James Gwertzman of PlayFab
Categories

PopCap Games veteran spins PlayFab out of Uber Entertainment

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 2 min

James Gwertzman spent eight years at PopCap Games, much of it in China, as the game industry went through many changes. The Bejeweled and Plants vs. Zombies developer’s own struggles to adapt to the new free-to-play game business spurred the idea for a new company, according to Geekwire.

Gwertzman’s PlayFab, a Seattle spinout from online game company Uber Entertainment, will provide the back-end infrastructure that mobile and online game companies need to support their free-to-play titles. The company is in the midst of raising a $2.5 million investment round.

Unlock premium content and VIP community perks with GB M A X!
Join now to enjoy our free and premium perks.
Become a Member
Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.