Cristian Pana’s Incredible Journey from Accountant to Tester to Head of New Amazon Games Studio in Bucharest

amazongames.com:

Amazon Games is reinforcing its commitment to delivering world-class video games with the launch of its new internal development studio in Bucharest, Romania. Leading this exciting venture is veteran video game developer Cristian Pana, who boasts an impressive track record of more than 20 years at renowned publishers like Ubisoft.

While Cristian is a well-known and respected fixture in the video game community as a leader and champion for all things gaming, his origin story begins far from the industry he now calls home.

“I started my career as a game tester over 20 years ago here in Bucharest,” Cristian said. “It was a complete departure from my career as a licensed accountant. I always wanted to be in games. As a kid and teenager, I always dreamed about a job where I could play games for a living, and being a game tester is the closest I could imagine. I immediately jumped into this wonderful, ever-changing entertainment industry when I had the first opportunity. And since then, I've loved every day of my gaming career.”

Throughout childhood, Cristian was an avid gamer, playing countless hours of his favorite titles, such as Railroad Tycoon, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Super Mario Bros. After his video game testing days ended, Cristian spent 20 years in a variety of game development positions and disciplines, including compliance specialist, project closer, producer, executive producer, and more. His career has taken him to multiple studios around the world, including stints in Shanghai, Toronto, Montreal, Lyon, Newcastle, Malmo, and back to Bucharest in 2020 when he was named Managing Director of Ubisoft’s Romania and Serbia studios.

With more than 20 years at Ubisoft, Cristian has overseen different parts of development for several popular AAA titles, including Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Driver San Francisco, Far Cry 3, Splinter Cell Blacklist, The Crew, and Tom Clancy’s The Division.

“Many projects come to mind from different parts of my career, but if I have