“Team17 CEO Debbie Bestwick MBE steps down”

Team17 co-founder Debbie Bestwick MBE is stepping down as the company’s CEO, a role she has worked in since 2009.

The decision was announced today (March 28), with Bestwick citing a desire to spend more time with her family.

“This has probably been the hardest decision I’ve made, but I wouldn’t have made it if I wasn’t confident in the succession plans and the leadership team’s ability to deliver the clear and focused strategy regarding our collective goals and ambitions,” shared Bestwick (via GI.biz).

“Ultimately, I want to spend more time with my children who have made sacrifices many times during my career and specifically to spend more time with my youngest before he goes to university.”

Bestwick will step down as CEO once a successor is found, though she will remain at Team17 in a non-executive role to offer “mentorship, support and guidance to the board and the senior management team”.

Dredge. Credit: Black Salt Games

Bestwick, who was one of the company’s co-founders, said Team17 is “now unrecognisable compared to those early days” and highlighted an “extremely bright” future for the group.

Chris Bell, a non-exec chairman at Team17, said the company “would not be where we are today” without Bestwick. “We all collectively wish her the very best in all her future endeavours and look forward to continuing to benefit from her unrivalled knowledge when she joins the board as a non-executive director.”

Bell added that Team17 is “actively engaged” in a search for Bestwick’s replacement.

Team17’s latest project was Dredge, a Lovecraftian fishing game that it publishes on Thursday (March 30). NME awarded Dredge three stars in our review, describing it as “a beautifully decorated vessel that runs well for the first few hours, before revealing itself to be a bit of an old clunker”.

In other gaming news, GameCube and Wii emulator Dolphin is coming to Steam this year.