David Yarnton, former Nintendo UK country manager and Gfinity director of government and industry relations, has joined digital games marketplace Kinguin.
David is a games industry veteran, with plenty of experience in both Australia and the UK, and most recently has worked with Edge Esports, a company that has pivoted from esports contracts to web3. He is also chairman of Ukie’s esports sub group along with ESL UK MD James Dean, and is part of the advisory board at the British Esports Federation.
He will still be a shareholder at Edge but operating more in the background going forwards.
David has been appointed by Kinguin to drive the next chapter of growth for the company. He’s joined Kinguin in the newly created role of partner and chief of business development, where he will be tasked with driving Kinguin to new heights.
He will act as Kinguin’s representative in front of various governments and NGOs (non-governmental organisations) globally and as the main liaison for gaming and esports. He plans to uncover new business opportunities to continue the universal growth of Kinguin.
David Yarnton said: “Kinguin has seen tremendous growth over the last few years and I am looking forward to helping it continue on that trajectory.
“As chairman of Ukie’s Esports Sub-Group and a Board Adviser to British Esports, two organisations devoted to growing and developing UK talent and business, I believe Kinguin should be rightfully recognised as one of the global shining stars in esports and video games.”
David Yarnton, Kinguin
“I am very pleased to come on board as a team member of Kinguin and look forward to working alongside founder, Viktor, and the Kinguin team, in growing the business globally.”
Viktor Romaniuk Wanli, founder of Kinguin, added: “I’m personally thrilled with David joining our team as a partner and chief of business development. His vast executive and global business experience will play a major role in further scaling our capabilities, improving the efficiency of our business structures and opening new markets for Kinguin.”
David brings with him more than 30 years of video gaming experience, having started working in the industry in 1986 in Australia as sales and marketing director of a company selling 8-bit consoles and Nintendo Game & Watch handheld consoles.
David was a non-executive director of Gfinity, helping them list on the London Stock Exchange in 2014 and prior to that worked for Nintendo for over 17 years, first being sales and marketing director for Australia and then general manager for the UK.
Most recently as general manager of UK & ROI and for 10 years vice chairman of Ukie, the trade body for the UK’s wider games and interactive entertainment industry. David also has spoken on developing esports and technology at various conferences around the world.
Kinguin is a digital games marketplace established in 2013, which has sponsored several gaming and esports entities over the years. It is best known for the digital trading platform Kinguin.net, with more than 13m registered users and 90,000 digital products, from video games to computer software and services, as well as NFTs.
Kinguin also has two physical esports facilities in Europe: the Kinguin Esports Performance Centre and Kinguin Esports Lounge.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
