PopCap Games, the leading developer and publisher of casual games, today announced that it has hired Andrew Stein to the newly-created position of Director of Mobile Business Development. Mr. Stein, most recently the Senior Marketing Manager – Games for Cingular Wireless' MEdia Mall, will oversee the growth of PopCap's hugely successful puzzle, word and retro action games on cellular phones, BlackBerry, iPod, PDA and other mobile devices. Mr. Stein brings more than a dozen years of mobile and console games industry experience to his role at PopCap; his tenure at the company officially begins today.

"We're excited to have Andrew joining our management team and taking on a critical role within the company," said Dennis Ryan, EVP of Worldwide Business Development at PopCap. "Mobile devices, especially cellular phones, could well be the largest market for casual games like ours. Andrew's experience with both the business of mobile games and the production of traditional and video games is uncommon, and makes for a perfect fit with our organization."

"While spearheading the marketing of mobile games for the largest cellular carrier in North America over the past several years, I've seen PopCap's games show up on the top-ten lists month after month," said Mr. Stein. "From the games themselves to the company's management team and business philosophy, I've been utterly impressed with PopCap and am thrilled to be joining at such an exciting time in the company's history."

Mr. Stein has spent the past three years overseeing the launch and marketing/promotion of games on Cingular's and AT&T Wireless' North American mobile phone services. In addition to managing all aspects of the games and application download businesses for those large U.S. wireless carriers, he managed direct relationships with over 30 publisher partners as well as an additional two dozen indirect partners. During his stint at Cingular, monthly game revenues increased by more than 175 percent. Previously, Mr. Stein spent eight years in senior marketing, sales and product management positions with SEGA of America and Enix America, Inc. (the North American predecessor of Square Enix).

In his new role at PopCap, Mr. Stein's responsibilities include the creation and oversight of PopCap's North American mobile strategy, creation of new partnerships with mobile carriers and content aggregators and management of existing partnerships, and the development and management of distribution, marketing and promotional programs.