RE: Sony RNS11 Feb 2020 12:31
APPOINTMENT OF ANDREW HOUSE TO ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Tue 11 Feb 2020 07:15
RNS Number : 5662C
Bidstack Group PLC
11 February 2020
Certain information contained within this Announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR"). Upon publication of this Announcement, this information is now considered to be in the public domain.
11 February 2020
Bidstack Group Plc
("Bidstack" or "the Company")
Appointment of Andrew House to Advisory Committee
Former PlayStation Chief joins Advisory Committee
Bidstack Group Plc (AIM: BIDS), the native in-game advertising group, is delighted to announce the appointment of Andrew House to its Advisory Committee.
Andrew began working with Sony when he joined its international PR team in Tokyo in 1990. Five years later he moved over to the PlayStation division, which at that time was in its fledgling stage of operation, with the task of increasing PlayStation's audience from young gamers to mainstream consumers. In 1996 he was promoted to VP of Marketing for Sony Entertainment Corporation Americas ("SECA") and then made the step up to SVP of SECA in 2002. Andrew's progress continued as he served as CMO for Sony between 2005-2009, and he then went on to serve as the co-CEO, then CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe before leading as Group CEO between 2013-2017.
One of Andrew's career highlights at Sony Computer Entertainment was the record breaking launch of Playstation 4 in 2013. With 106 million units sold worldwide, PS4 outsold many home game consoles including Microsoft XBox 360, Nintendo Wii and Switch.
In addition Andrew concentrated Sony's network services strategy around PlayStation Network which, by March 2019, had more than 94 million monthly active users, and its premium subscription service PlayStation Plus which, at the same time, had over 36 million subscribers.
Andrew also oversaw the launch of U.S. TV streaming service PlayStation Vue, designed to complement subscription video-on-demand services, and spearheaded Sony's entry into the virtual-reality market with the development and launch of PlayStation VR which, by the time he left Sony, had sold over one million headsets in just over a year, making it the most successful high-end VR headset.
In 2016, Andrew oversaw the merger of Sony Computer Entertainment and Sony Network Entertainment to form Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Andrew House said: "The gaming industry has always been about evolution and progression and striving for solutions that make games more fun, more relatable and more entertaining for the community. Against a background of disruption to monetization strategies within games, I believe that Bidstack's approach of contextually relevant ads can generate revenue without disrupting the user experience. It's a business that can make a significant impact in the space."