The 25 Games Industry Influentials of 2006

Next Generation has up a list of the people it considers the game industry's top 25 people of 2006. Headlining the list are the veterans of this round of the console wars, with the rest of the folks notables from individual game companies. Plus two guys who make a comic. From the article: "6. Todd Howard, Bethesda - On Xbox 360, Oblivion has sold over 800,000 copies in the U.S., generating $50 million in revenues. Todd Howard, the game's executive producer, has spent four years on an RPG that captured many gamers who did not see themselves as the types to lope around grassy fields, collecting mushrooms and perhaps doing the odd bit of combat. The game's goal was to allow players to 'live another life' and it certainly succeeded. This is what makes Oblivion one of the most important games of the decade, as well as one of the best games."

I swear ...

[Vaibhav_Locke]

I think I saw Peter Moore's face move Mike&Jerry definately deserve to be up there! They're all that influences me to buy or not buy a video game(or console) as my new Wii will tell you

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[Vaibhav_Locke]

Haha Mr Period time

I forgot to add paragraphs I never use Mr Period

Patricia Vance should've been a higher rank...

[madhatter256]

For if it wasn't for the ESRB we would have rampant, meaningless, politically-driven censorship that is constantly attacking the industry.

Of course, the developers/publishers need to change and start creating games with less sex and less on degrading violence.

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[TherilAlPenn]

We do make games with less sex and violence. Perhaps if our customers bought more of them, we wouldn't have to make so many of the other kind.

Peter Moore?

[Anonymous Coward]

How is Peter Moore at the top of the list?

He is not involved with the largest videogame publisher in the world (Nintendo)
He is not involved with the largest videogame publisher in North America (EA)
His company has not produced the best selling videogame system in the world (Nintendo DS)
His company has not produced the best selling videogame system in North America (Nintendo DS)
His company was not involved with the highest ranked videogame of the year (The Legend Of Zelda)
His company was not involved with th

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[Anonymous Coward]

Did you even read the blurb next to his picture??

"Peter Moore has delivered. That's why he's number one. Xbox 360 has sold as close as needs be to five million consoles in North America in the past 12 months. The best next generation games, currently, are Xbox 360 games. Xbox Live is the most advanced and user-friendly online service."

He's the man primarily responsible for bringing Microsoft successfully into the console industry.

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[Anonymous Coward]

He's the man primarily responsible for bringing Microsoft successfully into the console industry.

I suppose the question is whether Microsoft can actually be considered to be successfully in the console industry. The XBox 360 (for the most part) has performed worse than the original XBox and is only now catching up to where they were last generation:

http://www.vgcharts.org/usaconscomps.php?name1=X36 0&name2=XB&type=2 [vgcharts.org]

And the XBox 360 is not selling near the pace of the PS2

http://www.vgcharts.org/usac [vgcharts.org]

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[Anonymous Coward]

Microsoft went from not-in-the-industry-at-all, hated by everyone, and doomed to failure by all, to number 2 in their first console release with the original XBox

By losing $4 billion (or approximately $200 per system sold) ...

Now with a solid customer base, they released first in this generation, and are number 1 now. You don't call that successful?

They've been out for 12 months whereas their competition has been out for less than one month; in the month the Wii has been available Nintendo as sold 1/4 as ma

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[91degrees]

A cost of entry to the market that they anticipated. They're now making money on each 360 sold. I don't care much for MS and their heavy-handed tactics, but they do have a knack for planning farther into the future than most companies.

Yes. People keep always overlook this. $4 billion is money well spent. They could have paid a comparable amount and bought Sega's console division but they'd still have had similar problems getting the market to trust them.

But if not, you probably won't see many cross-

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[grumbel]

### Nintendo (over the past 18 months) has completely turned around and is amazingly successful by practically every measure.

Hm, comparing charts that way makes the NintendoDS actually look more like a failure, then a success, Wii is still a little to young to judge:

http://www.vgcharts.org/usaconscomps.php?name1=DS& name2=GBA&type=2 [vgcharts.org]

Let us see...

[SharpFang]

25 Rating board head - lawyer
24 CEO
23 Comic makers
22 President
21 gfx engine developer
20 Shop network division president
19 hardware manufacturer's PR guy
18 CEO
17 Marketing
16 shop network COO
15 CEO
14 developer
13 Sales&Marketing
12 director
11 distribution
10 sales, marketing and management
9 PR
8 CEO and creative director
7 marketing
6 executive producer
5 engineered the takeover of the Eidos
4 sales and marketing
3 attending interviews and doing the whole PR thing,
2 boss of Nintendo
1 business leader

Rather few people who are involved in making actual games. Sales, management, shops, money making, corporate relationships and so on. Somehow actual games get lost in this all.

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[ajenteks]

Sales, management, shops, money making, corporate relationships and so on. Somehow actual games get lost in this all. That's a good reflection of the state of the industry as a whole. I sure hope things get better this next generation, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Re:Let us see...

[cliffski]

agreed 100%. This is the sad state of big retail game development. Great to see Chris Delay (introversion) there, but he is the exception.
Too many people at the 'top' of the games biz talk about 'products' and 'skus'. Most of them don't even play games, or know how they work. The finance director at the last big company I worked for wouldnt recognise one of the companies games if it smacked him in the face.
We have big budget games now, but sadly none of the enthusiasm or passion makes it through to the end product in lots of those games. Worse still, the developers are kept at arms length from the actual gamers, not even allowed to chat freely about the games with those who buy them.
Sad times.

