Portal:Video games

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The Video Games Portal

A video game, computer game, or simply game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual feedback from a display device, most commonly shown in a video format on a television set, computer monitor, flat-panel display or touchscreen on handheld devices, or a virtual reality headset. Most modern video games are audiovisual, with audio complement delivered through speakers or headphones, and sometimes also with other types of sensory feedback (e.g., haptic technology that provides tactile sensations). Some video games also allow microphone and webcam inputs for in-game chatting and livestreaming.

Video games are typically categorized according to their hardware platform, which traditionally includes arcade video games, console games, and computer games (which includes LAN games, online games, and browser games). More recently, the video game industry has expanded onto mobile gaming through mobile devices (such as smartphones and tablet computers), virtual and augmented reality systems, and remote cloud gaming. Video games are also classified into a wide range of genres based on their style of gameplay and target audience. (Full article...)

Featured articles –

  Featured articles represent some of the best content on the English Wikipedia.

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  The Last of Us is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Players control Joel, a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenage girl, Ellie, across a post-apocalyptic United States. The Last of Us is played from a third-person perspective. Players use firearms, improvised weapons, and stealth to defend against hostile humans and cannibalistic creatures infected by a mutated fungus. In the online multiplayer mode, up to eight players engage in cooperative and competitive gameplay.
  
  The game's development began in 2009 after the release of Naughty Dog's previous game, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. The studio split into two teams for the first time, with one developing The Last of Us and the other Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson portrayed Joel and Ellie through voice and motion capture, and assisted creative director Neil Druckmann with developing the characters and story; Joel and Ellie's relationship became the focus of development, with all other elements crafted around it. The score was composed and performed by Gustavo Santaolalla.
  
  The Last of Us was released for the PlayStation 3 in 2013 to critical acclaim for its narrative, gameplay, visuals, sound design, score, characterization, depiction of violence, and portrayal of female characters. It became one of the best-selling video games, selling over 1.3 million copies in its first week and 17 million by April 2018. Its year-end accolades include Game of the Year awards from several gaming publications and awards ceremonies. It is considered one of the most significant seventh-generation console games and among the best video games. (Full article...)
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  The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is a 2002 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the third installment in The Elder Scrolls series, following 1996's The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, and was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox. The main story takes place on Vvardenfell, an island in the Dunmer (Dark Elf) province of Morrowind, part of the continent of Tamriel. The central quests concern the demigod Dagoth Ur, housed within the volcanic Red Mountain, who seeks to gain power and break Morrowind free from Imperial reign.
  
  Though primarily a fantasy game, with many gameplay elements and Western medieval and fantasy fiction tropes inspired by Dungeons & Dragons and previous role-playing games, Morrowind also features some steampunk elements and drew much inspiration from Middle Eastern and South Asian cultures. Morrowind was designed with an open-ended, freeform style of gameplay in mind with less of an emphasis on the main plot than its predecessors. This choice received mixed reactions while maintaining reviewers' appreciation for Morrowind's expansive, detailed game world.
  
  Morrowind achieved critical and commercial success, winning various awards including Game of the Year and selling over four million copies worldwide by 2005. It has since been considered one of the best video games ever made. The game spawned two expansion packs: Tribunal and Bloodmoon. Both were repackaged into a full set and titled Morrowind: Game of the Year Edition, which was released in October 2003. Morrowind was followed by The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in 2006. (Full article...)
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  Dungeon Siege is an action role-playing game developed by Gas Powered Games and published by Microsoft in April 2002 for Microsoft Windows and the following year by Destineer for Mac OS X. Set in the pseudo-medieval kingdom of Ehb, the high fantasy game follows a young farmer and her companions as they journey to defeat an invading force. Initially only seeking to warn the nearby town of the invasion of a race of creatures named the Krug, the farmer and the companions that join her along the way are soon swept up in finding a way to defeat another race called the Seck, resurgent after being trapped for 300 years. Unlike other role-playing video games of the time, the world of Dungeon Siege does not have levels but is a single, continuous area without loading screens that the player journeys through, fighting hordes of enemies. Also, rather than setting character classes and manually controlling all of the characters in the group, the player controls their overall tactics and weapons and magic usage, which direct their character growth.
  
