Epic nabs Xbox veteran to lead new Seattle studio

Epic Games' new Seattle studio now has a boss: Game industry veteran Laura Fryer will be heading up the studio as general manager. The hiring is a big get for the expanding Unreal Engine house. Fryer is a 17-year industry stalwart who comes to Epic from WB Games Seattle, where she led internal area studios for four years. Prior to that, she played an integral role at Microsoft Game Studios, where she was one of the first employees. She was director of the Xbox Advanced Technology Group, as well as a founding member of Microsoft's Xbox console project. Fryer seems like a good fit: Epic's new Seattle studio, announced last month, will be focusing on engineering and supporting the company's next generation game engine, Unreal Engine 4. An active member of the game development community, Fryer played key roles in Xbox Developer Support, the launch of XNA, the creation of the Xbox Advisory Board and various Xbox game developer events. She also has worked closely with Epic in the past, as she served as an executive producer at Microsoft Game Studios during the launch of Epic's Xbox 360 games Gears of War and Gears of War 2. Fryer was also previously named as one of Gamasutra's Top 20 Women in Games. She's also known for marathon video game sessions, and is a pretty good juggler.