American video game designer and producer
Bill Roper
Roper in 2007
Born (1965-03-27 ) March 27, 1965 (age 59) Occupation(s)
Game designer , voice actor
Bill Roper (born March 27, 1965) is an American
video game designer and
producer . He is a co-founder and the current Chief Creative Officer at AuthorDigital / Arcadia Games. Previously, he was Chief Creative Officer at
Improbable . Roper was Vice President/GM at
Disney Interactive Studios from 2011–2016,
[3] and headed video game studios and creative and development departments for two decades, including divisions at
Blizzard Entertainment ,
Flagship Studios , and
Cryptic Studios . He is also an accomplished musician, and a founding member of the
folk band
The Poxy Boggards .
[4]
Career
Roper worked at
Blizzard North and
Blizzard Entertainment from 1994 to 2003, and was Vice President at Blizzard North at the time of his departure.
[5] He served in senior production and design capacities on the
Warcraft ,
StarCraft , and
Diablo series. He also provided voice-over talent for numerous games.
[6]
After his departure from Blizzard, Roper co-founded and held the position of CEO for
Flagship Studios , the developer of
Hellgate: London and
Mythos (which was later released by
HanbitSoft ).
[7] In early 2008, amidst rumors of layoffs within the company,
[8] the company dissolved and lost the rights to both Mythos and Hellgate: London to
Hanbitsoft and
Comerica
[9] respectively, after it secured financing with Texas-based Comerica Bank to support the continuing development of its franchises.
[10] HanbitSoft currently owns the intellectual property rights to Mythos and Hellgate: London .
[11]
In November 2008 Roper joined
Cryptic Studios as Design Director and Executive Producer of their newest project,
Champions Online .
[12] In March 2010, Roper was promoted to Chief Creative Officer of Cryptic, replacing
Jack Emmert after the latter transitioned to the role of Chief Operations Officer.
[13] On August 16, 2010, Roper announced his departure from Cryptic Studios to join
Disney .
[14]
Roper was brought on to head the Marvel Franchise games created by
Disney Interactive .
[15] He was then promoted to VP/GM, Core Games when
Alex Seropian left Disney.
[16] While in this role, his Core Games group released
Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two ,
Fantasia: Music Evolved , and
Disney Infinity , the latter quickly rising to high levels of critical and commercial success.
[17]
Roper was formerly Chief Creative Officer at
Improbable .
[18] In an interview with VentureBeat, Bill Roper unveiled the name of a new studio he founded,
Lunacy Games , which is currently developing an "open world survival RPG set in the post-apocalyptic American West" as well as a sequel to 2007's
Hellgate: London , codenamed Hellgate: Redemption
[19]
Honors
Roper was named #41 in IGN's Top 100 Game Creators of All Time.
[20]
Game Titles
Roper has worked on the following titles:
[21]
Blackthorne (1994) - Music
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (1994) - Producer, Voiceover, Documentation
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (1995) - Design, Narration, Voiceover, Documentation
Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal (1996) - Executive Producer, Story Consultant, Narration, Voiceover
Diablo (1997) - Producer, Voice Production, Casting & Directing, Story, Voiceover, Documentation, Strike Team
StarCraft (1998) - Producer, Voiceover, Documentation, Strike Team
StarCraft: Brood War (1998) - Executive Producer, Voiceover, Caterer, Documentation
Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition (1999) - Producer
Diablo II (2000) - Senior Producer, Voice Casting, Voiceover, Strike Team
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction (2001) - Global Launch Team, Strike Team
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (2002) - Voiceover, Strike Team
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne (2003) - Voiceover
Hellgate: London (2007) - CEO
Champions Online (2009) - Design Director, Executive Producer
Star Trek Online (2010) - Design Director
Avengers Initiative (2012) - VP/GM Product Development, Core Games
Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two (2012) - VP/GM Product Development, Core Games
Disney Infinity (2013) - VP/GM Product Development, Core Games
Fantasia: Music Evolved (2014) - VP/GM Product Development, Core Games
Disney Infinity 2.0 (2014) - VP/GM Product Development, Core Games
Disney Infinity 3.0 (2015) - VP/GM Product Development, Core Games
References
^
"Roper at MySpace" . MySpace . Retrieved April 12, 2011 .
^
"Roper's Facebook page" . Facebook . Retrieved April 12, 2011 .
^
"Bill Roper" .
Giant Bomb . Retrieved March 25, 2014 .
^
"The Poxy Boggards" . The Jester's Court . Archived from
the original on January 26, 2010. Retrieved March 9, 2009 .
^ Parker, Sam (July 1, 2003).
"Bill Roper interview" .
GameSpot . Retrieved March 9, 2009 .
^ Hartley, Adam (April 21, 2010).
"From Warcraft to Hellgate and beyond" .
GamesRadar+ . Retrieved March 25, 2014 .
^ Wallis, Alistair (June 29, 2007).
"Q&A: Flagship's Roper Talks Hellgate Pricing, Mythos" .
Gamasutra . Retrieved March 9, 2009 .
^
"FSS Senior Developer speaks out at You Got Flagshipped" . Flagshipped.com. Archived from
the original on December 28, 2008. Retrieved March 9, 2009 .
^ Green, Jeff.
"Flagship Founder Bill Roper Interview" . 1up.com. Retrieved March 9, 2009 .
^ Linde, Aaron (March 26, 2008).
"Comments - Hellgate: London Receives Additional Financing; Failship Uses Sales Rights As Loan Collatoral - Shacknews - PC Games, PlayStation, Xbox 360 and Wii video game news, previews and downloads" . Shacknews. Archived from
the original on July 31, 2008. Retrieved March 9, 2009 .
^ Warner, Matt (July 15, 2008).
"HanbitSoft CEO claims ownership rights to Hellgate:London and Mythos" .
Engadget . Retrieved March 9, 2009 .
^
"Cryptic Studios Hires Industry Veteran Bill Roper | Champions Online Official Site" . Champions-online.com. November 3, 2008. Retrieved March 9, 2009 .
^ Horner, Kyle (March 30, 2010).
"Bill Roper made Cryptic's CCO, Jack Emmert switches to COO" . Massively . Retrieved March 31, 2010 .
^
"Bill Roper Departs Cryptic Studios | Champions Online Official Site" . Champions-online.com. August 16, 2010. Retrieved August 16, 2010 .
^ Brown, Nathan (July 22, 2011).
"Bill Roper joins Disney Interactive" .
Edge Online . Retrieved March 25, 2014 .
^ Conditt, Jessica (February 7, 2012).
"Former Bungie president, Alex Seropian, leaves Disney Interactive" . Engadget . Retrieved March 25, 2014 .
^
"Disney May Turnaround Its Interactive Media Losses Over Infinity" .
Nasdaq, Inc. March 18, 2014. Retrieved March 25, 2014 .
^
"Former Disney VP Bill Roper and GitHub's Jason Jhonson join Improbable's leadership team" .
Improbable . June 5, 2017. Retrieved July 13, 2017 .
^ Takahashi, Dean (March 27, 2024).
"Bill Roper unveils Lunacy Games studio with survival game demo and a new Hellgate license" . VentureBeat . Retrieved April 22, 2024 . {{
cite news }}
: CS1 maint: url-status (
link )
^
"Bill Roper: Top Game Creator" .
IGN . March 6, 2009. Archived from
the original on March 6, 2009. Retrieved March 9, 2009 .
^
"IMDB profile" . Imdb.com.
Archived from the original on March 3, 2009. Retrieved March 9, 2009 .
External links
International National Artists