Gerhard Florin, who served for years as EA's executive vice president of international publishing, has accepted a position chairing the board of directors for Kobojo, a French Facebook game publisher.
Kobojo's titles draw a cumulative audience of nearly 3.4 million monthly players,
according to AppData, led by 1.5 million players for the Egyptian-themed
PyramidVille.
The company secured initial funding of $7.5 million in April, led by Endeavour Vision and IDinvest Partners in April. Nearly half of that money will go towards marketing efforts, according to
an InsideSocialGames interview last month.
In the newly created board position, Florin will be focused on increasing the company's international growth, starting with new offices in Spain and localized versions of its titles for other European markets, according to a Thursday press release announcing the move.
"I am really happy to join the board of Kobojo, as the company reminds me strongly of EA Europe in its very early days," Florin said in a statement. "Kobojo has the same potential to be as successful in Europe as Electronic Arts has been. We want to make Kobojo the European leader in social gaming."
Florin rose to EA's executive vice president spot in 2005 as
part of a management reshuffle, after serving at the company since 1996. He
left EA in early 2010 citing family concerns.