  Dungeon Siege was the first title by Gas Powered Games, which was founded in May 1998 by Chris Taylor, then known for the 1997 real-time strategy game Total Annihilation. Joined by several of his coworkers from Cavedog Entertainment, Taylor wanted to create a different type of game, and after trying several concepts they decided to make an action role-playing game as their first title. Taylor also served as one of the designers for the game, joined by Jacob McMahon as the other lead designer and producer and Neal Hallford as the lead story and dialogue writer. The music was composed by Jeremy Soule, who had also worked on Total Annihilation. Gas Powered Games concentrated on making a role-playing game that was stripped of the typical genre elements they found slow or frustrating, to keep the player focused on the action. Development took over four years, though it was initially planned to take only two; completing the game within even four years required the team to work 12- to 14-hour days and weekends for most of the time.
  
  The game was highly rated by critics upon release; it is listed by review aggregator Metacritic as the third-highest rated computer role-playing game of 2002. Critics praised the graphics and seamless world, as well as the fun and accessible gameplay, but were dismissive of the plot. Dungeon Siege sold over 1.7 million copies, and was nominated for the Computer Role-Playing Game of the Year award by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Gas Powered Games emphasized creating and releasing tools for players to use in making mods for the game during development, which resulted in an active modding community after release. An expansion pack, Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna, was released in 2003, and a further series of games was developed in the franchise, consisting of Dungeon Siege II (2005) and its own expansion Dungeon Siege II: Broken World (2006), a spinoff PlayStation Portable game titled Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony (2006), and a third main title, Dungeon Siege III (2011). A trilogy of movies, with the first loosely inspired by the plot of Dungeon Siege, were released as In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (2007, theaters), In the Name of the King 2: Two Worlds (2011, home video), and In the Name of the King 3: The Last Mission (2014, home video). (Full article...)
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  Fallout 4: Far Harbor is an expansion pack for the 2015 video game Fallout 4, developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. Far Harbor was released on May 19, 2016 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One Nintendo Switch 2
  as downloadable content (DLC). The game is set in the year 2287, in the aftermath of a nuclear war that destroys most of the United States. In the expansion, the player character is hired as a private investigator to search for a missing girl in the isolated seaside community of Far Harbor.
  
  The game can be played in first-person or third-person perspective; in either case, the player controls the protagonist throughout their investigation on The Island, a landmass off the coast of Maine. Far Harbor's main gameplay consists of quests and puzzle sections. Upon completing the quests in the game, the player is rewarded with bottle caps from Nuka-Cola bottles (the franchise's main fictional currency), and experience points. The puzzles feature a variety of different game mechanics; some require the player to hit targets with lasers, and others allow building using blocks.
  
  Announced in February 2016, the expansion was influenced by player feedback regarding the base game's dialogue system, which was not considered to be as successful as the other game mechanics. The development team also noticed the players' interest in releases that added large amounts of explorable territory. The price of Fallout 4's season pass was increased because of the expansion's size. (Full article...)
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  Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption is a 2000 role-playing video game developed by Nihilistic Software and published by Activision. The game is based on White Wolf Publishing's tabletop role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade, a part of the larger World of Darkness series. It follows Christof Romuald, a 12th-century French crusader who is killed and revived as a vampire. The game depicts Christof's centuries-long journey from the Golden Ages of 12th century Prague and Vienna to late-20th century London and New York City in search of his humanity and his kidnapped love, the nun Anezka.
  
  Redemption is presented in the first- and third-person perspectives. The player controls Christof and up to three allies through a linear structure, providing the player with missions to progress through a set narrative. Certain actions committed by Christof throughout the game can raise or lower his humanity, affecting which of the game's three endings the player receives. As a vampire, Christof is imbued with a variety of abilities and powers that can be used to combat or avoid enemies and obstacles. Use of these abilities drains Christof's supply of blood which can be replenished by drinking from enemies or innocents. It includes multiplayer gameplay called "Storyteller", which allows one player to create a narrative for a group of players with the ability to modify the game dynamically in reaction to the players' actions.
  
