This Story Posted:
April 22nd

 
 

[2:32 PM]
Top Apple Exec Joins Bungie Software
It's not every day that we get to announce that a top executive from our favorite computer manufacturer has left to be a top exec for our favorite game development company. Today that is the case however as we are happy to report that Peter Tamte, Senior Director of Consumer Marketing for Apple, has left Apple to become Executive Vice President of Publishing for Bungie Software. Bungie is the maker of the MArathon series, Myth: The Fallen Lords and Myth II: Soulblighter, as well as the upcoming sure to be a smash hit "Oni." According to Bungie:

Bungie Software is delighted to announce that Peter Tamte, currently Senior Director of Consumer Marketing for Apple Computer, Inc., will soon join Bungie as Executive Vice President of Publishing. Tamte has been responsible for Apple's consumer marketing worldwide under the direction of Steve Jobs, Apple's interim CEO.

But Tamte is eager to return to the games industry. As he recently noted, "the Internet is creating tremendous opportunities in entertainment that most traditional publishers are not ready for. Bungie is in a unique position to help drive this change through its three internal development studios and through leveraging its successful multiplayer gaming site, bungie.net, in innovative ways. Most of all, as one of the only publishers intimately involved in game development, Bungie is in a much better position to work with third-party developers to deliver the most compelling content possible."

Thus far nearly all of Bungie's games, including the multi-award-winning "Myth" and "Marathon" franchises, have been internally developed. In his new role, Tamte will put his considerable talents to use building Bungie Software into a premier publisher for both internally and externally developed titles.

Tamte brings a wealth of practical experience to the job. Before joining Apple, Tamte founded software publisher MacSoft and grew it to become the largest publisher of Macintosh consumer software worldwide. MacSoft is a unit of GT Interactive, a leading global publisher of entertainment and edutainment software for personal computers and game consoles. Prior to MacSoft, Tamte was director of sales and marketing for The WizardWorks Group, the creators of "Deer Hunter".

Congratulations to Bungie and Mr. Tamte! He is sure to be missed by Apple.

The Mac Observer Spin: Bungie is more than just the maker of hit games. Bungie is a successful developer AND publisher of Mac games and is one of the few developers to make Mac games from the ground up. Other successful publishers in the Mac world focus on porting PC titles (which is certainly also an important part of the Mac gaming market).

The fact that they can attract a person of Mr. Tamte's calibre speaks volumes of the credibility Bungie has earned. With Oni close to release (within the next 2-6 months), Bungie will be in an excellent position to greatly expand their operations. That is nothing short of great news for Mac gamers everywhere.

[Editor's Note: MacWeek has a good article on this that focuses on Mr. Tamte's past. Good reading, check it out.]

Bungie