Former EA exec Rod Humble to head up TinyCo Studio

Former Sims head and Linden Lab CEO Rod Humble has been tapped as the next leader of Jam City’s TinyCo Studio in San Francisco. 

Humble first joined up with Jam City in October 2016 and has been managing the company’s San Francisco office in the year since.

TinyCo, the developer of the licensed mobile games Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff and Marvel Avengers Academy, was acquired by JamCity in July 2016 as part of the company's effort to diversify the types of games in its portfolio. Humble takes over for the studio's founder and longtime CEO Suli Ali who now departs to pursue "entrepreneurial ventures."

“I love growing businesses, and I love working with creative talent to make games which have mass market appeal,” Humble told VentureBeat. “TinyCo has a strong track record of successful narrative and character based experiences which has been an interest of mine for some time. The opportunity to help grow another one is very exciting to me.”

Humble notes that TinyCo will mark the seventh significant studio he has helmed. Meanwhile, producer and Jam City executive Matt Gaiser will take over Humble’s leadership position at the San Francisco Jam City arm.

“From my experience as the CEO if Linden Labs working on Second Life, to my work at EA releasing multiple successful Sims titles, I hope my accumulated skills can also be of help to my new colleagues,” says Humble. “Each new org is also a new adventure with a different audience and in the case of TinyCo I think there is an opportunity to become the world’s best mobile story- and character-based games studio.”