 Ambassadors
The personalities in the Ambassadors group have expanded the
market in ways that nobody would have expected 10 years ago. Games are not only
increasing in users, but also in media mindshare -- the audience is broadening
tremendously.
From new delivery methods to new platforms, without the
recent contributions of these people, games would not be in the position
they're in today -- which is a far more mainstream and influential one than it
was 10 years ago.
Ace of Clubs: Gabe
Newell, Valve
Under Gabe Newell, Valve's PC digital download service Steam
has gathered over 15 million users. That's a lot of people, especially for a
platform that some cynics are continually discounting as dead -- perhaps due to
a spreading-out of revenue rather than an actual decrease.
Steam releases
developers from the tethers of retail, and gives consumers a much better user
experience, while providing a piracy-free alternative to boxed copies. Not only
that, since it's developer-run, the service is certainly different from a
traditional publisher arrangement. In 2008, this sounds like a re-statement of
the obvious -- but can you imagine the current game industry without it?
King of Clubs: Satoru
Iwata, Nintendo
The Wii and DS both came out some time ago, but this year,
the platforms continued to deliver on several of the Kyoto-based company's
rather bold promises. Nintendo has opened the idea of games up to new users to
a degree that the company itself didn't even anticipate -- and can now claim
the two most purchased consoles on the world market.
Even though it might be
Nintendo first-party titles dominating the top of the charts -- scant
consolation for third parties -- progressions like WiiWare, the DSi and
MotionPlus continue to move things forward.
Queen of Clubs: Will
Wright, EA Maxis
Spore has been
lauded as the next big thing for several years now, and this year, it's finally
released -- which should make it this year's big thing! What the game -- one of
the most technically advanced and innovative so far -- does very well is
introduce new users to sophisticated, evolutionary gameplay.
The Maxis
masterpiece is simple and accessible on the surface, but beyond that, Wright's
latest is a world inside your computer, and for scientific ambassadorship
alone, gives the SimCity and The Sims creator a place on this Deck.
Jack of Clubs: Steve
Jobs, Apple
For ages, mobile game companies have been touting the
numbers -- billions of handsets, billions of potential customers. Soon
thereafter, another North American cell phone game firm closes, consolidates,
or otherwise downshifts. Now, with Apple's iPhone, the field becomes a tad more
even.
Though not yet a gigantic market, with an actual store to purchase games
from, a pleasant (and somewhat new) interface, and the ability to for
developers to circumvent carriers and third party publishers, the iPhone can
potentially truly bring games to a whole new group of people. Jobs and Apple
have truly created a gaming platform here, for the first time since the Apple
II.
Nexon's MapleStory
10 of Clubs: Min Kim,
Nexon
MapleStory creator Nexon, "big in Korea"
since practically the year dot, has promoted free-to-play PC online games from
both the consumer and developer sides for several years now. Among its ranks,
the firm's Min Kim has been the most vocal evangelist of this business model in
recent years, speaking at conferences worldwide, and lately it seems people
have been starting to listen.
You can make hundreds of thousands or even
millions of dollars a month just from microtransactions and other alternative
forms of revenue -- and even though too many people may be chasing that dream,
it's Nexon and Kim that blazed the way.
9 of Clubs: Hideo
Kojima, Konami
There are few game creators with the name recognition of
Hideo Kojima, and even fewer still that can move significant amounts of console
hardware with the release of a single title. Kojima did just that, giving the
PlayStation 3 an extra 200,000 unit sales boost in North America
this past June, when Metal Gear Solid 4
was released.
Beyond his importance to Sony's bottom line, however, is Kojima's
unwavering insistence that video games are a storytelling medium on par with
literature and film. Even if opinions are mixed on whether it succeeded as a
narrative, the game remains a study on the power of story to engage players.
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but that's year away! but one day!
@Tom: You just said it though, "no third party has understood Nintendo's [...] target demographic". Nintendo's target demographic is casual gamers, not core gamers.
Ubisoft makes ridiculously good games for the Wii, but nothing can please everyone (and in this case, a fairly large chunk of the "core" Nintendo gamer).
Shigeru Miyamoto - Please, he is the lead designer on Nintendo. If it wasn't for him we wouldn't have so fun memories running trough world splattering turtles and looking for princesess on wrong castles!!!!
Hironobu Sakagushi - He is the sole savior of SquareEnix. He is the creator of Final Fantasy. Most recent Las Oddysey
Jhon Romero - Ever heard of Doom. He is the mind behind the game. Shame that he only shinned once, but still, shinned pretty hard!!!!
I *did* find it a little surprising that the Trailblazers portion of the deck didn't include Cryptic Studios in some fashion-- when you look back over the last year(plus a little) for them, it's been a fascinating jump into new ground. Announcing Marvel, then selling their single(and very successful) title, then losing Marvel, announcing Champions, attempting to self-publish, announcing STO... it's a lot of unknown to forge that most companies would avoid. The largest impact to be had has, I think, gotten the least notice in the general shuffle, though it's what makes me most surprised to not see them-- the engine and development tools pipeline and their goal to bring the development time on a AAA MMO down from the notorious and costly timeframe we've come to expect down to a mere 1.5-2 years. I realize the jury's still out on whether it's something they'll be able to do, since the upcoming titles are just that-- upcoming, but even the *suggestion* that an MMO could be built on that kind of timeframe is a lot of food for thought.
@Carlos:
True, but I would argue that all of those people lacked anything really worthy of the list in 2008-- most of what you're citing is based on past conquest more than what they've spent their time doing in the last year. As I understand it, this list is intended to be a snapshot of the last year's events.
One omission that's perhaps understandable this year, but which I expect will be rectified in a year or two (assuming this list becomes an annual feature as I hope it will), is that of David Whatley at Simutronics for the HeroEngine. With licensees from BioWare to Bethesda sister-company Zenimax Online, and all of them saying very positive things about it, the HeroEngine could potentially do for MMORPGs what the Unreal Engine did for shooters. Once games start shipping, I won't be surprised to see Whatley's name somewhere on a future edition of this list.
On a mostly (though not entirely) unrelated note, I'm still waiting for someone to submit to Gamasutra a feature article -- or better yet, an entire book -- on the astonishing story of Looking Glass and what its "graduates," from Warren Spector and Harvey Smith (Deus Ex) to Ken Levine (BioShock) to Greg LoPiccolo, Dan Schmidt and Eric Brosius (Guitar Hero) to Emil Pagliarulo (Fallout 3), have accomplished and continue to achieve in the computer game industry. (And that doesn't even include folks like Allen Varney, Marc LeBlanc and others whose impact on game design is still strong.)
I'm obviously a bit of a fan where the Looking Glass style of game is concerned. But I think there's an objectively interesting industry story deserving to be told here, and Gamasutra would be a great place to start doing so.
but hopefully these key people don't become superstars......the game industry doesn't need to become a "Hollywood"
Every single person on this list has achieved great work and are all skilled at what they do. Passing this knowledge or skills through the industry is what now needs to be looked at.
Agreed....thanks