List of video game industry people
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Below is a list of notable people who work or have worked in the video game industry.
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. In these cases, the people appear in both sections.
Video game design
Main article: List of video game designers
Online gaming
- Richard Bartle: Wrote the first MUD along with Roy Trubshaw
- John D. Carmack: Developed an early online version of Doom which supported up to 4 players. Later Quake supported 16 players which helped popularize online gaming
- Don Daglow: Designed first MMORPG with graphics, Neverwinter Nights for AOL
- John De Margheriti: CEO of BigWorld Pty Ltd makers of Massively Multiplayer Online Game Middleware (MMOG) technology
- Elonka Dunin: General Manager at Simutronics, senior editor of IGDA Online Games White Papers
- Kelton Flinn: designer of Air Warrior and many other pioneering online games, co-founder of Kesmai
- Richard Garriott (a.k.a. Lord British): Creator of Ultima Online, Work on Lineage, Lineage II (Electronic Arts, NCsoft)
- Dean Hall: Creator of DayZ
- Raph Koster: LegendMUD, Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies. (Electronic Arts, Sony Online Entertainment)
- Brad McQuaid: Co-Creator of EverQuest (Verant Interactive, Sony Online Entertainment, Sigil Games)
- John Smedley: Co-Creator of EverQuest (Verant Interactive, Sony Online Entertainment) and president of Sony Online Entertainment
- Gordon Walton: Executive producer
- Jordan Weisman: Founder of 42 Entertainment, co-creator of I Love Bees and The Beast
- Will Wright: Creator of The Sims Online (Electronic Arts)
Programming
- Gabe Newell: Half-Life (series) co-founder of Valve Corporation
- Michael Abrash: Pioneer of fast graphics routines & author of graphics programming texts
- Danielle Bunten Berry: M.U.L.E., Seven Cities of Gold and others
- David Braben: co-creator of Elite
- Bill Budge: Raster Blaster and Pinball Construction Set
- John D. Carmack: Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, co-founded id Software
- Don Daglow: 1970s mainframe games Baseball, Dungeon. Also did Intellivision Utopia, first sim game
- Richard Garriott (a.k.a. Lord British): creator of the Ultima Online series, Tabula Rasa and founder of Origin Systems
- Nasir Gebelli: famous for programming Square Co.'s (Now Square Enix) Final Fantasy for the Famicom (NES) and a few other Square titles. A programming legend on the Apple II.
- Rebecca Heineman: Out of this world and The Bards Tale
- Wesley Huntress: Rendezvous: A Space Shuttle Simulator and Wilderness: A Survival Adventure
- André LaMothe: Author of several game programming texts
- Al Lowe: Leisure Suit Larry series
- Jordan Mechner: Karateka and Prince of Persia series
- Sid Meier: Civilization series, Railroad Tycoon, co-founder of Firaxis Games
- Alan Miller: Original programmer for Atari 2600, co-founded publishers Activision and Accolade
- Jeff Minter: Founder of Llamasoft and programmer of most of their games
- David Mullich: The Prisoner and other Edu-Ware games
- Yuji Naka: Sonic the Hedgehog and other Sega games
- Markus Persson (a.k.a. Notch): famous for creating Minecraft, owner of Mojang
- Steve Polge: Unreal series and other Epic Games games
- Frédérick Raynal, best known for Alone in the Dark and the Little Big Adventure series.
- John Romero: Game programmer since 1979. Best known for Commander Keen, Doom, Quake.
- Jim Sachs: Programmer of Saucer Attack and other home computer era games
- Chris Sawyer: Programmer and designer RollerCoaster Tycoon series and other games
- Ken Silverman: Author of the Build engine game engine
- Tim Sweeney: founded Epic Games, Unreal series and the Unreal Engine
- Anne Westfall: Programmer of the Archon series of games
- Will Wright: programmer of first games in SimCity series and co-founder of Maxis
- Corrinne Yu: Halo lead and principal engine architect (Microsoft Halo team), Gearbox Software (studio wide) Director of platform technology, Ion Storm (studio wide) Director of Technology, Prey engine lead programmer at 3D Realms
Producing
- Joel Breton (Bomberman Live, Pirates of the Caribbean, Duke Nukem: Land of the Babes)
- Mark Cerny (Jak and Daxter series, Spyro the Dragon series and Ratchet & Clank)
- Guillaume de Fondaumiere (Indigo Prophecy,Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls )
- Brad Fregger (Hacker and numerous others)
- Yuji Horii (Dragon Quest series)
- Sam Houser (the Grand Theft Auto series, Bully, The Warriors, Max Payne 2 and others)
- Todd Howard (The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Fallout 3)
- Keiji Inafune (Megaman character designer, producer of Dead Rising and Onimusha)
- Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear, Zone of the Enders)
- Ken Levine (BioShock, System Shock 2)
- Jade Raymond (Assassin's Creed)
- John Romero (Executive producer and designer of Heretic, Hexen: Beyond Heretic)
- Hironobu Sakaguchi (Final Fantasy series)
- Bruce Shelley (Age of Empires)
- Rod Fergusson (Gears of War series)
- Warren Spector (Thief, Deus Ex)
- Daniel Stahl (Star Trek Online, Champions Online)
- Yu Suzuki (Virtua Fighter series, Shenmue)
- Dave D. Taylor (Abuse)
Art and animation
- Jordan Mechner: Introduced realistic movement to video games with Prince of Persia
- Jim Sachs: Created new standard for quality of art with the release of the Amiga game Defender of the Crown
Music and sound
Main article: List of video game musicians
- Randy Edelman
- Martin Galway: composer for Commodore 64's legendary SID sound chip
- Rob Hubbard: composer for Commodore 64
- Kurt Harland: composer for Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and various other video games.