  Founded in March 1998, Nihilistic's twelve-man team began development of Redemption the following month as their first game. It took the team two years to complete on a budget of US$1.8 million. The team relied on eight outside contractors to provide elements that the team could not supply, such as music and artwork. The game's development was difficult: late changes to software forced the developers to abandon completed code and assets; a focus on high-quality graphics and sound meant that the game ran poorly on some computer systems; and the original scope of the game exceeded the game's schedule and budget, forcing the team to cancel planned features. (Full article...)
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  God of War is a 2005 action-adventure game developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). First released for the PlayStation 2 on March 22, 2005, the game is the first installment in the God of War series and the fourth chronologically. Loosely based on Greek mythology, it is set in ancient Greece with vengeance as its central motif. The player controls the protagonist Kratos, a Spartan warrior who serves the Olympian gods. The goddess Athena tasks Kratos with killing Ares, the God of War and Kratos' former mentor who tricked Kratos into killing his wife and daughter. As Ares besieges Athens out of hatred for Athena, Kratos embarks on a quest to find the one object capable of stopping the god once and for all: Pandora's Box.
  
  The gameplay of God of War focuses on combo-based combat, achieved through the player's main weapon—the Blades of Chaos—and a secondary weapon acquired later in the game. It features quick time events that require the player to complete various game controller actions in a timed sequence to defeat stronger enemies and bosses. The player can use up to four magical attacks and a power-enhancing ability as alternative combat options. It also features puzzles and platforming elements.
  
  Upon being released on the PlayStation 2 console God of War was universally acclaimed, being highly praised for its graphics, sound, story, and gameplay and has been cited as one of the greatest video games ever made. Regarded as one of the best action-adventure games for the platform, God of War won several "Game of the Year" awards. In 2009, entertainment website IGN named God of War the seventh-best PlayStation 2 game of all time. The game sold over 4.6 million units by June 2012, making it the 12th best-selling PlayStation 2 game of all time. The success of the game led to the development of eight more games and expansion into other media. The game and its first sequel, God of War II, were remastered and released in November 2009 as the God of War Collection, and in 2012, the remastered version was re-released as part of the God of War Saga, both for the PlayStation 3. God of War Collection was later ported to the PlayStation Vita in 2014. A novelization of the game was published in May 2010, and a film adaptation had been in development for many years but was ultimately canceled. A remake of the original God of War trilogy for the PlayStation 5 was announced in February 2026. (Full article...)
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  The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes is a 2021 interactive drama and survival horror video game developed by Supermassive Games and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It is the third game of The Dark Pictures Anthology. The game features a multilinear plot in which decisions can significantly alter the trajectory of the story and change the relationships between the five playable protagonists; some lead to their permanent deaths. House of Ashes is set during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and follows five characters—four Americans working for the US Armed Forces and one Iraqi Republican Guard—who must escape from an underground Akkadian temple and survive the vampiric creatures that infest the area. Ashley Tisdale, who plays CIA operative Rachel King, was marketed as the game's leading actress. Jason Graves, a long-time collaborator with Supermassive for the series, composed the soundtrack during COVID-19 lockdowns in the United Kingdom.
  
  Reappearing in House of Ashes are staple mechanics of The Dark Pictures Anthology, such as quick time events (QTEs), two single-player and two multiplayer modes, and collectibles that allow players to see visions of possible future events. New features include a more interactive camera system, a handheld light source for easier navigation, and three difficulty levels to manage QTEs. The films Aliens, Predator, and The Descent, as well as the H. P. Lovecraft novella At the Mountains of Madness and the myth of the Curse of Akkad were the main influences for the game. The creatures were made using motion capture and hand animation, and the temple's design was inspired by ancient Mesopotamian architecture. Military specialists and Arabic speakers were consulted to ensure a faithful depiction of the war.
  
