Epic hires former WB Games manager

Epic Games may have recently lost design director Cliff Bleszinski, but the Gears of War studio has now picked up another industry veteran. The company announced today that former WB Games Seattle manager Laura Fryer has been hired as general manager of its newly established Seattle studio to "direct its strategic goals."

Before coming aboard at Epic, Fryer served as general manager of WB Games Seattle for four years. Her responsibilities at the post included managing the company's Seattle-based internal studios like Monolith, which recently launched Gotham City Impostors, and is currently at work on Guardians of Middle-Earth.

Fryer also is a Microsoft veteran. She was a founding member of the original Xbox team, and launched Gears of War and Gears of War 2 as an executive producer at Microsoft Game Studios.

Epic Games opened its Seattle studio last month. The outfit is focused on Unreal Engine 4 development, and thus far, the company's upcoming PC-exclusive Fortnite is the only confirmed game that runs on the new platform.