John Osvald joined Gala Games as president of games on June 10, 2021, the blockchain platform announced on PR Newswire. The role put him in charge of a slate of 15 titles still working their way onto the network. “Gala Games is excited to announce that John Osvald has joined the team as President of Games,” the company's release said1. Osvald came from Electronic Arts, where he had run product for the company's mobile division.
Two leadership moves at Gala Games on the record since 2021
Every move CryptoLately has verified there, by the day it became public
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| June 10, 2021 | Osvald became President of Games. John Osvald was named President of Games of Gala Games |
| May 17, 2024 | Brink left as President of Blockchain. Jason Brink left as President of Blockchain of Gala Games |
27 executive hires on the record in 2021
Executive hires CryptoLately has verified, by year
- 2021: 27
- 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 8 |
| 2019 | 11 |
| 2020 | 12 |
| 2021 | 27 |
| 2022 | 37 |
| 2023 | 20 |
| 2024 | 39 |
| 2025 | 59 |
Eric Schiermeyer, the Zynga co-founder who founded Gala Games, framed the hire around Osvald's record in free-to-play design. “It is great to welcome John to the team. He has had an intuition to be at the forefront of innovation throughout his career and his addition is another indicator to the industry that Gala Games is the new frontier of gaming,” Schiermeyer said1. Schiermeyer's own history with Osvald ran back more than a decade. The two had built one company together already. Carnivore Studios raised more than $10 million from Sequoia Capital and the Mayfield Fund. Osvald then returned to direct game development at Electronic Arts.
What the hire covers
As president of games, Osvald took charge of expanding the Gala Games ecosystem. He also handled onboarding new titles and launching the 15 games then in development1. His prior credits include Farmville, Cafe World, FrontierVille and CastleVille, built during his years as a Zynga product manager. Osvald raised ownership as the issue Gala Games was built to solve. “I've always loved free-to-play yet have been bothered by a disconnect between players who spend time and money to build assets in games, which they never really own. Finally, Gala Games has provided the platform and technology to align players and developers – this is the future of gaming,” Osvald said. AnimationXpress confirmed the hire on June 11, 2021, naming Osvald's background leading product at Electronic Arts' mobile division2.
What came next
Osvald still held the president of games title fourteen months later. On August 29, 2022, Gala Games set an October 31, 2022, launch date for Spider Tanks, a player-versus-player brawler built on the company's own blockchain3. “Yet again we are ushering in new firsts in gaming as we get set to launch the first Web PvP esports brawler with earnings,” Osvald said in that announcement. He credited the title with cementing Gala's commitment to player ownership. The game had drawn almost 25,000 weekly players across more than 600,000 matches in a public playtest before that launch.
Sources
- "Gala Games Welcomes John Osvald," Gala Games, June 10, 2021, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gala-games-welcomes-john-osvald-301309782.html
- "Blockchain gaming platform Gala Games hires John Osvald as president of games," AnimationXpress, June 11, 2021, https://www.animationxpress.com/games/blockchain-gaming-platform-gala-games-hires-john-osvald-as-president-of-games/
- "Gala Games Announces Launch Date for Spider Tanks," Gala Games, August 29, 2022, https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiqAFBVV95cUxONnhORVBMQXdqV0tBWGZUM3hsWGlCN2FiejZwdXZDVTZxOHpxandvUExhU0RYSU5DcmRxQVhPckJYYjJjWXNXMXBFeUxGdnJIOExaTnd3LWc1aFExN1M3cXN6UGgyWEE4ZEJTR0ZScXFuNEFPZ0ZVcDFVRTR6MUQ3elp6dGswY3dtMFhLWWJfSmlsNmc5R2lxLU9SckRiMVM3N2FHZDlfOUs?oc=5