  House of Ashes was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on 22 October 2021, to mixed reviews. Several critics deemed it an improvement from the previous two instalments in the anthology, and points of praise included the replay value, QTE intensity, cinematography, multiplayer modes, and likeability of the Iraqi character. Critiques were directed towards the game's pacing, scare factor, facial animations, texture and animation glitches, and handling of the Iraq War. The fourth game in the series, The Devil in Me, was revealed in a teaser trailer at the end of House of Ashes and released on 18 November 2022. (Full article...)
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  God of War: Ghost of Sparta is a 2010 action-adventure game developed by Ready at Dawn and published by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It was first released for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) handheld console on November 2, 2010. The game is the sixth installment in the God of War series and the fifth chronologically. Loosely based on Greek mythology, Ghost of Sparta is set in ancient Greece with vengeance as its central motif. The player controls the protagonist Kratos, the God of War. Kratos is still haunted by the visions of his mortal past and decides to explore his origins. In Atlantis, he finds his mother Callisto, who claims that his brother Deimos is still alive. Kratos journeys to the Domain of Death to rescue his brother. After initial resentment from Deimos, the brothers team up to battle the God of Death, Thanatos, Deimos' captor.
  
  The gameplay is similar to that of the previous installments, and focuses on combo-based combat, achieved through the player's main weapon—the Blades of Athena—and a secondary weapon acquired later in the game. It features quick time events that require the player to complete various game controller actions in a timed sequence to defeat stronger enemies and bosses. Up to three magical attacks and a power-enhancing ability can be used as alternative combat options. Ghost of Sparta also features puzzles and platforming elements. The combat system was updated with significantly more gameplay elements than its previous PSP installment, God of War: Chains of Olympus.
  
  Ghost of Sparta received praise from critics for its story, scope, and graphical illustration, though criticism was given for the general lack of gameplay innovation from its predecessor, Chains of Olympus. By June 2012, it had sold almost 3.2 million copies worldwide, making it the nineteenth best-selling PlayStation Portable game of all time. Together with Chains of Olympus, Ghost of Sparta was remastered and released on September 13, 2011, as part of the God of War: Origins Collection and the remastered version was re-released on August 28, 2012, as part of the God of War Saga, both for the PlayStation 3. (Full article...)
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  Terraria (/təˈrɛəriə/ tə-RAIR-ee-ə) is a 2011 action-adventure video game developed by Re-Logic and published by 505 Games. As a sandbox game, Terraria has no set goals. After creating the player character and choosing the game's difficulty, the player is placed in a two-dimensional, procedurally generated world where they explore, fight enemies, gather resources, and craft equipment. Players beat bosses, a tougher variety of enemies, to gain access to more items, resources, and equipment. By completing select goals, players receive access to non-player characters (NPCs) who sell items and offer services, such as healing and fishing quests. Terraria can be played alone or with others, and features support for modding.
  
  Andrew Spinks commenced development in January 2011; he was assisted by a team of game testers and designers. As of 2025, Terraria is developed by eleven members of Re-Logic. Initially released in May 2011 on the Steam digital store, Terraria has received continuous content updates that have considerably changed it from its first version. The game was originally set to end development in 2012, but it resumed in 2013.
  
  Terraria has since seen the addition of new items, NPCs, enemies, and world difficulties, as well as quality-of-life improvements and crossovers with different games. It has also been ported to other platforms, including home video game consoles, handheld consoles, mobile phones, and operating systems. Despite announcing in 2020 that the game's fourth major update would be its last, Re-Logic has continued developing Terraria. (Full article...)
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  Iwata in 2011

  
  Satoru Iwata (Japanese: 岩田 聡; December 6, 1959 – July 11, 2015) was a Japanese businessman, video game programmer and producer. Beginning in 2002, Iwata served as the fourth president of Nintendo, as well as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Nintendo of America from 2013 until his death in 2015. Iwata was a major contributor in broadening the appeal of video games by focusing on novel and entertaining games rather than top-of-the-line hardware.
  
  Born in Sapporo, Iwata expressed interest in video games from an early age and created his first simple game while in high school. He majored in computer science at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. In 1980, he joined the game developer HAL Laboratory while attending the university. At HAL, he worked as a programmer and closely collaborated with Nintendo, producing his first commercial game in 1983. Games to which he contributed include EarthBound and many games in the Kirby series. Following a downturn and near-bankruptcy, Iwata became the president of HAL in 1993 at the insistence of Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi and brought financial stability. In the following years, he worked in the development of the Pokémon and Super Smash Bros. series. Iwata joined Nintendo as the head of its corporate planning division in 2000.
  
