Family Feud maker iWin hires Loot Drop's Laralyn McWilliams

Before the studio released even its first Facebook game, Cloudforest Expedition, social game exec Laralyn McWilliams has left Loot Drop and joined iWin as its VP of Creative, Inside Social Games reports. After mere months with seasoned designer John Romero's Loot Drop, McWilliams joins Dragons of Atlantis developer Nick Rush and mobile developer Randy Angle at iWin.

Best known for its social renditions of popular game shows like Family Feud and 1 vs 100, iWin looks to use these strategic hires to get its list of casual downloadable games onto social and mobile platforms. Before joining Loot Drop for a short time and now iWin, McWilliams worked with Sony Online Entertainment on Free Realms and a number of Facebook games that were unfortunately axed before release.

"I had a change of heart and wound up accepting at iWin," McWilliams explained to ISG. "There's a great gift with iWin's brands in that they've been tested [and] there's a wealth of content and learning. The greatest challenge is taking the brands an extending them into some of the new spaces - like [making] a Jewel Quest mobile game, for example. That's what appeals to me about this role. I'm always interested in new frontiers."

ISG reports that Rush and Angle will focus on social and mobile, respectively, and we imagine they will report to McWilliams in some capacity. McWilliams, while she couldn't confirm to the website whether iWin originals like Jewel Quest would come to Facebook, doubts that iWin will ignore them in its increased social and mobile efforts. You know, because we certainly don't have enough match-three games on Facebook already.

Do you think iWin could become a worthy competitor to the standing Facebook game giants with its game show offerings and upcoming original properties? How do you think this move might affect Loot Drop as it tries to get its first game out the gate? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment