Animoca Brands appoints Xbox co-founder Ed Fries as strategic advisor

ASX Release

03 October 2018

Animoca Brands appoints Xbox co-founder Ed Fries as strategic advisor

Highlights:

Ed Fries, creator of Microsoft Game Studio and co-founder of the Xbox project, appointed as strategic advisor
Mr Fries was a special advisor to Pixowl and The Sandbox and has joined Animoca Brands as part of the transaction
Appointment significantly strengthens advisory team which includes ex Rovio EVP, Wilhelm Taht
Mr Taht played a significant role in the market-changing Angry Birds game which boasts 4 billion downloads
Mr Fries will focus on enhancing Animoca Brands’ operational base and mobile blockchain development capabilities

Animoca Brands Corporation Limited (ASX:AB1, the “Company”) is pleased to announce that Xbox Co-founder and ex-Microsoft executive, Ed Fries has been appointed as a strategic advisor to Animoca Brands' Board of Directors.

Mr Fries was an advisor to Pixowl and The Sandbox prior to the acquisition by the Company, and will continue to perform this role following the completion of the deal, in addition to advising the board of directors.

Mr Fries is an experienced game programmer, publisher and entrepreneur. He commenced his career as a Vice President with Microsoft in 1986 and spent ten years as one of the early developers of Office products, Excel and Word. Upon leaving the Office team, Mr Fries created Microsoft Game Studios, a segment of the company in which he could pursue his passion for interactive entertainment.

Over an eight year period, Mr Fries grew the Microsoft Games Studio team from 50 to over 1200 employees, published more than 100 games, including multiple million plus sellers and co-founded the Xbox project, which transformed Microsoft into one of the leaders in the video game business.

Upon retiring from his role with Microsoft, Mr Fries has continued his work in the game industry as a board member, consultant to a broad range of publishers, independent game developers and media companies.

Yat Siu, co-founder and director of Animoca Brands, said: ”Attracting someone of Ed’s calibre to our strategic advisory team is another significant achievement for the Company.

“Ed has considerable experience in the games space, including the development of one of the most sophisticated and leading products in the Xbox project. We look forward to leveraging this experience across our broader games portfolio."

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About Animoca Brands

Animoca Brands (ASX: AB1) leverages gamification, blockchain, and artificial intelligence technologies to develop and publish a broad portfolio of mobile products including games such as The Sandbox, Crazy Kings, and Crazy Defense Heroes as well as products based on popular intellectual properties such as Garfield, Thomas & Friends™, Ever After High and Doraemon. Animoca Brands is the exclusive China distributor of CryptoKitties. The Company is based in Hong Kong, Canada, and Finland. For more information visit www.animocabrands.com or get updates by following Animoca Brands on Facebook, Twitter or Google +.