Christoph Hartmann | |
---|---|
Born | 1970 (age 53–54) Rosenheim, Germany |
Alma mater | Munich Business School |
Occupation(s) | Amazon Games vice president Former 2K president and co-founder |
Christoph Hartmann is a German-American video game executive and vice president of Amazon Games at Amazon. [1] Before assuming leadership of Amazon Games in 2018, he was president and co-founder of video game publisher 2K. [2] [3]
Hartmann was born in Rosenheim, Germany, in 1970. He attended university at Munich Business School. As of 2022, he splits his time between New York and Munich. [2]
Early in his career, Hartmann interned at BMG Music in Spain. In 1995, he moved to London and transitioned to a permanent role in BMG's then-new BMG Interactive division. There, he worked with Sam and Dan Houser, who went on to create Rockstar Games. [2] Hartmann also supported the launch of the original Grand Theft Auto in 1997 [4] as well as Grand Theft Auto 2 in 1999, Grand Theft Auto III in 2001, [2] and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City in 2002. [5] In 1998, video game publisher Take-Two Interactive acquired BMG Interactive [6] and Hartmann assumed the role of senior vice president of publishing. [2]
In 2005, Hartmann was a co-founder of 2K Games, [7] a new publishing label formed when Take-Two Interactive acquired NBA 2K developer Visual Concepts. [8] [9] That same year, Hartmann orchestrated 2K's acquisition of the publishing rights for the Civilization series and buyout of Civilization developer Firaxis Games. Under Hartmann's leadership 2K published its first major hit, BioShock , in 2007. In 2009, Hartmann led 2K in publishing its next major franchise with the release of Borderlands . [2]
At 2K, Hartmann established a reputation for prioritizing the quality of a game over rapid development, [2] an approach for which he continued to advocate later in his career, at Amazon. [7] [10] Metacritic ranked Take-Two Interactive as the top video game publisher of 2010. [11] Other games published under Hartmann at 2K include Evolve , Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel , [2] Mafia , [12] and several entries in the XCOM , Civilization, and NBA 2K series, [2] including NBA 2K14 , which in 2013 became the top-selling sports game in the U.S. on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. [13] [14] He departed 2K as company president in May 2017. [15]
In 2018, Hartmann joined Amazon as vice president of Amazon Game Studios, [16] charged with leading the development and publishing businesses [2] in Orange County, San Diego, and Seattle. [16] At the time, each game published by Amazon was treated as its own business; Hartmann established a centralized publishing division within the company. [2] [17] Hartmann relaxed the unit's requirement to use the Amazon Lumberyard game engine, opening up development using Unreal Engine. He also encouraged Amazon to publish titles developed by other companies. [12]
Shortly after Hartmann joined Amazon Games, the organization published Crucible and then returned it to closed beta [18] and eventually canceled it in 2020. [10] The company also developed and published New World , released in 2021, [1] and published Lost Ark (originally published in South Korea in 2019) in North America and other regions in 2022. [19] [17] Amazon Games opened a fourth office in Montreal after Hartmann hired the core team that created Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege in 2021. [20] [21]
In 2022, after the departure of previous head Mike Frazzini, Hartmann assumed leadership of Amazon Games [22] and Prime Gaming. [23] He also secured several publishing agreements for Amazon Games: with UK studio Glowmade (composed of Lionhead Studios alumni), [2] with Embracer Group [24] and Crystal Dynamics to publish the next game in the Tomb Raider franchise, [25] [22] with Disruptive Games, [26] and with Bandai Namco to publish Blue Protocol in the west. [27]
In October 2022, Variety included Hartmann in its annual list of leaders in entertainment gaming. [28] The next year, Amazon Games announced a partnership with NCSoft to publish Throne and Liberty . [29] In May 2023, Hartmann secured an agreement with Embracer Group, owner of Middle-earth Enterprises, for Amazon Games to create a massively multiplayer online game based on The Lord of the Rings . [30] [4]
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993.
Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Founding members of the company were Terry Donovan, Gary Foreman, Dan and Sam Houser, and Jamie King, who worked for Take-Two at the time, and of which the Houser brothers were previously executives at BMG Interactive. Sam Houser heads the studio as president.
Rockstar Games UK Limited is a British video game development company and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Edinburgh. The company was founded as DMA Design in Dundee in 1987 by David Jones, soon hiring former classmates Mike Dailly, Russell Kay, and Steve Hammond. During its early years, DMA Design was backed by its publisher Psygnosis, primarily focusing on Amiga, Atari ST and Commodore 64 games. During this time, they created successful shooters such as Menace and Blood Money, but soon turned to platform games after the release of Lemmings in 1991, which was an international success and led to several sequels and spin-offs. After developing Unirally for Nintendo, DMA Design was set to become one of their main second-party developers, but this partnership ended after Nintendo's disapproval of Body Harvest.
NBA 2K is a series of basketball sports simulation video games developed by Visual Concepts and released annually since 1999. The premise of the series is to emulate the sport of basketball, and more specifically, the National Basketball Association.
Gearbox Software is an American video game development company based in Frisco, Texas. It was established as a limited liability company in February 1999 by five developers formerly of Rebel Boat Rocker. Randy Pitchford, one of the founders, serves as president and chief executive officer. Gearbox initially created expansions for the Valve game Half-Life, then ported that game and others to console platforms. In 2005, Gearbox launched its first independent set of games, Brothers in Arms, on console and mobile devices. It became their flagship franchise and spun off a comic book series, television documentary, books, and action figures. Their second original game series, Borderlands, commenced in 2009, and by 2015 had sold over 26 million copies. The company also owns the intellectual property of Duke Nukem and Homeworld.
