John Baez (game developer)

John Baez
Occupation(s)	Businessman, Video game developer
Known for	Alien Hominid Castle Crashers BattleBlock Theater Pit People Alien Hominid Invasion

John Baez is an American businessman and game developer. Known for co-founding indie developer The Behemoth, he currently serves as the CEO and President. ^[1] Baez was previously a 3D artist at Gratuitous Games. ^{[2] [3]}

Career

In August 2002, Tom Fulp and Dan Paladin collaborated in creating the Flash game Alien Hominid for Fulp's website Newgrounds. Baez, a co-worker of Paladin, approached him and offered to produce the game if it were developed for consoles. Shortly after, The Behemoth was founded in 2003. Their first release on home consoles, Alien Hominid, received critical acclaim from games media, and The Behemoth quickly gained status as a prominent indie developer.

Baez, Fulp, and Paladin frequently attend trade events and conventions as The Behemoth. Baez claimed, "If you’re an independent gaming developer, going to trade shows is a lot more important than you might think". ^[4]

The success of Alien Homindid allowed the team to begin development on Castle Crashers. Castle Crashers was a smash hit on Xbox Live Arcade when it launched in 2008. The game was part of the first Summer of Arcade promotion held by Xbox. It sold over 2 million copies by 2010 and began The Behemoth's relationship with Microsoft during the Xbox 360 console generation. ^[5]

In 2013, Baez was interviewed about the instability of indie video game development. He claimed studios are constantly balancing the cost of development against the number of expected customers. Even with Castle Crashers' massive success, the studio's development process didn't change. ^[6]

In 2024, The Behemoth celebrated its 21st anniversary. Following Castle Crashers, they released Battleblock Theater (2013), Pit People (2017), and Alien Hominid Invasion (2023). ^[7]

Games

Game	Year Released
Alien Hominid [8]	2004
Castle Crashers	2008
Battleblock Theater [9]	2013
Pit People	2017
Alien Hominid Invasion	2023
Behemoth (game)	2024

Personal life

Baez resides in San Diego, California, where The Behemoth studio is headquartered. ^[10]

References

1. "Interview with The Behemoth". Capsule Computers. Retrieved 30 June 2025.
2. "John Baez - person". Giant Bomb. Retrieved 30 June 2025.
3. "The Behemoth CEO John Baez discusses porting games to Switch". Shacknews. Retrieved 30 June 2025.
4. "Interview - The Behemoth". Gamingtrend. Retrieved 30 June 2025.
5. "Castle Crashers 2 million Xbox Live players". Gamesindustry.biz. Archived from the original on 24 June 2024. Retrieved 30 June 2025.
6. "Industry instability is here to stay, says The Behemoth". Gamesindustry.biz. Archived from the original on 16 May 2025. Retrieved 30 June 2025.
7. "Castle Crashers studios announces brand new game, BEHEMOTH". Thumb Culture. Archived from the original on 29 November 2024. Retrieved 30 June 2025.
8. "Classic Postmortem: The Behemoth's Alien Hominid (2004)". Gamedeveloper. Archived from the original on 9 August 2024. Retrieved 30 June 2025.
9. "Battleblock Theater". XBLAfans. Archived from the original on 15 August 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2025.
10. "John Baez". Game Reactor. Archived from the original on 25 January 2025. Retrieved 30 June 2025.