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[Coffee Warlord]

I knew it was pretty much a ridiculous list when Wil Wright was not even *listed*. Especially with Spore in development, which could theoretically be huge for the future of game development.

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[StillAnonymous]

So they should list people for achievements they MIGHT make? What if spore is released and it's a total turd? I doubt that'll be the case, but you can't make lists that way.

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[aafiske]

'I knew it was pretty much a ridiculous list when Wil Wright was not even *listed*. Especially with Spore in development, which could theoretically be huge for the future of game development.'

(emphasis added)

Soo... how would that affect 2006 again?

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[91degrees]

Well, this is something of a puff piece. When you get comments like, "Her efforts in 2006 have sought to leverage the synergy between the new generation of consoles", I think a lot of these people wrote their own blurb. The marketing people talk about these terms like synergy and partnership, the execs tak about upswings, figures, markets, and agressive targets (rather jargonny again, but I think these terms mean something to the suits).

But I think you underestimate how much influence the execs can hav

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[ESOB]

It's obviously not for gamers but more for investors who like games. The best line in there is: "Her efforts in 2006 have sought to leverage the synergy between the new generation of consoles and Best Buy's other great interest..." If that is not corporate shit I don't know what is.

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[LordKronos]

2 boss of Nintendo

I'd give Satoru Iwata a bit more credit than that. He's not really your typical executive. He's a bit more of a geek than that. He got his start making games in high school, moved on to be a full time developer, and even these days he is still heavily involved in the creative process.

Overall, though, I can't say I disagree with your summary.

20. Jill Hamburger
Best Buy

Jill Hamburger is vice president of gaming for Best Buy.....Her efforts in 2006 have sought to leverage the synergy between t

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[SharpFang]

Additionally, #3 was a heavily involved developer too, but it's not what he was credited for (but for the PR stuff). Just as well as boss of Nintendo, credit for corporate achievements, not for any of the things you mention.

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[LordKronos]

I, of course, know who Cliffy B is, but I haven't heard a whole lot from/about him lately. Maybe he still contributes a lot, but I really can't say, so I refrained from mentioning anything about him.

Iwata, on the other hand, has (in my opinion) contributed quite a lot today. As I said, he is heavily involved in the creative process. The article didn't just credit him for corporate achievements.

And he has given us Wii, something new and original and exciting. He has helped to give us The Legend of Zelda: Twi

Influential?

[RocketScientist]

Oh, console influential. I get it.

Not industry influential. How can I tell? Well, if you ship a half million consoles, your company (SCEA) gets 2 spots in the top 25. If your company has an MMORPG on the PC with 7 MILLION paying subscribers, you get squat. Zero, zilch, not even an "honorable mention". So, you effect a a half million, 2 spots, you effect 14 times as many, you get 0 spots. Even the XBox 360, which Microsoft wants to ship, what, a couple million of? gets very high billing.

The console industry is not the games industry. It is a part of the industry, but not the entire industry. I'd argue it may not even be the most popular or influential part of the industry.

Re:Influential?

[HappySqurriel]

Well, if you ship a half million consoles, your company (SCEA) gets 2 spots in the top 25.

Well, technically speaking SECA sold well over 15 Million pieces of hardware (PS2+PSP+PS3) and over 10 Million pieces of sofware this year; Nintendo has sold well over 20 Million pieces of hardware (DS, GBA, GC, Wii) and over 40 Million pieces of software this year. (Both approximate values because of no good european numbers) ...

World of Warcraft is an important piece of software, but it hasn't sold that many units in 2006 (being that it was released in 2004) and Blizzard is not even in the same weight class as Nintendo or Sony. Yes WoW probably should have been added (probably in place of Best Buy) but saying that Nintendo or Sony should give up one of their spots for Blizzard is laughable.

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[StillAnonymous]

Wouldn't World of Warcraft be on a 2004/2005 list since the release date was Nov, 2004? They haven't really done anything this year. Even the Burning Crusade expansion isn't scheduled for release until 2007.

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[Wampus Aurelius]

The console industry is not the games industry. It is a part of the industry, but not the entire industry. I'd argue it may not even be the most popular or influential part of the industry.

You must be new here.

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[king-manic]

The article is titled "Next Gens most.." not "video games most"... Also Pc video games are fairly small portion of the market. There are more NHL 200k fans then there are PC gamign fans.

Iwata wuz robbed!

[rjung2k]

Satoru Iwata should've been #1. 'nuff said.

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[Anonymous Coward]

I agree. Iwata got shafted. I'm at a loss to figure out what precisely Moore did that places him higher than basically heading up the Wii and pushing the DS(not mention Iwata's career at HAL includes things like Earthbound, Smash Bros and Kirby, whereas Moore's history is a series of failures).

Guy didn't join the XBox project until the console had been out for 2 years, bungie and rare had been acquired, and the work to make live what it is today was already well underway.

Iwata

[SetupWeasel]

I'm trying to think what criteria Next Gen might have used to judge Iwata that might make him second on this list.

English accent?
Penis size?

I really am at a loss. This should have been a lock for him.