From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 .
[1] In these cases, the people appear in both sections.
Art and animation
Company officers
J Allard :
Xbox Officer President
David Baszucki : founder and CEO of the
Roblox Corporation
Marc Blank : co-founder of
Infocom
Cliff Bleszinski : founder of
Boss Key Productions
Doug Bowser : president of
Nintendo of America (2019–present)
Arjan Brussee : co-founder of
Guerrilla Games &
Boss Key Productions
Jon Burton : founder of
Traveller's Tales and its parent company
TT Games
Nolan Bushnell : founder of
Atari
David Cage : founder of
Quantic Dream
Doug Carlston : co-founder of
Brøderbund
Trevor Chan : founder and CEO of
Enlight Software
Adrian Chmielarz : founder of
Metropolis Software ,
People Can Fly , and
The Astronauts
Raphaël Colantonio : founder of
Arkane Studios
Josef Fares : founder of
Hazelight Studios
Reggie Fils-Aimé : former president of
Nintendo of America (2006–2019)
Greg Fischbach : CEO of
Acclaim Entertainment before it bankrupted
Jack Friedman : Founder of
Jakks Pacific ,
LJN , and
THQ
Andy Gavin &
Jason Rubin : founders of
Naughty Dog
David Gordon : founder of
Programma International
Yves Guillemot : co-founder and CEO of
Ubisoft
Shuntaro Furukawa : President of Nintendo (2018–present)
Hal Halpin : President of
ECA
John Hanke : founder and CEO of
Niantic
Cai Haoyu : founder and former chairman of
miHoYo
Trip Hawkins : founder of
Electronic Arts
Akihiro Hino : founder and CEO of
Level-5
Sam Houser : co-founder and President of
Rockstar Games
Atsushi Inaba ,
Hideki Kamiya ,
Shinji Mikami , & Tatsuya Minami: founders of
PlatinumGames
Tsunekazu Ishihara : CEO of
The Pokémon Company
Tomonobu Itagaki : Founder of
Team Ninja &
Valhalla Game Studios
Satoru Iwata : Former President of Nintendo (2002–2015)
Jennell Jaquays : started the game design unit at
Coleco
Sampo Karjalainen : Founder of
Sulake
Tatsumi Kimishima : Former President of Nintendo (2015–2018)
Michael Kogan : founder of
Taito
Bobby Kotick : former CEO of
Activision Blizzard (2008-2023)
Kagemasa Kōzuki : founder of
Konami
Ken Kutaragi : Former President of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. (1997 - 2007)
Doug Lowenstein : founder and former President of the
Entertainment Software Association
Hiroshi Matsuyama : CEO of
CyberConnect2
Masafumi Miyamoto : founder of
Square
Shigeru Miyamoto : Representative Director of
Nintendo
Hidetaka Miyazaki : President of
FromSoftware , creator of the
Dark Souls series
Peter Moore :
COO at
Electronic Arts
Peter Molyneux : founder of
Lionhead Studios , co-founder of
Bullfrog Productions
Michael Morhaime : co-founder and former president of
Blizzard Entertainment
Masaya Nakamura : founder of
Namco
Jay Obernolte : founder of
FarSight Studios
Philip & Andrew Oliver : co-founders of
Blitz Games ; twins
Scott Orr : founder of
GameStar ,
Glu Mobile
Mark Pincus &
Justin Waldron : founders of
Zynga
Randy Pitchford : CEO of
Gearbox Software
Ted Price : President of
Insomniac Games
Paul Reiche III &
Fred Ford : founders of
Toys for Bob
John Riccitiello : former CEO of
Unity Technologies (2014-2023)
Warren Robinett : Founder of
The Learning Company
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 , and
Gazillion Entertainment
Bonnie Ross : Founder and former vice-president of
343 Industries (2007-2022)
Yoot Saito : founder and CEO of
Vivarium Inc.
Alex Seropian &
Jason Jones : Founders of
Bungie
Jeremiah Slaczka : co-founder of
5th Cell
Jeff Spangenberg : founder of
Retro Studios
Phil Spencer : head of the
Xbox brand
Tim & Chris Stamper : founders of
Ultimate Play the Game &
Rare
Goichi Suda : Founder & CEO of
Grasshopper Manufacture
Hirokazu Tanaka : President of
Creatures
Kenzo Tsujimoto : founder of
Capcom and
Irem
Feargus Urquhart : CEO of
Obsidian Entertainment
Swen Vincke : founder and CEO of
Larian Studios
Christopher Weaver : founder of
Bethesda Softworks and co-founder of
ZeniMax Media
Paul Wedgwood : founder and former CEO of
Splash Damage
Jordan Weisman : founder of
FASA
Maximo Cavazzani : founder and CEO of
etermax
David Whatley : founder of
Simutronics
Jim Whitehurst : CEO of
Unity Technologies (2023-Present)
Andrew Wilson : CEO of
Electronic Arts (2013–Present) & director of
Intel (2017–Present)
Hiroshi Yamauchi : former president of
Nintendo (1949–2002)
Riccardo Zacconi : founder of
King
Strauss Zelnick : CEO of
Take-Two Interactive
Design
Hardware
Music and sound
Online gaming
Richard Bartle : wrote the first
MUD along with
Roy Trubshaw
David Baszucki : creator of
Roblox
John D. Carmack : developed an early online version of
Doom which supported up to four players; later
Quake supported 16 players which helped popularize online gaming
Jess Cliffe &
Minh Le : developed the first
Counter-Strike game and thus started the
franchise.
