Jez San
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jeremy 'Jez' San OBE (born 29 March 1966) is a game programmer who founded Argonaut Software as a teenager in the 1980s. He is also a writer and helped design the Super FX chip for the Super NES.
[edit] Biography
San's interest in computing began at age 12 when he bought his first computer, a TRS-80. Within a year he taught himself assembly language, which he soon mastered for several chipsets.
San started his career in software by founding Argonaut Software in 1982 as a way to get software consulting jobs with large companies. He worked on security systems with British Telecom and Acorn. In 1984, he started developing his first game, Skyline Attack for the Commodore 64 and also co-wrote a book called Quantum Theory.
His first major success was his game Starglider for the Amiga. It sold hundreds of thousands of copies (earning him £2 per copy in royalties) and was one of the first popular 3D computer games. The money helped launch Argonaut as a larger company that started hiring other people in 1986.
In the late 1980s, Argonaut signed a deal with Nintendo. He attracted Nintendo's attention because Argonaut was the first developer to get 3-d working on the NES and the Game Boy, both feats that Nintendo previously assumed were impossible. X was published by Nintendo as the first 3-d Game Boy game. San helped develop the Super FX chip that made Star Fox possible on the Super NES.
In the late 1990s, Argonaut started receiving external funding and was listed publicly on the London Stock Exchange in 2000. San helped form ARC International when it split from Argonaut in 1998.
San received an OBE in 2002, the first explicitly awarded for services to the computer game industry.
Argonaut Group PLC warned of a potential £6m loss in August of 2004 which saw the share price of the company quickly collapse.
In October 2004 Argonaut Group PLC suspended trading of its shares and within two weeks of that suspension appointed administrators for Argonaut Software Ltd, Morpheme Ltd and Just Add Monsters Ltd, all wholly owned subsidiaries of the main listed company. The administrators managed to sell Morpheme and Just Add Monsters back to Jez San after he resigned from the board of the group company. Argonaut Software Ltd was eventually closed which resulted in around 100 people losing their jobs [1] and hundreds of shareholders their investment.
Just Add Monsters has now been rebranded as Ninja Theory and are working on PlayStation 3 first-party launch title Heavenly Sword. Morpheme continues to make software for mobile phones.
Jez San is CEO of PKR.com.
