Culver City-based mobile game developer Scopely has expanded into the Asia-Pacific market, hiring former Walt Disney Company exec Justin Scarpone to build a presence for the company in Japan.
Scarpone will serve as senior vp and general manager of Asia for Scopely, the same position he held for Disney’s Asia Games division. Scarpone has spent his career in Asia, where he has led Disney’s consumer products in Japan and helped launch games such as Disney Tsum Tsum, Kingdom Hearts, Marvel Future Fight and Pirates of The Caribbean: Tides of War across the region.
“It’s an incredibly exciting time to join Scopely,” said Scarpone. “I’m eager to help unlock opportunities for Asian audiences to experience Scopely games, and am thrilled to join forces with the company’s impressive team of leaders around the globe.”
Scopely’s Asian strategy will focus on “building new regional relationships with studios and creative experts; optimizing and localizing the company’s current game slate, bringing titles to market in a purposeful way; and exploring new IP suitable for Asian audiences.”
“Asia is home to three out of the four top-grossing gaming markets and we are excited by the endless possibilities ahead. I could not think of anyone better suited than Justin to take Scopely on this next phase of our journey,” added Scopely’s chief revenue officer Tim O’Brien.
Scopely has crossed a number of milestones in 2019, passing $1 billion in revenue in July thanks to the performance of its Star Trek Fleet Command, which crossed the $100 million mark that month after launching last November. The success of the title led to Scopely’s acquisition of DIGIT Game Studios in Dublin, which developed the game.
Meanwhile, the company more than doubled its footprint stateside by leasing more than 60,000 square feet of office space in Culver City, while its Barcelona offices have more than tripled its square footage.
In addition to Star Trek Fleet Command, Scopely has a number of other licensed games from franchises such as Looney Tunes, The Walking Dead, Wheel of Fortune and the WWE.
