Anna Sweet, former senior product & business manager at Valve and Oculus’ previous head of dev strategy, is now the CEO of filmmaker JJ Abrams’ game dev studio.
The move lands Sweet at the head of Abrams’ Bad Robot Games, and will see her tasked with, according to a press release “collaborating across all areas to expand the studio’s gaming footprint” alongside studio president Dave Barnoff.
Bad Robot Games was founded as an offshoot of Abrams’ film production company Bad Robot back in 2018 with the assistance of Tencent and Warner Bros. Interactive. It wasn’t the company’s first foray into the game development side of the entertainment business, but the dedicate studio represents a more focused effort to co-develop mobile and PC games by leveraging Bad Robot Games’ own talents in storytelling, creative direction, sound design, and visual arts.
“I first met Bad Robot 10 years ago during our collaborations while at Valve and have been huge fans of JJ, Katie and the team since then - as they represent one of the most forward looking creative talents across all mediums,” reads a statement from Sweet. “As video games become a primary way to explore and experience new worlds and stories, I believe Bad Robot Games is uniquely suited to build something truly special and I am incredibly excited to be a part of the team.”
Sweet herself has a storied career throughout both the game and tech industries, and is credited as one of the driving forces behind the game industry’s shift toward digital distribution through her time at Valve. She has previously worked at or advised numerous companies over the past decade and a half, including the likes of Oculus and Indie Megabooth, on top of her investment dealings and work at her own consultant company Robot Teddy.