List of video game industry people

Last updated

Below is a list of notable people who work or have worked in the video game industry .

Contents

The list is divided into different roles, but some people fit into more than one category. For example, Sid Meier is both a game designer and programmer. [1] In these cases, the people appear in both sections.

Art and animation

Company officers

Design

Hardware

Music and sound

Online gaming

Producing

Programming

Related Research Articles

id Software American video game developer

id Software LLC is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack.

A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with employee responsibilities split between individual disciplines, such as programmers, designers, artists, etc. Most game development companies have video game publisher financial and usually marketing support. Self-funded developers are known as independent or indie developers and usually make indie games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Activision</span> American video game publisher

Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one of the largest third-party video game publishers in the world and was the top United States publisher in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Origin Systems</span> Former video game developer based in Austin, Texas

Origin Systems, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. It was founded on March 3, 1983, by Richard Garriott and his brother Robert. Origin is best known for their groundbreaking work in multiple genres of video games, such as the Ultima and Wing Commander series. The company was purchased by Electronic Arts in 1992.

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is a non-profit organization of video game industry professionals. It organizes the annual Design Innovate Communicate Entertain summit, better known as D.I.C.E., which includes the presentations of the D.I.C.E. Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neversoft</span> American video game developer

Neversoft Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Woodland Hills, California. The studio was founded by Joel Jewett, Mick West and Chris Ward in July 1994 and was acquired by Activision in October 1999. Initially, the studio worked with Playmates Toys, where they worked on the game Skeleton Warriors, which was based on a animated television series of the same name. Throughout 1996, the studio grew, and worked on projects with Crystal Dynamics and Sony Computer Entertainment, but due to internal conflicts, they were cancelled.

Criterion Games is a British video game developer based in Guildford. Founded in January 1996 as a division of Criterion Software, it was owned by Canon Inc. until Criterion Software was sold to Electronic Arts in October 2004. Many of Criterion Games' titles were built on the RenderWare engine, which Criterion Software developed. Notable games developed by Criterion Games include racing video games in the Burnout and Need for Speed series. As of April 2017, Criterion Games employ approximately 90 people.

Mark Jacobs is an American game designer, programmer, author and businessman, and the former GM/VP/CEO of Mythic Entertainment, Inc and after Mythic Entertainment was sold to Electronic Arts in 2006 he served as its GM/VP/CEO at EA. Best known as a lead designer of Dark Age of Camelot (2001) and Camelot Unchained (2019), he also created two early MUDs, Aradath and Dragon's Gate, serving as both the designer and programmer in addition to his duties as President/CEO. He founded A.U.S.I. in 1983 and worked on a number of computer games for systems such as the Apple II.

Radical Entertainment Inc. is a Canadian video game developer based in Vancouver. The studio is best known for developing The Simpsons: Hit & Run (2003), Prototype (2009) and Prototype 2 (2013), as well as entries in the Crash Bandicoot franchise. Radical Entertainment was founded in September 1991 by Rory Armes. Dave Davis, and Ian Wilkinson. It was acquired by Vivendi Games in 2005 and transferred to Activision in 2008. The studio faced significant layoffs in 2010 and 2012, with the latter causing it to cease development of original games and only support other Activision studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">EA Tiburon</span> Video game development studio by EA

EA Orlando is an American video game developer located in Orlando, Florida founded in 1994. It was formerly known as Tiburon Entertainment, which was acquired by Electronic Arts in 1998. After the acquisition, the studio was renamed EA Tiburon. EA had already purchased a minority equity interest in Tiburon in May 1996, the terms of which included that Tiburon would develop games exclusively for EA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garry Kitchen</span> American video game designer

Garry Kitchen is a video game designer, programmer, and executive best known for developing games for the Atari 2600, Commodore 64, Nintendo Entertainment System, and Super Nintendo Entertainment System, as well as co-founding Absolute Entertainment with ex-Activision developers. His port of Donkey Kong for the Atari 2600 was a major hit for Coleco, selling over 4 million copies. His other 2600 work includes Keystone Kapers and Pressure Cooker for Activision and Space Jockey for U.S. Games. He also wrote Garry Kitchen's GameMaker and The Designer's Pencil for the Commodore 64.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Capps (executive)</span> American video game designer and executive

Michael V. Capps or Mike Capps is an American video game designer who was the president of Epic Games, based in Cary, North Carolina from 2002 to 2012. In 2018, he co-founded a new artificial intelligence company called Howso. He has been described as "a legendary figure in the video game industry."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lobotomy Software</span> Former American video game developer

Lobotomy Software, Inc. was an American video game developer founded in 1993 and based in Redmond, Washington. The company ported Quake and Duke Nukem 3D to the Sega Saturn and developed the first-person shooter PowerSlave. Lobotomy Software was acquired by Crave Entertainment in 1998 and renamed to Lobotomy Studios which closed a year later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larian Studios</span> Belgian video game developer and publisher

Larian Studios is a Belgian video game developer and publisher founded in 1996 by Swen Vincke. It focuses on developing role-playing video games and has previously worked on educational games and a number of casino games. It is best known for developing the Divinity series and Baldur's Gate 3.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Brevik</span> American video game developer

David Brevik is an American video game designer, producer and programmer who served as the co-founder and president of Blizzard North. He is best known for the critically acclaimed Diablo franchise. Currently he serves as game designer and founder of his independent studio, Graybeard Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Video games in the United States</span> Overview of the video game system in America

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. Major publishers headquartered in the United States are Sony Interactive Entertainment, Take-Two Interactive, Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks, Epic Games, Valve, Warner Bros. Games, Riot Games, and others. Major video game events such as E3, Summer Game Fest and PAX are held every year in the US. For many years, E3, held annually in the US, was considered the biggest gaming expo of the year in terms of its importance and impact. The Game Awards and D.I.C.E. Awards are some of the most respected video game awards events in the video game industry. 103 million people watched The Game Awards 2022 event alone. The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is still the largest and one of the most important video game conference for video game developers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swen Vincke</span> Belgian video game designer, programmer and director

Swen Johan Vincke is a Belgian video game designer, programmer and director. He is the founder and CEO of the video game company Larian Studios, where he has led the development of the Divinity series and Baldur's Gate 3.

In the video game industry, a console war describes the competition between two or more video game console manufacturers in trying to achieve better consumer sales through more advanced console technology, an improved selection of video games, and general marketing around their consoles. While console manufacturers are generally always trying to out-perform other manufacturers in sales, these console wars engage in more direct tactics to compare their offerings directly against their competitors or to disparage the competition in contrast to their own, and thus the marketing efforts have tended to escalate in back-and-forth pushes.

The 21st Game Developers Choice Awards was an annual awards ceremony by Game Developers Choice Awards for outstanding game developers and video games held on July 21, 2021. The awards ceremony was held alongside the Independent Games Festival awards, with both events presented through virtual streaming video due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Hades was named as Game of the Year.

References

  1. "Sid Meier: The Father of Civilization". Kotaku. 26 June 2013. Retrieved 2022-05-09.