  Nintendo saw growth under Iwata and, when Yamauchi retired, he was sworn in as the company's president in May 2002. Under Iwata's leadership, Nintendo developed the Nintendo DS and Wii game consoles, helping the company achieve massive financial success. As a self-declared gamer, he focused on expanding the appeal of video games across demographics through a "blue ocean" business strategy. Nintendo attained record profits by 2009, and Barron's placed Iwata among the top 30 CEOs worldwide. Iwata expanded his strategy by defining a quality-of-life product line for the Wii that evolved into a ten-year strategy to create standalone products. Later hardware such as the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U proved far less profitable than the Wii, and Nintendo's net sales fell by two thirds from 2009 to 2012; the company saw its first operating losses in 30 years during this time. Iwata voluntarily halved his salary in 2011 and again in 2014. In 2015, after several years of decline, Iwata put a portion of Nintendo's focus into the rapidly growing mobile game market; a landmark partnership with mobile provider DeNA was established that March. Throughout his career, Iwata built a relationship with Nintendo fans through social media and his regular appearances in Iwata Asks and Nintendo Direct, becoming the public face of the company. (Full article...)

Did you know... -

• ... that the science-fiction video game The Anacrusis is named after a musical term?
• ... that time limits in the 2025 video game Time Flies are based on the life expectancy of the country selected by the player?
• ... that the video game Baldur's Gate 3 won so many awards that its creators collected them in rotating teams to avoid impacting development?
• ... that the development of the 2019 video game Retro Mystery Club Vol.1: The Ise-Shima Case started in 2010?
• ... that some video game stores removed their adult content under pressure from credit card companies?
• ... that the video game Ukrainian Fight Drone Simulator is based on a military training simulator used by Ukrainian soldiers in the ongoing war?
• ... that one of the bosses of the video game CarnEvil can be replaced with a giant teddy bear?
• ... that the video game Digital Dance Mix Vol. 1 Namie Amuro was sold exclusively at convenience stores?
• ... that the 1992 video game Otogirisō reinvigorated interest in adventure games in Japan?
• ... that The Shikoku Shimbun, which published numerous articles about video game addiction, also published an advertisement that says "don't just study, play some games"?
• ... that the world's largest video game studio is headquartered in a former textile factory?
• ... that Grand Theft Auto V is a popular video game in North Korea?

Selected biography –

Biographies included here are taken from the list of essential video game articles.

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  Daigo Umehara in 2018

  Daigo Umehara (Japanese: 梅原 大吾, Hepburn: Umehara Daigo; born 19 May 1981) is a Japanese esports player and author who competes professionally at fighting video games. He specializes in 2D arcade fighting games, mainly those released by Capcom. Known as "Daigo" or "The Beast" in the West and "Umehara" (ウメハラ; written in katakana instead of kanji) or "Ume" in Japan, Daigo is one of the world's most famous Street Fighter players and is often considered its greatest. His longevity is seen as rare in the world of competitive video games. He currently holds a world record of "the most successful player in major tournaments of Street Fighter" in the Guinness World Records and is a six time Evo Championship Series winner.
  
  Before properly being called a pro gamer from signing a sponsorship deal with Mad Catz, Japanese media usually referred to Daigo as "the god of 2D fighting games" (2D格闘ゲームの神, 2D Kakutō Gēmu no Kami). (Full article...)
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  Kjellberg in 2019

  
  Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg (born 24 October 1989), better known as PewDiePie, is a Swedish YouTuber. Best known for his gaming videos, he is also recognised for his satirical commentary, comedy-sketches and lifestyle vlogging. Kjellberg's popularity on YouTube and extensive media coverage have made him one of the most noted online personalities and content creators. Media coverage of him has cited him as a figurehead for YouTube, especially in the gaming genre.
  
  Born and raised in Gothenburg, Kjellberg registered his YouTube channel "PewDiePie" in 2010, primarily posting Let's Play videos of horror and action video games. His channel gained a substantial following and was one of the fastest growing channels in 2012 and 2013, before becoming the most-subscribed on YouTube on 15 August 2013. From 29 December 2014 to 14 February 2017, Kjellberg's channel was also the most-viewed on the platform. After becoming the platform's most-popular creator, he diversified his content, shifting its focus from Let's Plays and began to frequently include vlogs, comedy shorts, formatted shows, and music videos. For its first foray into original programming as part of the relaunch of its subscription service, YouTube also enlisted Kjellberg to star in a reality web series. (Full article...)
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  Sarkeesian in 2018

  
  Anita Sarkeesian (/sɑːrˈkiːziən/ sar-KEE-zee-ən; born 1983) is a Canadian-American feminist media critic. She is the founder of Feminist Frequency, a website that hosts videos and commentary analyzing portrayals of women in popular culture. Her video series Tropes vs. Women in Video Games, examines tropes in the depiction of female video game characters.
  
