SIDE officially launches Los Angeles office with ribbon cutting and red carpet celebration

Pole To Win International (PTWI) celebrated the grand opening of its new audio production division SIDE Los Angeles with a special ribbon cutting and red carpet celebration held at SIDE LA studios last night (Thursday March 23, 2017) in Marina Del Rey, CA. SIDE is Europe’s leading provider of casting, recording and directing services to the video games industry.

During the launch event, attendees were greeted by Pole To Win International and SIDE senior executives including: Teppei Tachibana, CEO, Pole To Win; Deborah Kirkham, COO & President, Pole To Win; Andy Emery, Senior Director, Global Audio, SIDE; and Jacqui Shriver, Head of Studio, SIDE LA, among others. The team participated in a cake cutting and ribbon cutting ceremony. Guests also received VIP tours of the new facility, which is now officially available for SIDE’s clients. The event’s guests included executives from the major video game publishers and developers. Representatives from Senator Ben Allen (26th District) also attended the ribbon cutting celebration.

SIDE's recent projects include audio localization services on the hugely anticipated Nintendo Switch title, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which won the Most Anticipated Game Award at the 2016 Game Awards, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands, Battlefield 1, Hitman, FIFA 17, and Tom Clancy’s The Division.

Prior to the launch event on Thursday, the senior management teams from Pole to Win and SIDE participated in a special press conference where Pole To Win CEO Teppei Tachibana discussed the company’s recent growth. Pole to Win is now in 9 countries, with 35 studios worldwide. The company has 20 delivery centers in Japan, with 13 delivery centers across the US, Europe, India and Asia. “With SIDE we now feature Voice Production studios in Shanghai, London and now Marina Del Rey,” he commented. “We are so excited to open this lovely studio, so that SIDE can continue to provide engaging character performances for some of the Games industry’s most beloved brands,” he added.

Andy Emery, Senior Director of Global Audio at SIDE also addressed reporters where he shared highlights of SIDE’s successes from its creation nearly 20 years ago in London’s Soho District. “When we originally set up SIDE, there wasn’t much in the way of voice performances in games… but as the industry matured and character performances in games have become more sophisticated, SIDE has been fortunate to be at the forefront of that evolution,” he said. “Over the last 10 years, the SIDE team has been honored to have been awarded 11 peer-voted Industry Excellence Awards and we’ve seen a number of titles that we’ve worked on pick up awards for Best Audio and Best Performer. It’s these award-winning services that we are now delighted to be bringing to LA, along with our new state-of-the-art facilities with a stellar team that will be led by SIDE studio Head Jacquie Shriver,” he added. SIDE’s Head of Localization Olivier Deslandes and SIDE’s Performance Director Kate Saxon (Witcher 3, Mafia 3) joined Emery in interviews and group tours of the new facility following the press conference.