Josh Yguado

Josh Yguado
Occupation President and COO of Jam City, Inc

Josh Yguado is an American business media executive. He is currently President and COO of Los Angeles-based mobile gaming company Jam City, Inc, which he co-founded with Chris DeWolfe and Aber Whitcomb. Prior to his role at Jam City, Yguado worked in the television industry.

Fox Networks Group

Before co-founding Jam City, Yguado was VP of Business Development at Fox (which was part of News Corporation at the time).[1] While there, he was involved with Hulu’s launch and News Corporation’s acquisition of Myspace[2][3][4][2] It was through this role that Yguado met Myspace executives Chris DeWolfe and Aber Whitcomb.[5]

Jam City

Yguado partnered with DeWolfe and Whitcomb, starting in 2009,[6] to develop and create a social gaming company.[7] They saw that there was a shift coming in the gaming industry and wanted to be a part of it.[5] The company they founded together was MindJolt, which was later renamed SGN,[3] and then Jam City (in 2016).[8] At the beginning, Yguado was the head of corporate development for the company and facilitated the acquisitions of SGN, MindJolt, and HallPass Media.[9] He was named President and COO of SGN in October 2012.[3][4] Jam City’s primary focus is casual gaming[2] and strives to be innovative in that industry. Yguado has stated that an emphasis on social and mobile-specific features is a way they can broaden their audience.[10] Collaborating with other companies to use their intellectual property, such as images and sounds associated with a film, is another approach they have taken.[11] Yguado’s prior work in the television industry, coupled with DeWolfe’s "long-running relationship with Fox", is beneficial to the company being able to acquire IP for their games.[12][11] As of January 2017, Jam City’s titles were played more "more than 30,000 times a minute in every part of the world." In addition to its Los Angeles headquarters, the company has offices in San Francisco, Seattle, San Diego, Buenos Aires, and Cedar Falls.[13]


Industry representations

Yguado has been featured as an expert speaker and panelist for many tech and gaming industry events.[14][15][16][2][17][18][19][20] In 2015, he was included in the SoCalTech 50.[21] Yguado was included in the December 2015 Android Developers Blog feature regarding SGN’s Store Listing Experiments.[22] Yguado was one of the "top game developers" featured in a teaser for the 2016 Docufiction "Why Him?"[23][24]

Personal

Yguado is originally from Albuquerque, NM[25] and lives in Los Angeles.[4] He has two children.[15] He has a BA from Harvard[9][25] and an MBA from Harvard Business School.[4][9][25] He is a board member of The Young Turks.[4]

References

  1. ↑ James, Meg (28 June 2013). "News Corp. divides into two companies; 21st Century Fox is born". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 CasualConnect (8 September 2014). "How to Succeed in the New Gaming Ecosystem" (video). YouTube.
  3. 1 2 3 Thompson, Mike (24 October 2012). "SGN names Josh Yguado president". Adweek. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Josh Yduado". Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  5. 1 2 "33 voices: Building One of the Largest Cross-Platform Gaming Companies in the World" (video). 33voices. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  6. ↑ Vendt, Whitney (25 January 2017). "Chris DeWolfe: Mobile Media Mastermind". C Suite Quarterly. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  7. ↑ Ong, Jaynesis (21 October 2014). "SGN and The Book of Life: Sugar Smash". Nerd Reactor. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  8. ↑ Levy, Ari (22 September 2016). "Cookie Jam game developer SGN rebrands as Jam City". CNBC. CNBC LLC. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  9. 1 2 3 "Josh Yguado". Social Media Week. 26 September 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  10. ↑ Sinclair, Brendan (19 April 2016). "There hasn’t been a ton of risk-taking in mobile – SGN". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  11. 1 2 Bae, Alex (14 October 2014). "SGN Teams With Fox Digital Entertainment The Book of Life: Sugar Smash". Tech Zulu. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  12. ↑ Bloom, David (7 October 2014). "'The Book of Life' Fox-SGN Mobile Game Deal Could Pay Off For Years". Deadline.com. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  13. ↑ "Global Game Maker Boasts New Iowa Address". Cedar Falls Utilities. 16 January 2017. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  14. ↑ Burt, Clarissa (15 May 2013). "News From Digital Hollywood". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  15. 1 2 TechZulu Inc. (25 October 2013). "REACH Games – Business of Gaming with Zynga Dreamworks Activision SGN" (video). YouTube. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  16. ↑ "Keynote: Into The Valley – Discussing The West Coast Social Gaming Scene With SGN’s President". Pocket Gamer Connects. 7 July 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  17. ↑ "Line-up for MGF 2014 announced". Global MGF. 5 September 2013. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  18. ↑ "2016 Speakers". NY Games Conference. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  19. ↑ "Speakers". CSQ Summit. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  20. ↑ "Gamertainment: Gaming Goes Mainstream". Harvardwood. 1 November 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  21. ↑ "Announcing The socalTECH50, 2015 Edition". SoCalTech. 19 November 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  22. ↑ Sheringham, Lily (9 December 2015). "Android Developer Story: SGN game 'Cookie Jam' increases user conversions with Store Listing Experiments". Android Developers Blog. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  23. ↑ Black Phosphor (22 November 2016). "”Why Him” Docufiction Features Many Real-World Game Industry Stars". The Black Phosphor. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  24. ↑ Cookies, Stephanie (22 November 2016). "Top Game Developers Sing the Praises of Laird in the WHY HIM? Trailer". Geek Girl Authority. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  25. 1 2 3 Cheng, Aidan (21 March 2016). "The Future of Gaming – It’s Mobile". Medium. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
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