  In 2012, Sarkeesian was targeted by an online harassment campaign following her launch of a Kickstarter project to fund the Tropes vs. Women in Video Games series. The threats and harassment generated widespread media attention, and resulted in the project far exceeding its funding goal. The media coverage placed Sarkeesian at the center of discussions about misogyny in video game culture and online harassment. (Full article...)
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  Rolfe in character as the Nerd in 2021

  
  James D. Rolfe (born July 10, 1980) is an American YouTuber, filmmaker, and actor. He is best known for creating and starring in the comedic retro gaming web series Angry Video Game Nerd (2004–present). His spin-off projects include reviews of retro films, television series, and board games. He is considered a pioneer of online gaming content and is noted for his widespread influence on YouTube after the series premiered on the site in 2006.
  
  Rolfe began creating homemade video productions in the late 1980s and had filmed more than 270 video projects by 2004. Among these were the first Angry Video Game Nerd episodes (originally titled Bad NES Games, and later Angry Nintendo Nerd), which were released on his Cinemassacre website in 2004. Two years later, he gained mainstream attention when the series went viral after being published to YouTube. Following its success, Rolfe released a feature-length film based on the series in 2014, which received mixed reviews. He has published two books: his autobiography, A Movie Making Nerd (2022) and a horror fiction book titled Gnome Cave (2025). (Full article...)
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  Pajitnov in 2024

  
  Alexey Leonidovich Pajitnov (born April 16, 1955) is a Russian and American computer engineer and video game designer. He is best known for creating, designing, and developing Tetris in 1985 while working at the Dorodnitsyn Computing Centre under the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union (now the Russian Academy of Sciences).
  
  In 1991, he moved to the United States and later became a U.S. citizen. In 1996, Pajitnov founded The Tetris Company alongside Dutch video game designer Henk Rogers. Despite the game's high popularity, Pajitnov did not receive royalties from Tetris prior to this time; the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. (Full article...)
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  Morhaime at BlizzCon 2009

  
  Michael Morhaime (born November 3, 1967) is an American video game developer and entrepreneur. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) and founder of Dreamhaven, located in Irvine, California. Morhaime is best known as the co-founder and the former president of Blizzard Entertainment, a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc., that was founded in 1991 as Silicon & Synapse. He served on the Vivendi Games executive committee from January 1999, when Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. became a subsidiary of Vivendi Games, until July 2008. (Full article...)
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  Lim Yo-hwan in 2021

  
  Lim Yo-hwan (Korean: 임요환; Hanja: 林遙煥, born September 4, 1980), known online as SlayerS_'BoxeR' (usually shortened to BoxeR), is a former professional player of the real-time strategy computer game StarCraft. He is often referred to as "The Terran Emperor", or simply "The Emperor", and is widely considered to be one of the most successful players of the genre as well as a pop culture icon.
  
  Lim won his first StarCraft: Brood War tournament in 1999. From 2001 to 2002, he won multiple major championships, including two OnGameNet Starleague titles and two World Cyber Games gold medals. In 2002, he also created the team Team Orion, which later became SK Telecom T1 (SKT T1) in 2004. He began his compulsory military service in 2006, where he played on South Korea's newly formed Air Force esports team Airforce Challenge E-sports. In late 2010, he retired from StarCraft: Brood War and founded the StarCraft II team SlayerS. He then briefly returned to SKT T1 as a coach in 2012 before retiring due to health related issues. Lim finished his playing career with a record of 603 wins and 430 losses (58.4%). (Full article...)
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  Schafer in 2016

