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Video game industry

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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.^[1] In these cases, the people appear in both sections.

Art and animation

Dennis Hwang: graphic designer working for Niantic
Edmund McMillen: artist whose art style is synonymous with Flash games
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
Derek Yu: Indie video game artist, designer, and blogger. Known for working on Spelunky, Spelunky 2, Aquaria, Eternal Daughter, I'm O.K – A Murder Simulator, and DRL

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

Main article: List of video game designers

Hardware

Ralph Baer: inventor of the Magnavox Odyssey, the first video game console
Seamus Blackley: main designer and developer of the original Xbox
William Higinbotham: main developer of Tennis for Two. One of the first video games developed in the early history of video games.
Josef Kates: engineer who developed the first digital game-playing machine
Ken Kutaragi: creator of the PlayStation brand
Jerry Lawson: pioneered the video game cartridge by designing the Fairchild Channel F console
Palmer Luckey: founder of Oculus VR (now Reality Labs) and the designer of the Oculus Rift
Ivan Sutherland: Internet pioneer who is regarded as the "father of computer graphics." Also invented the first virtual reality headset with the help of his students
Xiaoyuan Tu & Wei Yen: founders of AiLive, who helped create the motion sensing hardware for the Wii
Gunpei Yokoi: inventor of the Game & Watch, Game Boy and WonderSwan

Music and sound

Main article: List of video game musicians

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

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