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Epic hires former WB Games manager

Eddie Makuch
By Eddie Makuch, News Editor

Gears of War studio brings on Laura Fryer as general manager at newly established Seattle studio to "direct strategic goals."

Epic Games may have recently lost design director Cliff Bleszinski, but the Gears of War studio has now picked up another industry veteran. The company announced today that former WB Games Seattle manager Laura Fryer has been hired as general manager of its newly established Seattle studio to "direct its strategic goals."

Before coming aboard at Epic, Fryer served as general manager of WB Games Seattle for four years. Her responsibilities at the post included managing the company's Seattle-based internal studios like Monolith, which recently launched Gotham City Impostors, and is currently at work on Guardians of Middle-Earth.

Fryer also is a Microsoft veteran. She was a founding member of the original Xbox team, and launched Gears of War and Gears of War 2 as an executive producer at Microsoft Game Studios.

Epic Games opened its Seattle studio last month. The outfit is focused on Unreal Engine 4 development, and thus far, the company's upcoming PC-exclusive Fortnite is the only confirmed game that runs on the new platform.

Eddie Makuch
By Eddie Makuch, News Editor

Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.

40 comments
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tgwolf
tgwolf

Let's hope she brings a fresh perspective to the industry, it's needed...

darkbuster_exe
darkbuster_exe

Not like I'm a fan of Epic in the first place, but I could never fully trust anyone who reminded me of Sarah Palin that much.

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DESTROYRS_F8
DESTROYRS_F8 like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

She's gonna spread her creative legs for some epic next-gen goodness!

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Aderdunn_3
Aderdunn_3

Gurl...where do you think you're going with these glasses?! It's 2012... XD

tomkat69pc
tomkat69pc

reminds me of a one night stand girl once that was dirtier than she looked like ..

 

fanaticsm
fanaticsm like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

where's her bandana and lancer?????

Pyrosa
Pyrosa

The "WB" part is kind of scary, but the past resume is legit...    Hopefully her first action is "port Fortnite to 360".

 

SolidTy
SolidTy like.author.displayName 1 Like

EPIC lost Roddy F and Cliffy B....but they did get

*drum Rolls*

 

Former WB Games Seattle manager Laura Fryer!!!! OMG! She helped recently launch Gotham City Impostors. Neato! :P

 

 

Well, best of luck to her and EPIC, EPIC is a fantastic studio. It was a big shocker when Cliffy B left.

littleb75
littleb75 like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

yeah, but she did help in launch gears 1 and 2.  sounds like she should fit right in. everyone moves in the game industry. losing cliffy b aint that bad of  a thing.

 

deon99
deon99

 @littleb75 well,for epic games it is.He was the face of there company and there lead designer.

RBRTZX
RBRTZX like.author.displayName 1 Like

 @deon99  @littleb75 Im sure there is another guy there that can design steroid filled characters and randomly placed cover. 

deon99
deon99 like.author.displayName 1 Like

Congrats  to her on the new job at a studio that looks to do big things in the future.From her resume she has the experience to lead, and has some impressive games under belt.

TimeFrame
TimeFrame like.author.displayName 1 Like

Honestly, it's not even sexist, people just have whoever is "in charge" of EPIC. People hated Cliff too. Could be the most nerdiest dude on the planet.. still they'd be hatin'. xD

nate1222
nate1222 like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 3 Like

Something tells me that if this were a dude, these fucked up comments wouldn't be flying around.  Fryer worked at Monolith for crying out loud. THAT should be enough credibility.

 

Many "hardcore" gamers don't like the stereotype of being sexless, socially inept jerks. But, they'll go outta their way to live up to it. And some of the comments here, and the assumption that 'a chick can't really be a gamer', prove it through and through.

gatsbythepig
gatsbythepig

I learned something from this article.  Nice job Eddie, I didn't feel like you were asking me this time.

hector530
hector530 like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 6 Like

dat forehead

nate1222
nate1222 like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 7 Like

 @hector530

 

Who gives a damn about how she looks? her job is to direct game creation -NOT turn you on.

 

Plenty of male game industry heads look like shit warmed over. Where are your snide remarks for them?

jurk182
jurk182 like.author.displayName 1 Like

Pretty funny. This is the woman in the making of gears of war DVD that came with the collector's edition, that was one of peter moore's toadies trying to convince epic to lose the chainsaw bayonet.

Furwings
Furwings

 @jurk182 Haha, yeah now that "Mr. Chocolate & Peanut Butter" Cliffy B is gone, she gets a job with Epic. I know she's not at the same branch as Cliff used to work at , but it's still funny regardless.

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mark1202
mark1202 like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 3 Like

 @Bl4KD37H What in this article gave you the indication that she is more concerned about numbers than making games?  If she was hired as the CFO of Epic  or a studio finance manager, then I could see your point.  Since her former positions were a studio general manager responsible for game releases and an executive producer for multiple game titles, and had nothing to do with the finance side of the business, your commnet seems out of place.

sp4cetiger
sp4cetiger

Wow, I bet her parents dreamed that she would one day grow up to "direct strategic goals."  If that's the kind of talk we get from this company, I'm guessing we can expect very generic products from them going forward.

Kickable
Kickable

 @sp4cetiger your parents must be brutal if your definition of success is this warped.

parrot_of_adun
parrot_of_adun like.author.displayName 1 Like

 @sp4cetiger Yes, because other companies might have given here a title like "RAD GAMIN' DOODETTE".

/sarcasm

 

This is how for-profit organizations work. The only company I can think of that works in the oddly childish-yet-productive way your thinking of is Valve, and they're magic, so they don't count.

This is entirely normal.

mark1202
mark1202

 @sp4cetiger How does the comment that a new general manager of a studio is brought on to "direct strategic goals" equate to generic products.  Setting the future direction for a company is one task a good manager should be doing.  If anything is going to cause Epic's games to become generic, it would be the departure of Cliff B.  The design director would have much more say on the direction of specific games. 

 

Why wouldn't her parents be happy with her success?  I can say that if one of my kids ends up with a resume that includes them being an executive producer for very successful game titles as well as a general manager for two studios, I will be very proud that they found that much success.

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