  
  Timothy John Schafer (born July 26, 1967) is an American video game designer. He founded Double Fine Productions in July 2000, after having spent over a decade at LucasArts. Schafer is best known as the designer of critically acclaimed games Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, Psychonauts, Brütal Legend and Broken Age, co-designer of Day of the Tentacle, and assistant designer on The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge. He is well known in the video game industry for his storytelling and comedic writing style, and has been given both a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Game Developers Choice Awards, and a BAFTA Fellowship for his contributions to the industry. (Full article...)
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  Uematsu in 2011

  Nobuo Uematsu (植松 伸夫, Uematsu Nobuo; born March 21, 1959) is a Japanese composer and keyboardist best known for his contributions to the Final Fantasy video game series by Square Enix. A self-taught musician, he began playing the piano at the age of twelve. Uematsu joined Square in 1986, where he first met Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. The two later worked together on many games at the company, most notably in the Final Fantasy series. After nearly two decades with Square, Uematsu left in 2004 to create his own production company and music label, Dog Ear Records. He has since composed music as a freelancer for other games, including ones developed by Square Enix and Sakaguchi's studio Mistwalker.
  
  Many soundtracks and arranged albums of Uematsu's game scores have been released. Pieces from his video game works have been performed in various Final Fantasy concerts, where he has worked with conductor Arnie Roth and Game Concerts producer Thomas Böcker on several of these performances. Uematsu was also the keyboardist in The Black Mages in the 2000s, which played various hard rock versions of his Final Fantasy compositions. He has since performed with the Earthbound Papas, which he formed as the successor to The Black Mages in 2011. Uematsu has made several listings in Britain's Classic FM Hall of Fame, with the station referring to him as the Beethoven of game music. (Full article...)
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  Miyamoto in 2015

  Shigeru Miyamoto (Japanese: 宮本 茂, Hepburn: Miyamoto Shigeru; born November 16, 1952) is a Japanese video game designer, producer, game director and filmmaker at Nintendo, where he has served as one of its representative directors as an executive since 2002. Widely regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential designers in video games, he is the creator of some of the most acclaimed and best-selling game franchises of all time, including Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, Star Fox and Pikmin. More than 1 billion copies of games featuring franchises created by Miyamoto have been sold.
  
  Born in Sonobe, Kyoto, Miyamoto graduated from Kanazawa Municipal College of Industrial Arts. He originally sought a career as a manga artist, until developing an interest in video games. With the help of his father, he joined Nintendo in 1977 after impressing the president, Hiroshi Yamauchi, with his toys. He helped create art for the arcade game Sheriff, and was later tasked with designing a new arcade game, leading to the 1981 game Donkey Kong. (Full article...)
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  Meier at the 2010 Game Developers Conference

  
  Sidney K. Meier (/ˈmaɪər/ MIRE; born February 24, 1954) is an American businessman and computer programmer. A programmer, designer, and producer of many strategy and simulation video games, including the Civilization series, Meier co-founded MicroProse in 1982 with Bill Stealey and is the Director of Creative Development of Firaxis Games, which he co-founded with Jeff Briggs and Brian Reynolds in 1996. For his contributions to the video game industry, Meier was inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame. (Full article...)
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  Kondo in 2015

  Koji Kondo (Japanese: 近藤 浩治, Hepburn: Kondō Kōji; born August 13, 1961) is a Japanese composer and senior executive at the video game company Nintendo. He is best known for his contributions for the Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda series, with his Super Mario Bros. theme being the first piece of music from a video game included in the American National Recording Registry. Kondo was hired by Nintendo in 1984 as its first dedicated composer and is currently a Senior Officer at its Entertainment Planning & Development division. (Full article...)
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  Naka in 2015

  Yuji Naka (中 裕司, Naka Yūji; born September 17, 1965), sometimes credited as YU2, is a Japanese former video game designer and programmer. He is the co-creator of the Sonic the Hedgehog series and was the president of Sonic Team at Sega until his departure in 2006.
  