Crystal Dynamics, Inc. is an American video game developer based in San Mateo, California. The studio is best known for its games in the Tomb Raider, Legacy of Kain, and Gex series.
Grand Theft Auto IV is a 2008 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the sixth main entry in the Grand Theft Auto series, following 2004's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and the eleventh instalment overall. Set in the fictional Liberty City, based on New York City, the single-player story follows Eastern European war veteran Niko Bellic and his attempts to escape his past while under pressure from high-profile criminals. The open world design lets players freely roam Liberty City, consisting of three main islands, and the neighbouring state of Alderney, which is based on New Jersey.
2K is an American video game publisher based in Novato, California. The company was founded as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive in January 2005 through the 2K Games and 2K Sports sub-labels. The nascent label incorporated several development studios owned by Take-Two, including Visual Concepts and Kush Games, which had been acquired the day before. Originally based in New York City, 2K moved to Novato in 2007. A third label, 2K Play, was added in September 2007. 2K is governed by David Ismailer as president and Phil Dixon as chief operating officer. It operates a motion capture studio in Petaluma, California.
Sam Houser is an English video game producer. He is a co-founder and the current president of Rockstar Games, and is one of the creative driving forces behind the Grand Theft Auto franchise, having been its producer since the third game. His brother Dan was Rockstar's vice president of creativity until 2020.
Turtle Rock Studios is an American video game developer founded in March 2002 by Mike Booth. It was acquired by Valve in 2008, but was re-founded in 2010 as a subsidiary of Slamfire Inc. by Phil Robb and Chris Ashton. Turtle Rock Studios is involved in the creation of original titles as well as the provision of consulting services to the digital entertainment industry.
Daniel Houser is an English video game writer and producer. He is a co-founder of Rockstar Games, where he served as the head writer and vice president of creativity until his resignation in 2020. His brother Sam is the president of Rockstar.
Spec Ops: Rangers Lead The Way is a tactical shooter video game developed by Zombie Studios and published by Ripcord Games exclusively for Windows. Players take control of United States Army Rangers; the game's subtitle is the Ranger motto. It is the first game in the Spec Ops series.
Video gaming in the United States is one of the fastest-growing entertainment industries in the country. The American video game industry is the largest video game industry in the world. According to a 2020 study released by the Entertainment Software Association, the yearly economic output of the American video game industry in 2019 was $90.3 billion, supporting over 429,000 American jobs. With an average yearly salary of about $121,000, the latter figure includes over 143,000 individuals who are directly employed by the video game business. Additionally, activities connected to the video game business generate $12.6 billion in federal, state, and local taxes each year. World Economic Forum estimates that by 2025 the American gaming industry will reach $42.3 billion while worldwide gaming industry will possibly reach US$270 billion. The United States is one of the nations with the largest influence in the video game industry, with video games representing a significant part of its economy.
Grand Theft Auto V is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the seventh main entry in the Grand Theft Auto series, following 2008's Grand Theft Auto IV, and the fifteenth instalment overall. Set within the fictional state of San Andreas, based on Southern California, the single-player story follows three protagonists—retired bank robber Michael De Santa, street gangster Franklin Clinton, and drug dealer and gunrunner Trevor Philips, and their attempts to commit heists while under pressure from a corrupt government agency and powerful criminals. Players freely roam San Andreas's open world countryside and fictional city of Los Santos, based on Los Angeles.
NBA 2K13 is a 2012 basketball video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K. It was released on September 19, 2012 for the Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii and Xbox 360. A version for the Wii U was also released as a launch title in North America, and in December for the PAL region. Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers, Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls are the cover athletes, and they are all shown in dunking positions. NBA 2K13 is the successor to NBA 2K12, succeeded by NBA 2K14 in the NBA 2K series and is the fourteenth installment in the 2K series. The game was executive produced by rapper Jay-Z, who designed the game and curated its soundtrack. It is also the fourth and last NBA 2K game to be released on both the Wii and PlayStation Portable, the only installment available on the Wii U, and the last to be available on pure handheld systems.
Amazon Games is an American video game company and division of the online retailing company Amazon that primarily focuses on publishing video games developed within the company's development divisions.
Everywhere is an upcoming video game developed by Build a Rocket Boy.
NBA Playgrounds is a 2017 sports video game developed by Saber Interactive and published by Mad Dog Games for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and for Microsoft Windows, and is a spin-off title of the NBA 2K series published by 2K and a part of the Playground Sports series. Bearing similarities to previous related titles such as NBA Jam and NBA Street, NBA Playgrounds is an arcade-style basketball game officially licensed by the National Basketball Association.
Private Division is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was founded by Take-Two Interactive and announced in December 2017. Private Division funds and publishes indie games developed by small to mid-sized studios. This includes taking over Kerbal Space Program publishing and releasing titles from Obsidian Entertainment, Panache Digital Games, and V1 Interactive.
NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 is a sports video game developed by Saber Interactive and published by 2K, and is a spin-off title of the NBA 2K series and a part of the Playground Sports series. The game was released for Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One on October 16, 2018. It is the sequel to the 2017 video game NBA Playgrounds. Like its predecessor, NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 is an arcade-style basketball game. The game featured improved AI over its predecessor. Originally scheduled to release on May 22, 2018, the game was delayed to October 16 due to Saber finalizing a publishing deal with 2K.