Digital Bandidos, a new game publisher started last year, announced it has hired three new leaders as the company strengthens its ability to provide services for game developers.
Unveils in August 2024, Digital Bandidos was founded by former employees of Versus Evil, founder and general manager Steve Escalante (who’s now Digital Bandidos CEO) and head of production Lance James.
Now they’re announcing the hiring of CFO Richard Iwaniuk, marketing head Richard Iggo and communications manager James Batchelor.
Iwaniuk has been a chartered accountant since 1993, he brings 24 years of experience in the gaming industry, having led finance and business development at BioWare, Electronic Arts, and Intel. He played a pivotal role in BioWare’s expansion from 80 to over 600 employees worldwide and was instrumental in the studio’s successful acquisition by Elevation Partners and subsequently by Electronic Arts.
Iggo has 25 years experience in this field. He built and led the publishing team that helped grow Telltale Games from a $35 million studio to more than $200 million. He has contributed to the success of more than 100 titles across PC, console and mobile, including titles in iconic franchises such as Minecraft, Batman and The Walking Dead.
Batchelor spent 18 years in trade journalism covering the games industry. He was most recently editor-in-chief of GamesIndustry.biz, and previously held editorial leadership positions at Develop and MCV, bringing deep insight into the business of video games to the team.
“Adding these excellent professionals to the Bandidos team levels up the company in a big way” said Steve Escalante, CEO of Digital Bandidos, in a statement. “We are not building a run-of-the-mill indie publisher. We are laser focused on creating a new, modern publisher that embraces all the challenges and needs of the industry and bringing that to the forefront of our offering. Creating a core brain trust to embrace these new tactics and strategies is essential and we couldn’t be happier with our progress.”
This announcement follows the mobile launch of Town of Salem 2, the sequel to a social deduction game, as well as the news that Digital Bandidos will bring the game to current-generation PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch consoles later this year – a first for the series.
The company is also preparing updates on a number of other projects due to arrive in 2025 and beyond, including the latest on Soulstone Survivors and the unveiling of several new games in development.
Digital Bandidos is a full-service publisher currently looking for PC and console titles with development budgets of up to $3 million. It specializes in role-playing, strategy and action games, but is open to any genre on any platform.
The company can offer its development partners:
Comprehensive Publishing Solutions: With decades of proven expertise, we provide indie game developers with expert guidance, support, and a full suite of publishing services.
A Developer-Centric Partnership: We prioritize the needs and creative vision of indie developers, fostering collaborative relationships built on trust, transparency, and shared success.
Multi-Platform Savviness: We leverage strategic partnerships and industry knowledge to maximize the reach and impact of indie games across multiple distribution channels.
Flexible Funding Options: Our innovative funding model is designed to address the unique challenges faced by small development teams and includes small acquisition-type buyouts of existing games. It offers a sliding scale of investment funds, ranging from long-term full-service funding to smaller-scale finishing funds and project-specific funds for porting or marketing.
