GDC 07: Ross Erickson scoping for talent
While we were waiting to play Castle Crashers -- always a crowd around that game -- we bumped into Ross Erickson, former portfolio manager for Xbox Live Arcade and newly appointed vice president of acquisition for Sierra Online. While we were cruising the indie games looking for some play time with Live Arcade titles, Ross was looking for some new properties to snap up for Sierra Online.
We asked him if he's enjoying his new position at Sierra and he told us that he's only officially been there for 10 days. Still, he says that it's essentially the same job he had before: scoping out attractive projects to publish in the digital distribution market. Ross informed us that Sierra Online is very serious about becoming a contender in this market, which is evident in the recent Vivendi (Sierra Online's parent company) acquisition of Wanako. Wanako, as many readers will know, was behind the Live Arcade title, Assault Heroes.
About his old position, Ross told us that he takes pride in what he accomplished with Microsoft. He informed us that he takes pleasure in knowing that his "fingerprints" will be on several future Live Arcade games, including plenty of games that have yet to be announced.
Sierra Online's 3D Ultra Minigolf Adventures is here at GDC, and we'll be blessed with a hands on session later this week.
