John Davison Leaves Ziff Davis

After nearly ten years with Ziff Davis, John Davison is stepping down from his position as Senior Vice President and Editorial Director of Ziff's Game Group. Dan "Shoe" Hsu, who's been editor in chief of Electronic Gaming Monthly since pretty much the dawn of time, will become the Game Group's new editorial director. He will also continue in his role as EGM's EIC.

Simon Cox, most recently the creative director for 1Up, will become vice president of content for the Game Group:

I am thrilled to be leading the 1UP Network into the next cycle of its evolution as the top video game enthusiast media group. The Game Group has never been stronger, as shown by the many successes of our properties. I'm confident we are poised for even greater strides in the coming year. Stay tuned for some exciting things to happen in the near future.

Davison is leaving his post at Ziff to co-found a new company, joined by Ira Becker, who is leaving his position as executive vice president of the Game Group.

Given Ziff Davis' recent financial woes, you don't have to be a gymnast to jump to the conclusion that Davison and Becker are gettin' while the gettin' is good. Ziff suffered a similar blow earlier this year when the very visible (and popular) Luke Smith left to join Bungie. Regardless, we at Game|Life wish Davison much luck in his new venture.