Fox Promotes Rick Phillips at Newly-Acquired Game Studio FoxNext

Phillips will head up Licensing and Publishing at the studio’s video games division

FoxNext Games — the virtual reality and gaming division launched in January at 20th Century Fox Film and Fox Networks Group — has promoted Rick Phillips to President of Licensing and Publishing. The move follows FoxNext’s acquisition of mobile gaming developer Aftershock earlier this week.

Phillips previously oversaw Fox’s game licensing across mobile, console, PC, social and online gaming. He’ll work with former Aftershock exec Aaron Loeb, President of Studios at FoxNext.

In an interview with TheWrap, Phillips said FoxNext will continue to look for partnerships with other Fox franchises, and pointed to an upcoming “Futurama” game launching at the end of June.

“As important as gaming is to us, we really want to do justice to the underlying brand, universe and characters, more than anything,” said Phillips. “And support the experience being created on film and television.”

Fox has recently developed games centered on “The Simpsons,” “Family Guy,” and “Ice Age,” among others.

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