# James Zhang

> James Zhang is a San Francisco-based artist, founder, investor and gaming executive who began as a concept artist at LucasArts, built Concept Art House into a creative-services studio credited with work across more than 1,000 shipped games, and now leads Concept Labs as it develops digital ownership and fan-engagement products including UFC Strike and Fight.ID.

- **Role:** Chief Executive Officer at Concept Labs; founder of Concept Art House; co-founder and CEO of Fight.ID
- **Organizations:** Concept Labs, Concept Art House, Fight.ID, UFC Strike, Blockchain Coinvestors, Fifth Era, Spellgun, Zattikka, Massive Black, Factor 5, LucasArts
- **Education:** Bachelor's degree in Illustration, Ringling College of Art and Design, Illustration studies, Memphis College of Art
- **Known for:** Built Concept Art House from a game-art studio founded in 2007 into a company credited with contributing to more than 1,000 shipped game titles., Worked as a concept artist on Star Wars games at LucasArts and as an artist on Lair at Factor 5., Contributed illustrations to multiple Dungeons & Dragons and Paizo role-playing game publications.

## Career timeline

- **1998** — Began his game-industry career as a concept artist at LucasArts.
- **2004** — Joined Factor 5 as an artist and worked on Lair for PlayStation 3.
- **2007** — Founded Concept Art House, initially focused on 2D concept art.
- **2008** — Concept Art House became a U.S. company headquartered in San Francisco and expanded into 3D art and console games.
- **2011** — Served as executive producer on Daomu, an English-language graphic-novel adaptation published by Image Comics.
- **2012** — Concept Art House was acquired by Zattikka as the games company listed on London's AIM market; Zhang served as Zattikka's chief product officer.
- **2013** — Concept Art House returned to independent operation after the Zattikka combination.
- **2014** — Became CEO of Spellgun, a Concept Art House and Talkweb venture created to bring North American mobile games to China.
- **2019** — Concept Art House opened an office in Chengdu, China.
- **2021** — Concept Art House raised a $25 million Series A to expand its work in NFTs and Web3.
- **2022** — Discussed the company's full pivot toward Web3 and an artist-friendly credentialing network on TechCrunch's Chain Reaction podcast.
- **2023** — Became CEO of Concept Labs; UFC and Concept Labs announced a multi-year partnership for UFC Strike.
- **2025** — Marked more than 1,000 shipped game titles in a GDC reunion post with current and former Concept Art House colleagues.
- **2026** — Publicly described Fight.ID's goal of using identity, reputation and ownership to turn combat-sports spectators into stakeholders.

## Achievements

- Built Concept Art House from a game-art studio founded in 2007 into a company credited with contributing to more than 1,000 shipped game titles.
- Worked as a concept artist on Star Wars games at LucasArts and as an artist on Lair at Factor 5.
- Contributed illustrations to multiple Dungeons & Dragons and Paizo role-playing game publications.
- Led Concept Art House through its 2012 acquisition during Zattikka's AIM listing and its subsequent return to independence.
- Launched Spellgun with Talkweb in 2014 to publish and localize North American mobile games in China.
- Raised a $25 million Series A for Concept Art House in 2021 from investors that included Animoca Brands, Dapper Labs and others.
- Secured a multi-year Concept Labs partnership with UFC to publish and expand UFC Strike.
- Serves as an investor and advisor in gaming, blockchain and early-stage technology companies.

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — Reiterated publicly that Fight.ID is focused on bringing combat sports into Web3 and converting spectators into stakeholders.
- **2026-01** — Explained Fight.ID's identity, reputation and ownership model and the evolution of the UFC Strike partnership in a long-form interview.
- **2025-07** — Concept Labs updated UFC Strike's terms as operator of the digital collectible application and marketplace.
- **2025-03** — Shared a GDC reunion photo and marked more than 1,000 game titles shipped with Concept Art House's extended team.

## Links

- Website: https://conceptlabs.xyz
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conceptarthouse
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/jzconcepts
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jzconcepts/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/james-zhang
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-18