Phil Owen becomes new Development Director at d3t

2nd Jul 2025

d3t is delighted to welcome in its new Development Director, Phil Owen. Phil will take over the role from d3t’s co-founder, Stephen Powell, who will now transition into a role to support Phil and d3t’s new Head of Studio, Louise Andrew.

Phil’s new role will see him depart his previous position of Head of Engineering, which he has held since joining d3t in 2018. During his leadership, Phil grew d3t’s engineering team to over 100+ programmers across the UK and Europe, and helped position our programming team as one that comes equipped with a vast and knowledgeable skillset across all aspects of games programming.

Sarah Newell, previously d3t’s Engineering Manager will now take on the role of Interim Head of Engineering.

Speaking on his new position, Phil said, “It is a genuine privilege to take on the role of Development Director. Following the expert reins of d3t’s co-founder, Steve Powell is a true honour, and one that I take the upmost pride in, none more so because Steve has been a mentor of mine ever since I first entered the industry in 1994.

“Since joining d3t in 2018, I have seen it grow from a relatively small team which focused mostly on providing engineering-based solutions. To it now being a studio of over 200 team members, spread across three locations – Madrid, Newcastle and Daresbury, with a service offering to include art, design, production, and QA.

“I am excited to now take on a leading role in helping the studio not only cement its place in the co-development sphere of games development, but also to grow this. We have a fantastic team of people here who love making games, many of whom have done so now for 10+ years. Our experience combined with our passion, makes d3t an asset to any studio that brings us on board, and I look forward to working with our partners to help enable us to add more value to their projects.”

Since joining the games industry in 1994, Phil has acquired over 30 years of experience which he will bring into his new role. As Development Director, he will be responsible for growing the studio’s game development capabilities, providing support and guidance to the development and leadership team, and driving forward key innovations across d3t’s multiple sites.