PIM HOLFVE APPOINTED CEO OF AVALANCHE STUDIOS

Since its inception in 2003, Avalanche Studios has never had a CEO. The position has been unofficially shared between the founders, Christofer Sundberg and Linus Blomberg, but it has not been fully realized.

With today’s rapidly changing market, and with Avalanche Studios’ commitment to self-publish part of its portfolio, the time has come for a change. We are finally appointing a CEO, and that person is our former VP of Business Development, Pim Holfve.

Since Pim joined Avalanche Studios in late 2012 to head up subsidiary Expansive Worlds and develop hunting simulation theHunter, the service has gone from 1 million players to more than 5 million. Total revenue has doubled every year. Expansive Worlds has lived up to its name by growing from 6 developers to nearly 30.

Pim's original life plan was to play for the New York Rangers. When that didn't quite pan out, he got into visual arts, advertising and tech, before finally deciding to combine his skills and passions in the games industry. Prior to joining Avalanche Studios, Pim spent his time at King and Electronic Arts, working mainly on F2P titles.

- I am honored to have been named CEO, and very excited about the possibilities that lie in our future, said Pim Holfve. Avalanche Studios is one of the few independent studios left standing in a market that is rapidly changing, so we have exciting times ahead of us. I look forward to working with the entire Avalanche Studios team to strengthen our offering to publishers around the world, and to keep growing our self-publishing business.

- We’re experiencing a shift in the games industry, commented Christofer Sundberg, Founder and CCO at Avalanche Studios. As we keep evolving and face new challenges, I'm confident that Pim Holfve is the right person to become our first CEO. And while we are preparing for a future that holds more self-publishing, I want to stress that AAA remains at the heart of Avalanche Studios. Pim’s experience and leadership will be invaluable for the company, and I look forward to spending more of my own time and energy on creative development.

For interview requests, please contact Thomas Wiborgh, Head of Communications at thomas.wiborgh@avalanchestudios.com.

About Avalanche Studios
Avalanche Studios is the original creator of the award-winning Just Cause franchise, and is currently working on Mad Max (published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment) and Just Cause 3 (published by Square-Enix), both slated for release in 2015. The studio has created acclaimed twin stick shooter Renegade Ops (published by SEGA) and self-published free-to-play service theHunter (developed by subsidiary Expansive Worlds) with more than 5 million registered players across 190 countries. Avalanche Studios, which is based in Stockholm and New York City, was founded in 2003 by Christofer Sundberg and Linus Blomberg. The studio develops games built on its proprietary technology, the Avalanche Engine, enabling huge open worlds filled with emergent gameplay. More information is available at www.avalanchestudios.com.