J. Todd Coleman : Lead creative director of
Shadowbane ,
Wizard101 ,
Pirate101 ,
Crowfall , and many other
MMORPG titles.
Don Daglow : designed first
MMORPG with graphics,
Neverwinter Nights for
AOL
Alex Evans : created the
game engine for the
LittleBigPlanet games &
Dreams
Jeff Kaplan : lead designer of
Overwatch
Sampo Karjalainen &
Aapo Kyrölä : creators of
Habbo Hotel
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
IceFrog : lead designer of
Defense of the Ancients and
Dota 2
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 )
Rob Pardo : lead designer and producer of
World of Warcraft
Philip Rosedale : founded the
virtual world
Second Life
John Smedley : co-creator of
EverQuest (
Verant Interactive ,
Sony Online Entertainment ) and president of Sony Online Entertainment
Robin Walker : co-developer of
Team Fortress Classic and
Team Fortress 2
Gordon Walton : executive producer
Jordan Weisman : founder of
42 Entertainment , co-creator of
I Love Bees and
The Beast
Will Wright : c of
The Sims Online (
Electronic Arts )
Naoki Yoshida : producer and director of
Final Fantasy XIV and its following expansions.
Producing
Eiji Aonuma ,
The Legend of Zelda series
Mark Cerny ,
Jak and Daxter series,
Spyro the Dragon series and
Ratchet & Clank
Katsuya Eguchi ,
Animal Crossing series,
Star Fox series and
Wii series
Guillaume de Fondaumiere ,
Fahrenheit (or Indigo Prophecy) ,
Heavy Rain ,
Beyond: Two Souls and
Detroit: Become Human
Yuji Horii ,
Dragon Quest series
Sam Houser ,
Grand Theft Auto series,
Bully ,
The Warriors ,
Max Payne 3
Todd Howard ,
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind ,
Oblivion ,
Skyrim ,
Fallout 3 ,
Fallout 4 ,
Fallout 76 and
Starfield
Keiji Inafune ,
Megaman character designer, producer of
Dead Rising and
Onimusha
Hideo Kojima ,
Metal Gear ,
Zone of the Enders , and
Death Stranding
Ken Levine ,
BioShock ,
System Shock 2
Hisashi Nogami ,
Animal Crossing series and
Splatoon series
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
Satoshi Tajiri ,
Pokémon franchise
Dave D. Taylor ,
Abuse
Swen Vincke :
Baldur's Gate 3 and
Divinity series
Programming
Michael Abrash : pioneer of fast PC graphics; author of graphics programming texts
Dave Akers : programmer of the arcade games
Klax and
Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters
Ed Boon : programmer and creator of the
Mortal Kombat series
Jens Bergensten : lead developer of
Minecraft since 2011
Danielle Bunten Berry :
M.U.L.E. ,
Seven Cities of Gold
Jonathan Blow : creator of
Braid and
The Witness
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
Fred Ford : lead programmer of
The Horde ,
Pandemonium! , the
Star Control series, and the
Skylanders series
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
Mark Healey : known for working on
Theme Park ,
Magic Carpet ,
Dungeon Keeper , the
Fun School games, the
LittleBigPlanet games, and
Dreams
Rebecca Heineman :
Out of this world and
The Bard's Tale
William Higinbotham : designer and programmer of
Tennis for Two , one of the first video games developed during the
early history of video games
Alec Holowka :
Indie video game programmer and designer. Known for working on
Aquaria ,
I'm O.K – A Murder Simulator , and
Night in the Woods
Wesley Huntress :
Rendezvous: A Space Shuttle Simulator and
Wilderness: A Survival Adventure
André LaMothe : author of several game programming texts
Maddy Thorson : founder of Extremely OK Games (previously Matt Makes Games) and lead developer of
TowerFall and
Celeste
Al Lowe :
Leisure Suit Larry series
Seumas McNally : founder of Longbow Digital Arts and lead programmer of
DX-Ball ,
DX-Ball 2 , and
Tread Marks . The
Seumas McNally Grand Prize is named after him.
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
Gabe Newell :
Half-Life ; co-founder of
Valve
Markus Persson (a.k.a. Notch): created
Minecraft ; founder of
Mojang
Steve Polge :
Unreal series and other
Epic Games games
Zoë Quinn : programmer and video game blogger. Known for developing
Depression Quest and for her role in the
Gamergate controversy
Frédérick Raynal : best known for
Alone in the Dark and the
Little Big Adventure series
Chris Roberts : programmer and designer of
Freelancer ,
Star Citizen , and the
Wing Commander games.
Warren Robinett :
Adventure ,
Rocky's Boots , &
Robot Odyssey
John Romero : game programmer since 1979; 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
Cher Scarlett : programmer who worked at
Blizzard Entertainment and known for her role in
California Department of Fair Employment and Housing v. Activision Blizzard
Tim Schafer : programmer and designer of
Full Throttle ,
Grim Fandango ,
Psychonauts ,
Brütal Legend , and
Broken Age . Also worked on the
Monkey Island games.
Ken Silverman : author of the
Build engine
game engine
Tim Sweeney : founded
Epic Games ,
Unreal series and the
Unreal Engine
Swen Vincke : founder of
Larian Studios , lead developer of
Baldur's Gate 3 and
Divinity series
Anne Westfall : programmer of the
Archon series of games
Will Wright : programmer of first games in
SimCity series and co-founder of
Maxis
Brianna Wu : programmer known for working on
Revolution 60 and for her role in the Gamergate controversy
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
References