Mark Turmell

Mark Turmell

Sr. Creative Director

Zynga

JAM, BLITZ, BALLERS: All brands synonymous with their creator, Mark Turmell. This 20+year veteran of the game industry has created groundbreaking play for Publishers Midway, EA Sports and Zynga.

Turmell generated early hits in the Industry beginning on the Apple II, and Atari VCS, but joining Williams Electronics in the late 80’s is where he caught fire by creating five original IP’s generating well over $1 billion dollars in arcade revenue. He is the name behind many of Midway’s multimillion unit sales games: NBA Jam, NFL Blitz, NBA Ballers, NBA Showtime, WWF Wrestlemania and Smash TV.

As Sr. Creative Director at EA Sports Turmell was instrumental in continuing Madden’s climb to the top by focusing on gameplay, and the rebirth of the NFL Blitz Franchise. Currently at Zynga, Turmell is building social games from the ground up. With Bubble Safari, Mark saw the game gain over 7 million daily active players within one month of launch. As the creator of Ninja Kingdom with long time colleague, John Tobias (Mortal Kombat), Turmell has watched the title become the #1 Action Strategy game on Facebook. Tobias: “Mark Turmell’s journey from wiz kid to gameplay sage has spanned the entire duration of the industry. His consistent focus on the mechanics of fun and 60fps has been an infectious benefit to everyone around him.”