Fortnite-maker Epic Games has hired Reggie Davis as its general counsel, replacing Canon Pence who left the business in December to focus on making music.
Davis joins from real estate tech company Qualia Labs, where he was chief legal officer. Bloomberg Law reported he brings decades of public company experience to privately-held Epic, which some observers view as a potential indicator of taking his new employer public.
North Carolina-based Epic Games is best known for making video games such as Fortnite and Gears of War.
In a LinkedIn post, Davis said he was “happy to share that I started a new position as general counsel at Epic Games”.
Davis spent five years at Qualia Labs, having previously been chief legal, privacy and compliance officer at DocuSign. He also had in-house spells at Zynga Game Network (as GC) and Yahoo! (as associate GC, among other roles).
He started his legal career in private practice at legacy firm Hancock Rothert & Bunshoft, which was later acquired by Duane Morris.
Pence, meanwhile, departed Epic Games after 13 and a half years. He was previously a senior associate at Hunton & Williams.
Writing on LinkedIn, he said he had stepped away from his role at Epic Games, adding: “I’m grateful for all of the people I’ve met, friends I’ve made, things I’ve learned and opportunities I’ve been given. It’s completely changed my life. Most important to me, I’m infinitely proud of the team we built out of nothing. I wish Epic and all of it’s people the best, and I look forward to hearing what comes next over there.”
In a separate post, Pence said he was moving away from professional work to focus on other interests, including music and his Twilark project, which he describes on Bandcamp as “songwriting born from the crossroads of southern melancholy and gothic folk”.
In other video games-related moves, last May US video games industry body the Entertainment Software Association named Stan McCoy as GC, replacing Gina Vetere in the role. McCoy was previously president of the Motion Picture Association. Meanwhile in June 2024, Activision Blizzard’s legal chief Grant Dixton left to join General Motors as chief legal and public policy officer in the wake of the former’s sale to Microsoft.
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