Mark James

“I had the privilege of first meeting and working with Mark at Endava Games. Unbeknownst to us, we had both worked at PlayStation in the same Third Party Relations team a few years apart and discovered we had a number of mutual friends in the industry. From the very beginning it felt like reconnecting with someone I’d known for years. Mark’s thoughtful, approachable, and incredibly generous with his time.
 What stands out most is his mix of brilliance and humility. He’s the kind of CTO you can approach with a tricky problem or half-formed idea, and instead of just giving advice, he’ll come back the next day with a working prototype in engine, completely unprompted. That blend of creativity, initiative, and passion for games is rare, and it inspires everyone around him. It certainly inspired me! Mark is always pushing ideas forward in smart, creative ways. Bridging the gap between art, design and technology.
 As a leader, Mark empowers his team, mentors them, and makes sure their talent and successes are recognised. 
On top of his technical expertise, Mark has deep understanding of the games industry and the end-to-end development and publishing process. Combined with his commercial acumen and GTM awareness, makes Mark uniquely capable of collaborating with everyone, from engineers to designers to publishing partners. 
Mark is a world-class technical leader and an even better person. The kind of CTO any studio would be incredibly fortunate to have.”

“I had the pleasure of working under Mark as the Studio Technical Art Director at Striking Distance Studios when he served as the CTO. Mark’s leadership, mentorship and vision were instrumental in helping me successfully join the team at a critical juncture prior to ship and integrate seamlessly into the studio and immediately provide value to my team and the project during the shutdown process. Mark possesses a combination of technical expertise, strategic vision, and effective communication skills. His ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear, actionable plans has been instrumental in driving the successful shutdown of our project. As the Technical Art Director, I often found his guidance invaluable in aligning our creative vision of the content and design teams with the technical requirements of the target platforms, ensuring a seamless collaboration between art and technology teams and navigating various customer interactions both internally and with our external partners. One of Mark's greatest strengths is his commitment to fostering innovation within the studio. He consistently encouraged a culture of creativity and exploration, empowering the team to push the boundaries of what's possible in game development. Apart from his extensive experience in the gaming industry, his knack for anticipating industry trends and embracing cutting-edge technologies allowed his teams to identify and implement technologies and process that propelled the studio’s technical capabilities. Mark consistently demonstrated a deep understanding of the industry's challenges and opportunities, guiding our team with wisdom and foresight, while still trusting his Director group to build the teams they needed and identify the personnel, tech and process that best served their individual teams and ultimately, the studio and project. I wholeheartedly recommend Mark to any studio or company that has a need for a leader and shepherd for their technical roadmap. Someone who has the technical acumen, innovative mindset, and exceptional communication skills to elevate any engineering group make him an invaluable asset to any organization.”