Turbulenz COO steps down

The chief operating office and co-founder of HTML5 middleware outfit Turbulenz Gavin Shields has left the company.

In a statement to Develop, Shields said after a short break he would be setting up a new business later this year.

He said he was leaving the business in a strong financial position, and was proud of the team’s achievements in driving the continued growth and acceptance of HTML5 through its game engine.

He added the he felt he had achieved what he set out to do when forming the company over four years ago.

“I set up Turbulenz four years ago with two incredibly talented guys in James Austin and David Galeano,” said Shields.

“While we’ve had our fair share of challenges, since we open sourced the Turbulenz SDK a few months ago we’ve seen a big increase in developer and broader industry interest in what we’re doing. The business is growing and is in a strong financial position.

“Personally, I’ve achieved much of what I set out to achieve, in setting the business up and getting it going. It’s in great hands with James and the team, and it felt like a good time for me to move on. I am so proud of everyone at Turbulenz and what we have achieved together. Our products are driving the continued growth and acceptance of HTML5.

“After a short break, I’m setting up a new business later in 2013. More importantly though, beers with the team tonight in Guildford.”

Founded four years ago, Turbulenz has championed the use of HTML5 as a viable development platform.

In May, the game engine went open source as the company looked to make its tech more readily available to developers. The toolset is available under the standard MIT licence, and can be accessed from GitHub.