Frank Sagnier appointed chair of Mercia VR investment nDreams

The AIM-traded firm said Sagnier's career in the video games industry spanned more than 25 years, having most recently retired from Codemasters Group following its acquisition by Electronic Arts for $1.2bn.

He joined the games developer and publisher in 2014 as its chief executive officer, and was instrumental in its successful initial public offering on AIM, its following growth and subsequent sale to EA.

Mercia said nDreams had developed and published games including Phantom: Covert Ops for Oculus headsets, and the “highly-anticipated” Fracked for PlayStation VR, that would be launched globally on 20 August.

nDreams had also collaborated with Ubisoft and Zero Latency VR on development of the free-roam arcade experience Far Cry VR: Dive into Insanity, which was made for Zero Latency venues globally.

Further developments included nDreams' move into third-party publishing, and the recent announcement of a second fully-remote studio, nDreams Studio Orbital, which would focus on developing live service games for VR.

Mercia holds a 35.4% fully-diluted direct investment stake, with a further 4.0% fully-diluted stake held by its managed funds.

“As Mercia's representative on the board of nDreams, I am increasingly excited about the growing appetite for VR technology, alongside the broader momentum being seen in the video games industry,” said Mercia’s chief investment officer Julian Viggars.

“nDreams has seen its revenue grow by 30% this financial year and has a number of titles under development, plus a strong pipeline of future projects.

“Patrick and his team have built one of the leading VR studios and Frank is the ideal chair to help guide nDreams through its ambitious next phase.”

At 1423 BST, shares in Mercia Asset Management were up 1.91% at 34.65p.