Ignition Appoints Co-Founder Ajay Chadha As U.S. Head

Officials from UK-based Ignition Entertainment (Mercury Meltdown franchise) have announced the appointment of Ignition's co-founder Ajay Chadha as the president of the company's U.S. operations. Chadha founded Ignition Entertainment with his brother Vijay in 2002, and had until recently served as the company's sales director, where he was responsible for Ignition's global sales and distribution efforts. In his new role, Chadha will focus on securing software titles for U.S. distribution as well as identifying software development partners. The executive's efforts to strengthen Ignition's U.S. presence follows the company's recently completed controlling share acquisition by India based media firm UTV Software Communications, which according to a statement “sparked a rapid phase of development outreach and growth.” The statement adds that Ignition is also looking to leverage off of UTV's experience within the movie and entertainment fields for other unspecified opportunities. Prior to starting Ignition, Ajay Chadha was also one of the founding members of Planet Distribution Limited, where he developed and directed all European sales and distribution channels, and created the company’s own DVD label, Planet DVD. Ignition is perhaps best known for developing the PSP puzzle game Archer Maclean's Mercury, as well as its more recent sequel for the PlayStation 2, Mercury Meltdown Remix. The studio responsible for those titles, Ignition's Banbury development studio, was purchased by UK-headquartered developer Rebellion Studios in March. Mercury Meltdown Revolution, the latest game in the franchise, is expected to ship for the Wii in the near future.