“We are incredibly excited to partner with such talented and accomplished individuals,” said Joystick Labs Creative Director, Juan Benito. “Teams selected to participate in the Joystick Labs accelerator program will have an unprecedented opportunity to learn from, and network with, some of the best and brightest minds in the video game and investing communities.”

The initial group of Joystick Labs mentors includes: Dr. Michael Capps, President, Epic Games; Chad Dezern, Studio Director, North Carolina Studio at Insomniac Games; Kirk Owen, Executive Producer, Playdom; Jim Black, Director of Technology Evangelism, NVIDIA Corp.; Michael Rasmussen, President, Republic of Fun; Rett Crocker, Founder, Republic of Fun; Alexander Macris, Publisher and Games Media expert, The Escapist; John Austin, Vice President, Emergent Game Technologies; John Glushik, General Partner, Intersouth Partners; Mark Rostick, Director, Intel Capital; Lister Delgado, Partner, IDEA Fund Partners; Dr. Michael Young, Associate Professor of Computer Science, N.C. State University; Timothy Buie, Assistant Professor, N.C. State University College of Design;  and Walter Rotenberry, Instructor, Wake Technical Community College.

“Joystick Labs is an incredible opportunity for any team aspiring to make a name for itself in the video game industry,” says Benito.  “I am pleased we are able to give back to the video game community and lend the expertise of all these great mentors to help these teams turn their vision into a great game and the beginning of a great company.”

 The creation of Joystick Labs is one of the latest signs that the video game production and distribution model is changing. With the mass adoption of browser-based and mobile gaming platforms, the market is increasingly shifting its focus away from traditional retail distribution channels to digitally distributed video games that can be downloaded over the Internet, such as games produced for Facebook, iPad, iPhone, Android and other digitally distributed social, mobile, and casual game platforms.

Joystick Labs was co-founded by Juan Benito, venture attorneys Glen Caplan and Justyn Kasierski of Hutchison Law Group, and veteran technology executive Lawrence Steffann, and is backed by a number of the Southeast's leading angel investors, including NC IDEA, Chris Evans, Brian Handly, Reid Conrad and Eric Huang.

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