a custom five-course degustation dinner to mark the launch of Battlefield 4.
Jasmine May
Account Manager, Ziff-Davis
For more than 3 years, Jasmine has been a passionate advocate for the gaming industry across both IGN and the News Limited network. Jasmine has been rewarded for her proactive and creative approach to the promotion of gaming titles across a range of mediums, reflected in her role now focused 100% on IGN's owned and operated properties.
David Miller-Heidke
Category Buyer, EB Games
Chief buyer for PlayStation and Xbox at EB Games, David has been an ever-present at the retailer for the past decade, working his way up from the store counter to one of the key roles in EB's head office. Notable fact: he holds the record for the most pre-sales for a single EB Games store.
David Milner
Editor, Game Informer
David went from Game Informer reader to contributor after winning the magazine's Next Big Critic prize. He joined as staff writer in 2012 and was promoted to acting editor last year before officially taking over the top job in early 2014. In 2013 he won the best new journalist award at The Lizzies for a series of feature articles on the R18+ laws and the difficulties of preserving gaming’s past.
Druhin Mukherjee
Lecturer, Media Design School
A senior game programming lecturer at Auckland's Media Design School, Druhin founded Project Autismus to develop a series of games that help children with Autism and Asperger Syndrome. The not-for-profit open source group is made up of game developers, parents, students and psychologists in New Zealand, India and the United Kingdom. Druhin has also worked as a developer at EA and Rockstar North among many others.
Kerrin O’Connor
Product & PR Manager, Namco Bandai Games
For the past three years, Kerrin has excelled at his substantial dual role leading both the marketing and public relations for distributor Namco Bandai's third-party publishers, Square Enix and Codemasters. Over the last year alone he managed a swathe of releases including Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, Grid 2 and F1 2013.
Kirsty Plaistowe
Marketing Executive, EA
Now a mainstay within Electronic Arts' marketing department, Kirsty's moved up the ranks at a relentless rate from Events Coordinator to Marketing Executive in just over a year. She lead the development of consumer and retail events for Need for Speed: Rivals, Battlefield 4 and Titanfall and works closely with the product team to execute the overall marketing campaigns.
Florian Pralat
Marketing Assistant, Ubisoft
Florian, in the words of his colleague, is the glue that holds the Ubisoft Australia marketing team together. He has looked after key demos for trade, consumer and PR events, including Far Cry 3, Assassin’s Creed and Watch Dogs. In 2013 he was given the opportunity to look after the marketing campaign for the launch of Rocksmith 2014, securing Tame Impala for the Australian version, the first Australian band to make it to the song catalogue.
Tess Reddy
PR Manager, Activision
Tess bounced back big time from the closure of THQ to join the Activision PR team last year. She works across all Activision products including Call of Duty, Skylanders, the upcoming Destiny and all licensed products. She took on the management of Call of Duty: Ghosts multiplayer reveal and EB Expo executions and maintains a keen focus on the Call of Duty Twitter handle and social media content generation.
Adam Renardson
Content Services Manager, Sony Computer Entertainment Australia
Joining the SCEA online team in February 2013, Adam oversees the content and digital strategies for PlayStation owned channels in ANZ. His passion for social engagement has seen PlayStation Australia's social media profiles grow to over a quarter of a million Facebook fans, Twitter followers increase by 300% and YouTube subscribers reach 10,000 with 5.5m video views (not counting all the Arsenal goals he watches).
Nick Vanzetti
Managing Director, VIM Media & Events
One of the key players in events management for the games industry, Nick's own company VIM Media & Events has provided end-to-end management for the likes of Riot Games at EB Expo and PAX Aus, Wargaming at EB Expo, the Call of Duty Championships 2013, and Blizzard's Heart of the Swarm launch amongst many others in the past year alone.
Daniel Vuckovic
Editor-in-Chief & Owner, Vooks
Please understand Daniel is Australia's most trusted source for all things Nintendo. Affectionately known as Vook, he's been hard at work publishing Nintendo news, previews reviews and in-depth features for over fourteen years. What separates him from other games sites is his diligence, his ability to break stories, and the balance he strikes between his passion for Nintendo and an objective, critical stance.
Bec Waddy
PR Manager, Bethesda
Already a veteran in the field of games PR at the tender age of 29, Bec took great strides in 2013, moving from her senior role at agency One To Another to become internal PR manager at Bethesda's brand new Australian office. Bec is a tireless worker able to juggle competing demands with ease, her media relations are second to none, and she is quite probably the best Brink player in the country.
Jamie Wilson
PR and Media Coordinator, Nintendo
The face of Nintendo in Australia, Jamie has effortlessly slipped into his expanded role at the company, taking on responsibility for all public and media relations over the last couple of years. If inclusion on this list was measured by the number of Monster Hunter hours clocked up, Jamie would be a shoe-in. Fortunately it's decided by how many times you've rescued Princess Peach so he's in anyway.