Foundation 9 exec to lead The Walking Dead creator's game division

Dan Murray, former vice president of business development at entertainment conglomerate Foundation 9, is moving to head Skybound Interactive, the video game division of The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman's transmedia company, reports Venture Beat.

Murray will head efforts to adapt the company's properties — which include comics like heist story Thief of Thieves and child-oriented series Super Dinosaur in addition to The Walking Dead — into video games. Skybound, which initially launched in 2010, has already found success creating adaptations across several different kinds of media, including television shows and merchandise. The company is currently partnered up with developer Telltale Games for their narrative-driven episode video game, The Walking Dead.

"This is a really important year for Skybound and our new interactive division," Robert Kirkman told Venture Beat. "Under Dan's leadership, I have no doubt we will break new ground in the interactive space and create an exciting experience for fans."

"Transmedia has been bandied about the industry for a while," Murray said. "Our different take on it is to have it come purely from the intellectual property rather than from a business strategy.

"It's about starting as a comic, releasing it in the market, and letting the fans decide," he added. "It's a natural and organic way to approach transmedia."

Murray spent seven years at Foundation 9, at which Venture Beat reports he closed more than 50 deals to develop video games, and will be joining his former colleague at Kirkman's studio — Foundation 9 co-founder Jon Goldman, who is currently Skybound Interactive's CEO and chairman.