Over the last few decades, the balance of power in the video game industry has been shifting. While the likes of Nintendo, Square Enix and Capcom continue to enjoy their time at the top, they now find themselves joined by a number of big western developers whose teams are every bit as talented as those of the Japanese giants.
Japan may still have the edge when it comes to innovation and creativity, but that’s not to say that there aren’t plenty of fantastic individuals plying their trade on western shores. Between them, they’ve helped to push the boundaries of a number of genres and are responsible for tens of billions of dollars worth of video game sales.
10 Peter Molyneux
Peter Molyneux has won numerous awards for his work in the video game industry and is one of its most recognizable names. Having started out as a distributor of Atari and Commodore 64 games, he went on to set up three prominent development studios and has played a vital role in the creation and success of many well known franchises.
Molyneaux’s first big hit came in 1989 in the form of Populous, which was one of the earliest examples of a God game. He also had a big hand in the creation of the Fable series, which contributed to the success of the original Xbox and also helped to popularize morality systems in gaming.
9 David Cage
Love them or loathe them, it’s hard to argue that David Cage games have not had a big impact on the modern gaming industry. His unique style of interactive storytelling and singular vision have spawned some hugely successful titles that have blazed the trail for other aspiring developers.
While Omikron: The Nomad Soul and Fahrenheit each performed strongly, it was the release of the 2010 title Heavy Rain that really brought Cage into the spotlight. Since then, he’s continued to refine his craft with many considering the award winning Detroit: Become Human to be the gold standard when it comes to interactive storytelling in video games.
8 John Carmack
John Carmack is one of the most skilled programmers in all of gaming and boasts some incredibly important FPS games on his long and impressive resume. Together with John Romero and the rest of the team at id Software, he created the likes of Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein and more recently worked on the post apocalyptic title Rage.
Following his time at id Software, Carmack was hired as the Chief Technical Operator for Oculus and played a pivotal part in the successful launch of the Rift. After six years in the position, he announced that he would be stepping back into a consulting role in order to spend more time working on artificial general intelligence.
7 Will Wright
The name Will Wright might not be as recognizable as the likes of John Carmack or Peter Molyneux, but the former’s work is every bit as important as that of his peers. He’s the man responsible for such titles as Sim City and The Sims and remains one of the leading influencers when it comes to simulation games.
Wright has won numerous awards for his work, although hasn’t actually released a new game in more than a decade. That should all change fairly soon though, with the veteran developer currently working on a new simulation game called Proxi which looks set to be his most advanced and intriguing title to date.
6 Gabe Newell
After dropping out of Harvard University, Gabe Newell took a job at Microsoft where he worked as a producer on the first three versions of Windows. After one of his former colleagues found success at id Software with Quake though, he and another coworker decided to hand in their notice and set up their own company, Valve.
Over the next few years, the company released a plethora of popular titles including Half-Life, Counter Strike and Team Fortress. It was during development of the second Half-Life game though that Newell began working on what would eventually become Steam. In the years since its launch, the digital marketplace has served hundreds of millions of users and has made Newell one of the richest men alive.
5 Tim Schafer
Tim Schafer has had a hand in some of the best point and click adventure games ever made. These include the original Monkey Island games, Full Throttle and the masterpiece that is Grim Fandango. While the influence of the genre may have faded a little in recent years though, Tim Schafer remains just as important as ever.
In early 2012 Schafer launched a crowdfunding campaign for a new point and click adventure game on the relatively obscure website, Kickstarter. In less than 24 hours, it had raised more than $2 million dollars. Not only did this lead to a mini point and click revival, but it also showed others that crowdfunding was a viable way to fund a video game.
4 Edmund McMillen
Edmund McMillen may only have a handful of commercially released games to his name right now, but they are all incredibly successful ones. What’s more, they’ve had a huge impact on the industry and have played a big role in the growth in popularity of indie gaming.
Indie games have been around for almost as long as gaming itself, but titles like Super Meat Boy and The Binding of Isaac have helped to bring it to a much wider audience. They’ve also provided inspiration to other indie developers; demonstrating the viability and potential of creating and publishing one’s own games.
3 Tim Sweeney
Although many will know him as the man behind the Epic Games Store, there’s a lot more to Tim Sweeney than just the controversial digital marketplace. He developed a number of interesting games in his earlier years and was also part of the team behind the fantastic Unreal series. His most notable accomplishments are a bit more recent though.
While Sweeney may not play an active role in game development these days, he still has a huge impact on the industry. As well as the growing number of titles published and funded by Epic Games, the company’s Unreal Engine is incredibly popular with developers and has helped many young creators to realize their dreams of creating video games. There’s also the small matter of Fortnite; which is among the most popular and profitable games of all time.
2 Sid Meier
Few individuals can claim to have had as large an impact on a single genre as Sid Meier. The veteran developer has delivered hit after hit throughout his career while repeatedly redefining strategy and simulation games. He’s won numerous awards for his work and is one of the most revered developers in the industry.
While the Pirates! and Railroad Tycoon series have each been successful, they pale into insignificance when compared to Meier’s Civilization games. They’ve sold tens of millions of copies and have entertained players for more than a billion hours combined. With a seventh installment expected in the next year or two, that number looks set to climb higher still.
1 Sam Houser
Together with his younger brother Dan, Sam Houser co-founded a little company called Rockstar Games back in 1998. In the years that have followed, it has grown into one of the most recognizable names in the industry and has been responsible for some of the best selling titles of all time; the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption series being by far the most notable.
Despite their success, the brothers have typically shied away from public appearances and instead opted to focus on strengthening and growing the Rockstar brand. With Dan opting to step down from his position in early 2020, however, Sam now finds himself alone at the helm of what just might be the most influential and important game developer in the West.
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