A subsidiary of RealNetworks LLC, GameHouse is a mobile and PC casual game developer and publisher. The company has released more than 5,000 games and apps used by over 250 million players from more than 215 countries. The company specifically focuses on a female audience. The company announced that it had appointed product management and insights expert Emmi Kuusikko as Head of Product Strategy, Insights, and Growth.
Kuusikko has experience spanning more than 20 years in global product management, marketing, business development, and executive board roles. Kuusikko has experience in different industries like the game industry, frontier technologies, and mobile applications.
About the appointment, Simonetta Lulli Gómez, CEO of GameHouse, said:
“We are delighted to welcome such high-profile leadership talent and analytics-driven expertise to the GameHouse executive team. We believe that over the years, female players have adapted to games, but rarely has game design adapted to female player behaviors. At GameHouse, our vision is to design around female player habits first, and for that, we needed an expert in Product Management with very deep knowledge around audience insights applied to game design. With Emmi on board, we can ensure that we create an agile process where player-first vision is at the heart of everything we do.”
Kuusikko influenced the game industry in major companies like Microsoft’s Lionhead Studios, Next Games, Digital Chocolate, and Habbo Hotel with her expertise in user-centered design and the operation of free-to-play games. In her prior roles, she led teams to drive acquisition, engagement, retention, and monetization on leading mobile, PC, and console titles.
Emmi Kuusikko, Head of Product Strategy, Insights, and Growth at GameHouse, stated that she is exhilarated and refreshed to make games for an audience that she belongs to for the first time in her career, spanning over 20 years.
Kuusikko also said:
“GameHouse aims to own the ‘Me Time-Game Time’ mobile gaming experience, thanks to its unrivaled heritage of the past 25 years in the genres that women engage with the most. Our research shows that women seek “Me Time” but feel guilty about taking it and that women find mobile gaming to provide the perfect escape, a means to unwind and have fun. We believe that casual mobile gaming experiences, with strong, relatable characters and story narrative, provide the perfect escape from day-to-day commitments, to unwind and recharge your batteries. We want to encourage women to claim their me time – we all need it!”
Women represent 46% of the global game market, and more than %60 of the players of the top 1,000 games on the Apple App Store are females. GameHouse positions itself with its puzzle, narrative, and storytelling games to connect with female gamers. The new appointment indicates that the company will further embrace this strategy.
