Michael "Mike" Zaimont, also known as Mike Z, is an American video game designer, programmer and director known for his work on fighting and action games such as Skullgirls and Indivisible.
Career Zaimont started his career in video game development in 2004 at Pandemic Studios as an intern on Star Wars: Battlefront before being promoted to a programmer on Battlefront II.MobyGames credits list on Mike Zaimont. He would continue to work at Pandemic until their dissolvement in 2009.
In his spare time, Zaimont would start work on an engine for a fighting game project. In 2008, Zaimont would meet artist Alex Ahad who had been working on various characters for a "hypothetical" fighting game project. Together the two would form a studio called Reverge Labs, later renamed to Lab Zero Games, and work on the project that would eventually release as Skullgirls in 2011. Ahad would be the game's main artist, while Zaimont would be the game's lead gameplay designer and programmer. Zaimont would cite some of his inspirations as Killer Instinct (1994), Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and the work of George Kamitani at Vanillaware.
In June 2020 while commentating during an official tournament, Zaimont would make a joke involving the phrase "I can't breathe," the last words of police brutality victim George Floyd less than two weeks after his murder. Zaimont would release an apologize on Twitter the same day, however staff at Lab Zero Games were still upset with his behavior. That same month on June 29, he would be accused of sexual harassment by two separate cosplayers. Much of the Lab Zero Games' staff would leave soon after, and claim that Zaimont frequently abused his power as head of the studio. After negotiations with the company's board of directors fell through, Zaimont moved to dismantle the board. By the end of August, any remaining employees at Lab Zero Games would be laid off by Zaimont. In September, much of the former employees would form a worker-owned studio under the name Future Games. The lawsuits regarding Zaimont's sexual harassment accusations would be settled in April 2026.
Zaimont continued to work in the game's industry at Maximum Games as the director for the 2024 title Diesel Legacy: The Brazen Age, and would work on Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game. Controversy would ignite regarding his continued employment.
Ludography + Game Credits Year Game Role Ref(s) 2004 Star Wars: Battlefront Production tester and intern 2005 Star Wars: Battlefront II Programmer 2008 Mercenaries 2: World in Flames Additional programming 2009 The Lord of the Rings: Conquest Combat designer 2011 Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition Special thanks 2013 Skullgirls Design director, lead gameplay designer, lead programmer, voice actor for Tommy and Lorenzo 2013 Killer Instinct Additional programming 2015 Guilty Gear XX Λ Core Plus R GGPOZ engine creator 2018 Them's Fighting Herds Engine lead 2019 Indivisible Design director, programming, additional sound design 2024 Diesel Legacy: The Brazen Age Director 2026 Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game Combat engine director
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