Lionsgate expanding into video games under Nerdist co-founder's lead

Entertainment company Lionsgate is moving into game development, tapping Nerdist Industries co-founder and former CEO Peter Levin to lead the endeavor, the company announced today.

Levin will serve as President of Interactive Ventures and Games as Lionsgate looks to expand its content into games and other interactive experiences. Levin will lead the company's charge to create new properties and build new content based on Lionsgate franchises and brands. He will report to Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer and CFO Jimmy Barge for digital investments.

Prior to digital content creator Nerdist, Levin was an executive advisor at Japanese media company Yoshimoto Kogyo and has served in rolls at MAG Interactive, graphic novel distributor comiXology, Angry Birds developer Rovio Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company and venture capital company Lynx Technologies.

"Peter is a perfect fit for our entrepreneurial culture, and he is ideally qualified to lead the continued growth of our content business into the video game space and other interactive digital ventures," Feltheimer said in a press statement. "Gaming has become one of the most explosive growth areas of the content business, and Peter's mandate will be to build a portfolio of premium digital properties as we expand our leadership in films and television programming into digital content as well."

"I've known Jon Feltheimer for many years, and the chance to become part of one of the most entrepreneurial, dynamic and visionary studios in the world is impossible to pass up," Levin added. "As the home of intellectual property like The Hunger Games, Twilight and Divergent franchises and a diversified portfolio of television programming, Lionsgate's opportunities to extend its leadership and innovation into the gaming space and other interactive platforms is limitless."