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. 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 Yoji Shinkawa: art director, character designer, and prop designer. Known for working on the Metal Gear series. 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, DRL, and UFO 50
Company officers Sarah Bond: Current President of Xbox (Oct 2023–present) 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 Steve Boom: vice president of Twitch Interactive and Amazon Games Doug Bowser: president of Nintendo of America (2019–2025) 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, Inc. David Cage: founder of Quantic Dream Doug Carlston: co-founder of Broderbund Trevor Chan: founder and CEO of Enlight Software Adrian Chmielarz: founder of Metropolis Software, People Can Fly, and The Astronauts Dan Clancy: CEO of Twitch Interactive (2019-present) 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 Ed Fries: former president of game publishing at Microsoft (1990s–2004) 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 Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, & Curtis Priem: founders of Nvidia Ma Huateng: co-founder and CEO of Tencent 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 Alexandre Julliard: CTO of CodeWeavers Justin Kan, Michael Seibel, Emmett Shear, & Kyle Vogt: founders of the live video platforms Justin.tv and Twitch Sampo Karjalainen: Founder of Sulake Tatsumi Kimishima: Former President of Nintendo (2015–2018) Michael Kogan: founder of Taito Hideo Kojima: founder and director of Kojima Productions Bobby Kotick: former CEO of Activision Blizzard (2008-2023) Kagemasa Kōzuki: founder of Konami Colette Kress: CFO of Nvidia 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 Gabe Newell: founder and president of Valve Corporation Jay Obernolte: founder of FarSight Studios Philip & Andrew Oliver: co-founders of Blitz Games; twins Scott Orr: founder of GameStar, Glu Mobile Mark Papermaster: CTO of AMD Mark Pincus & Justin Waldron: founders of Zynga Randy Pitchford: CEO of Gearbox Software Ted Price: President of Insomniac Games Devon Pritchard: president of Nintendo of America (2025-present) 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. Tim Schafer: founder and studio director of Double Fine Alex Seropian & Jason Jones: Founders of Bungie Asha Sharma: EVP & CEO of the Xbox division of Microsoft Jeremiah Slaczka: co-founder of 5th Cell Jeff Spangenberg: founder of Retro Studios Phil Spencer: CEO of Microsoft Gaming, Previously head of the Xbox brand Tim & Chris Stamper: founders of Ultimate Play the Game & Rare Lisa Su: chairwoman and CEO of AMD Goichi Suda: Founder & CEO of Grasshopper Manufacture Tim Sweeney: Founder and CEO of Epic Games 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) Mike Wilson: Co-founder of multiple indie video game publishers. Notably Devolver Digital, Gamecock Media Group, Gathering of Developers, and Good Shepherd Entertainment Hiroshi Yamauchi: former president of Nintendo (1949–2002) Riccardo Zacconi: founder of King Strauss Zelnick: CEO of Take-Two Interactive Tony Zhang: co-founder and former CTO of Tencent
Design
Hardware Ralph Baer: inventor of the Magnavox Odyssey, the first video game console Seamus Blackley: main designer and developer of the original Xbox Bill Dally: chief scientist of Nvidia 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: co-creator of the Fairchild Channel F console, the first cartridge-based video game 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." 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
Neal Acree – Composer, Diablo III, Overwatch; expansion music StarCraft II, World of Warcraft
Gareth Coker – Composer, Ark: Survival Evolved, Ori series; Darksiders Genesis, Halo Infinite notable games Toby Fox - Composer, Deltarune, Escaped Chasm, Hiveswap, Little Town Hero, Pokémon series; Undertale
Woody Jackson – Composer, Red Dead Redemption series; Grand Theft Auto V, L.A. Noire notable games
Koji Kondo – Composer, Super Mario series, The Legend of Zelda series; Star Fox 64 notable game
Jesper Kyd – Composer, Assassin's Creed, Borderlands, Hitman, State of Decay series
Martin O'Donnell – Composer, Halo, Myth series; Destiny, Oni notable games
Shoji Meguro – Composer, Shin Megami Tensei, Persona series, Trauma Center series; Catherine, Maken X, Metaphor: ReFantazio notable games
Yasunori Mitsuda – Composer, Chrono, Inazuma Eleven, Shadow Hearts, Xeno series
Tom Salta – Composer, Halo: Spartan series, several Tom Clancy's games; Deathloop, PUBG: Battlegrounds, Wolfenstein: Youngblood notable games
Rik Schaffer – Sound Designer for multiple Activision, Bethesda Softworks, DreamWorks, Universal Interactive titles; Composer, The Elder Scrolls Online & Vampire: The Masquerade series.
Garry Schyman – Composer, BioShock, Destroy All Humans!, Middle Earth: Shadow's series; Dante's Inferno, Resistance: Retribution, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified notable games
Yoko Shimomura – Composer, Kingdom Hearts & Mario & Luigi series; Final Fantasy XV, Street Fighter II, Super Mario RPG notable games
Jeremy Soule – Composer, Guild Wars, Harry Potter, The Elder Scrolls, Total Annihilation series
Kumi Tanioka – Composer, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Minecraft series
Nobuo Uematsu – Composer, Final Fantasy, Blue Dragon, Lord of Vermilion, Terra Battle series.
Jack Wall – Composer, Mass Effect series; several Call of Duty games
Austin Wintory – Composer, Abzû, Aliens: Fireteam Elite, Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Journey notable games
David Wise – Composer, Battletoads, Donkey Kong series; Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Star Fox Adventures, Super Smash Bros. Melee notable games
Michiru Yamane – Composer, Castlevania, Twinbee (NES) series; Suikoden III, Suikoden IV, notable games
Inon Zur – Composer, Dragon Age, EverQuest, Fallout, Prince of Persia, Star Trek, Syberia series. Crysis, The Elder Scrolls: Blades, Icewind Dale II, Starfield notable games
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