Riot Games executive John Knauss joins GRID as Executive VP

Game data platform GRID has announced the appointment of John Knauss as its Executive Vice President.

Knauss will be leading the company’s game developer data solutions, focusing on managing tournaments, data distribution, monetisation, and integrity. He will also be working with several game developers, including Riot Games, Ubisoft, and KRAFTON.

Knauss has over 15 years of experience in data product development, having worked for nearly a decade at Riot Games on the creation and development of competitive data programs for both League of Legends and VALORANT.

According to a press release, Knauss will be leading the North American team, working closely with VP of Business Development Julian Schwartz (formerly of YouTube Gaming) and Senior Business Data Consultant Tim Sevenhuysen, previously Director of Esports Analytics at 100 Thieves.

Founded in 2018, GRID has established itself as a leading data provider in the esports and gaing space. Alongside working closely with game developers, the company has also secured several partnerships with other key stakeholders in the scene, including betting providers such as DATA.BET, BETER, and Abios, as well as tournament organisers such as BLAST.

GRID notably works closely with Riot Games to run official Data Portals for Riot titles League of Legends and VALORANT, which which provide real-time game data, match history and other information to stakeholders.

Knauss commented: “Almost ten years at Riot Games, much of it spent expanding esports data strategy and building data-focused teams, showed over and over the value of leveraging in-game data for powering deeper insights, stronger engagement, and improved sustainability for games.”

He continued: “Moritz [Maurer, CEO of GRID Esports], myself, and the entire GRID team share a common vision for bringing those industry-leading capabilities to a broader audience of game developers. GRID’s culture, approach to in-game data, and deep focus on creating value for developers, players, and the ecosystem, is a perfect fit, and I’m excited for the future we want to create.”