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Midwest Games hires PlayStation, Xbox vets, appoints VentureBeat's strategy chief to board

Midwest Games hires PlayStation, Xbox vets, appoints VentureBeat's strategy chief to board

New publisher Midwest Games has made a trio of high-profile appointments.

The company has hired Alyssa Walles as chief operating officer, a 20-year tech veteran who has worked at the likes of Disney and PlayStation. That's on top of her current role as executive director of the International Game Developer Association.

She is joined by VentureBeat's chief strategy officer, Gina Joseph, who has been appointed to Midwest's board of directors.

Finally, Larry 'Major Nelson' Hyrb of Xbox fame is joining the publisher's advisory board and will be lending his expertise to the firm's communications strategy.

"We are honoured to welcome Alyssa, Gina, and Larry to further what Midwest Games is building," Midwest founder and CEO Ben Kvalo (pictured) said.

"Their diverse expertise and extensive experience in the entertainment, gaming, and tech industries will play a crucial role in propelling Midwest Games to new heights and realising our mission of fostering and creating more opportunity no matter where you are."

Kvalo established Midwest in August of this year and landed a $3 million investment in October.


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PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.