Game industry veterans Toby Ragaini, Jeremy Friesen and Ryan O’Rourke founded Seattle-based Thinglefin earlier this year in May. Together they bring more than 35 years of game design and development experience to Big Fish Games. Prior to founding Thinglefin, Ragaini was the lead designer for The Matrix Online and Asheron's Call, two of the first graphical MMOs. Friesen and O’Rourke worked on all aspects of MMO infrastructure at Monolith and Sony Online Entertainment, from inception to deployment. Thinglefin’s four employees joined Big Fish Games on November 12.
“Big Fish Games’ people, culture and vision are uniquely attuned to what game developers and consumers want,” said Toby Ragaini, cofounder and CEO of Thinglefin. “As part of Big Fish Games, we now have an unfair advantage in developing the best experience and reaching the broadest audience.”
“The Thinglefin team and product vision are best in class among emerging MMOs,” said Jeremy Lewis, CEO and president of Big Fish Games. “Toby and his colleagues fit incredibly well within our ecosystem of creative freedom and forward thinking innovation, and they represent an important part of our long term strategy.”