Bill Roper (video game producer)

Last updated
Bill Roper
Bill roper.jpg
Roper in 2007
Born (1965-03-27) March 27, 1965 (age 59)
Concord, California, U.S. [1] [2]
Occupation(s) Game designer, voice actor

Bill Roper (born March 27, 1965) is an American video game designer and producer. He is a co-founder and the current Chief Executive Officer at Lunacy Games. Previously he was Chief Creative Officer at Web3 start-up Midnight. He has also served as co-founder and Chief Creative Officer at AuthorDigital (Adept Stusios / Arcadia Games) and was Chief Creative Officer at Improbable. Roper was Vice President/GM at Disney Interactive Studios from 2011–2016, [3] and headed video game studios and creative and development departments for two decades, including divisions at Blizzard Entertainment, Flagship Studios, and Cryptic Studios. He is also an accomplished musician, and a founding member of the folk band The Poxy Boggards. [4]

Contents

Career

Roper worked at Blizzard North and Blizzard Entertainment from 1994 to 2003, and was Vice President at Blizzard North at the time of his departure. [5] He served in senior production and design capacities on the Warcraft , StarCraft , and Diablo series. He also provided voice-over talent for numerous games. [6]

After his departure from Blizzard, Roper co-founded and held the position of CEO for Flagship Studios, the developer of Hellgate: London and Mythos (which was later released by HanbitSoft). [7] In early 2008, amidst rumors of layoffs within the company, [8] the company dissolved and lost the rights to both Mythos and Hellgate: London to Hanbitsoft and Comerica [9] respectively, after it secured financing with Texas-based Comerica Bank to support the continuing development of its franchises. [10] HanbitSoft currently owns the intellectual property rights to Mythos and Hellgate: London. [11]

In November 2008 Roper joined Cryptic Studios as Design Director and Executive Producer of their newest project, Champions Online . [12] In March 2010, Roper was promoted to Chief Creative Officer of Cryptic, replacing Jack Emmert after the latter transitioned to the role of Chief Operations Officer. [13] On August 16, 2010, Roper announced his departure from Cryptic Studios to join Disney. [14]

Roper was brought on to head the Marvel Franchise games created by Disney Interactive. [15] He was then promoted to VP/GM, Core Games when Alex Seropian left Disney. [16] While in this role, his Core Games group released Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two , Fantasia: Music Evolved , and Disney Infinity , the latter quickly rising to high levels of critical and commercial success. [17]

Roper was formerly Chief Creative Officer at Improbable. [18] In an interview with VentureBeat, Bill Roper unveiled the name of a new studio he founded, Lunacy Games, which is currently developing an "open world survival RPG set in the post-apocalyptic American West" as well as a sequel to 2007's Hellgate: London , codenamed Hellgate: Redemption [19]

Honors

Roper was named #41 in IGN's Top 100 Game Creators of All Time. [20]

Game Titles

Roper has worked on the following titles: [21]

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References

  1. ↑ "Roper at MySpace". MySpace. Retrieved April 12, 2011.
  2. ↑ "Roper's Facebook page". Facebook. Retrieved April 12, 2011.
  3. ↑ "Bill Roper". Giant Bomb . Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  4. ↑ "The Poxy Boggards". The Jester's Court. Archived from the original on January 26, 2010. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
  5. ↑ Parker, Sam (July 1, 2003). "Bill Roper interview". GameSpot . Retrieved March 9, 2009.
  6. ↑ Hartley, Adam (April 21, 2010). "From Warcraft to Hellgate and beyond". GamesRadar+ . Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  7. ↑ Wallis, Alistair (June 29, 2007). "Q&A: Flagship's Roper Talks Hellgate Pricing, Mythos". Gamasutra . Retrieved March 9, 2009.
  8. ↑ "FSS Senior Developer speaks out at You Got Flagshipped". Flagshipped.com. Archived from the original on December 28, 2008. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
  9. ↑ Green, Jeff. "Flagship Founder Bill Roper Interview". 1up.com. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
  10. ↑ Linde, Aaron (March 26, 2008). "Comments - Hellgate: London Receives Additional Financing; Failship Uses Sales Rights As Loan Collatoral - Shacknews - PC Games, PlayStation, Xbox 360 and Wii video game news, previews and downloads". Shacknews. Archived from the original on July 31, 2008. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
  11. ↑ Warner, Matt (July 15, 2008). "HanbitSoft CEO claims ownership rights to Hellgate:London and Mythos". Engadget . Retrieved March 9, 2009.
  12. ↑ "Cryptic Studios Hires Industry Veteran Bill Roper | Champions Online Official Site". Champions-online.com. November 3, 2008. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
  13. ↑ Horner, Kyle (March 30, 2010). "Bill Roper made Cryptic's CCO, Jack Emmert switches to COO". Massively. Retrieved March 31, 2010.
  14. ↑ "Bill Roper Departs Cryptic Studios | Champions Online Official Site". Champions-online.com. August 16, 2010. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
  15. ↑ Brown, Nathan (July 22, 2011). "Bill Roper joins Disney Interactive". Edge Online . Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  16. ↑ Conditt, Jessica (February 7, 2012). "Former Bungie president, Alex Seropian, leaves Disney Interactive". Engadget. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  17. ↑ "Disney May Turnaround Its Interactive Media Losses Over Infinity". Nasdaq, Inc. March 18, 2014. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  18. ↑ "Former Disney VP Bill Roper and GitHub's Jason Jhonson join Improbable's leadership team". Improbable . June 5, 2017. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  19. ↑ Takahashi, Dean (March 27, 2024). "Bill Roper unveils Lunacy Games studio with survival game demo and a new Hellgate license". VentureBeat. Retrieved April 22, 2024.
  20. ↑ "Bill Roper: Top Game Creator". IGN . March 6, 2009. Archived from the original on March 6, 2009. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
  21. ↑ "IMDB profile". Imdb.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2009. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
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