- Joe Hisaishi: Ni no Kuni
- Richard Joseph: BAFTA-winning sound specialist and composer for Amiga and most popular formats since 1986.
- Frank Klepacki: composer on many titles such as Command & Conquer: Red Alert
- Koji Kondo: composer for Super Mario Bros. and Zelda series
- Yuzo Koshiro: composer for ActRaiser, ActRaiser 2, Ys series, Streets of Rage series, The Revenge of Shinobi
- Yasunori Mitsuda: composer for many Square games, beginning with Chrono Trigger in 1995
- Martin O'Donnell: Award-winning lead composer and audio designer for Bungie's Halo games
- Robert Prince: composer for many of id Software's games including the Commander Keen series and Doom series
- George Sanger: a.k.a. The Fat Man, composer on many titles such as Wing Commander
- Koichi Sugiyama: composer for the Dragon Quest series
- Nobuo Uematsu: composer for many Final Fantasy titles
- Hans Zimmer: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Technology
- Ralph Baer: Inventor of the Magnavox Odyssey, the first video game console
- John D. Carmack: Pioneered numerous techniques to 3D programming, developed techniques that gave birth to the first-person shooter genre, co-founded id Software
- Ken Silverman: creator of the Build engine used to develop Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, Shadow Warrior, Redneck Rampage among others
- Tim Sweeney: Founder of Epic Games and programmer of the Unreal Engine
- Masayuki Uemura: Inventor of the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System
- Gunpei Yokoi: Inventor of the Game & Watch, Game Boy and WonderSwan
Company officers
- J Allard: Xbox Officer President
- Marc Blank: Co-founder of Infocom
- Nolan Bushnell: Founder of Atari
- Doug Carlston: Co-founder of Brøderbund
- David Gordon: Founder of Programma International
- Hal Halpin: President of ECA
- Trip Hawkins: Founder of Electronic Arts
- Sam Houser: Co-founder and President of Rockstar Games
- Satoru Iwata: President of Nintendo
- Paul Jaquays: Started the game design unit at Coleco
- Ken Kutaragi: President of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc.
- Doug Lowenstein: Founder and former President of the Entertainment Software Association
- Shigeru Miyamoto: General manager, entertainment analysis and development division for Nintendo. Influential in the industry for his innovative ideas and techniques, and the creation of Mario, Link, Zelda, Pikmin, among others.
- Peter Moore: Electronic Arts.
- Peter Molyneux: Founder of Lionhead Studios, Co-founder of Bullfrog Productions
- Philip & Andrew Oliver: Identical twins & Co-founders of Blitz Games
- Scott Orr: Founder of GameStar, Glu Mobile
- Ted Price: President of Insomniac Games
- John Romero: Co-founded at least seven game companies: Capitol Ideas Software, Inside Out Software, Ideas from the Deep, id Software, Ion Storm, Monkeystone Games, Gazillion Entertainment.
- Jeremiah Slaczka: Co-founder of 5th Cell
- Hirokazu Tanaka: President of Pokémon Co.
- Pat Vance: President of the Entertainment Software Rating Board
- Christopher Weaver: Founder of Bethesda Softworks
- Jordan Weisman: Founder of FASA
- David Whatley: Founder of Simutronics
- Hiroshi Yamauchi: Former president of Nintendo
Game porters
- Sam Lantinga, game porter for Loki Software.
- Ryan C. Gordon: former employee of Loki Software, contract porter.
- Michael Simms: founder of Linux Game Publishing.
- Dave D. Taylor: game porter of Doom and Abuse to Linux.
- Timothee Besset: porter of several id Software games to Linux and OS X.