PopCap Games announced today that James Gwertzman has been named Vice President of Asia/Pacific. He will be relocated to a new office in Shanghai later this month, where he will help the company bring Bejeweled, Chuzzle, Peggle, and Zuma to Asian audiences. Gwertzman will oversee a team of developers, artists, business development executives, and other staffers who are tasked with creating games specifically for Asia/Pacific consumers.

"This is the opportunity of a lifetime," said Gwertzman. "The casual games space in Asia is totally different than in North America or Europe, but if we can get it right, it's a tremendous opportunity. With more than 400 million Internet users, the wired population of Asia is bigger than that of either North America or Europe, and casual games are very popular throughout the region. We've had a modest 'stealth' presence in the area for two years now, but now we're ready to open a fully-staffed office. We have enough confidence in our strategy to make a sizable investment, but we're humble enough to realize that these are very different markets, and so we have designed our organization here first and foremost to be nimble and flexible."