  Naka joined Sega in 1984 and worked on games including Girl's Garden (1985) and Phantasy Star II (1989). He was the lead programmer of the original Sonic games on the Mega Drive in the early 1990s, which greatly increased Sega's market share. After developing Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) in Japan, Naka moved to California to develop Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992), Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994) and Sonic & Knuckles (1994) with Sega Technical Institute. (Full article...)
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  Hiroshi Yamauchi (Japanese: 山内 溥; 7 November 1927 – 19 September 2013) was the third president of Nintendo, serving in the role from 25 April 1949 to 24 May 2002, and principal owner of the Seattle Mariners from 1992 until his death. Before joining Nintendo, he had strong familial connections; his great-grandfather, Fusajiro Yamauchi, founded the company, and was its first president, and his grandfather, Sekiryo Kaneda, was its second president. During his tenure, Nintendo was transformed from a Japanese manufacturer of hanafuda into a global conglomerate largely focused on manufacturing video game consoles and publishing video games. On the basis of this success, and his ownership of most of Nintendo's shares, he became considerably wealthy. In 2008, he was Japan's wealthiest person, with an estimated net worth of $7.8 billion. Even in 2013, with this figure having declined to $2.1 billion, he was the 13th richest person in Japan and the 491st richest in the world. (Full article...)
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  Romero at the Game Developers Conference in 2022

  
  Alfonso John Romero (born October 28, 1967) is an American and Irish video game developer. He co-founded id Software and designed their early games, including Wolfenstein 3D (1992), Doom (1993), Doom II (1994), Hexen (1995) and Quake (1996). His designs and development tools, along with programming techniques developed by the id programmer John Carmack, popularized the first-person shooter (FPS) genre. Romero is also credited with coining the multiplayer term "deathmatch".
  
  Following disputes with Carmack, Romero was fired from id in 1996. He co-founded a new studio, Ion Storm, and directed the FPS Daikatana (2000), which was a critical and commercial failure. Romero departed Ion Storm in 2001. In July 2001, he and another former id employee, Tom Hall, founded Monkeystone Games to develop games for mobile devices. (Full article...)
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  Tokuro Fujiwara (藤原 得郎, Fujiwara Tokurō; born April 7, 1961), sometimes credited as Professor F or Arthur King, is a Japanese video game designer, involved in the development of many 1980s and 1990s Capcom video games. He is notorious for making his titles difficult for the average video game player and strict personality among peers. IGN listed Fujiwara at number 13 in its "Top 100 Game Creators of All Time" list. (Full article...)
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  Fischbach in 2025

  
  Mark Edward Fischbach (/ˈfɪʃˌbɑːk/ FISH-bahk; born June 28, 1989), known professionally as Markiplier, is an American YouTuber, filmmaker, and actor. One of the most popular YouTubers on the platform, he is known for his "Let's Play" videos of indie horror games. He was listed by Forbes as the third-highest-paid content creator on the platform in 2022, and has won four Streamy Awards and a Golden Joystick Award. He has spun off his YouTube fame into a notable media career, venturing into acting and filmmaking.
  
  After joining YouTube in 2012, Fischbach became popular on the platform with Let's Plays of Amnesia: The Dark Descent and the Five Nights at Freddy's series; as of February 25th, 2026, his channel had over 38 million subscribers. He signed with talent agency William Morris Endeavor in 2016. While with the agency, he released a clothing line, wrote and directed the YouTube Original series A Heist with Markiplier (2019) and In Space with Markiplier (2022), and hosted or co-hosted two podcasts, which reached No. 1 on Spotify. (Full article...)
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  Baer in 2009

  
  Ralph Henry Baer (born Rudolf Heinrich Baer; March 8, 1922 – December 6, 2014) was a German-born American inventor, game developer, and engineer.
  
  Baer's Jewish family fled Germany just before World War II and Baer served the American war effort, gaining an interest in electronics shortly thereafter. Through several jobs in the electronics industry, he was working as an engineer at Sanders Associates (now BAE Systems) in Nashua, New Hampshire, when he conceived the idea of playing games on a television screen around 1966. With support of his employers, he worked through several prototypes until he arrived at a "Brown Box" that would later become the blueprint for the first home video game console, licensed by Magnavox as the Magnavox Odyssey. Baer continued to design several other consoles and computer game units, including contributing to design of the Simon electronic game. Baer continued to work in electronics until his death in 2014, with over 150 patents to his name. (Full article...)
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  Gunpei Yokoi (Japanese: 横井 軍平, Hepburn: Yokoi Gunpei; 10 September 1941 – 4 October 1997), sometimes transliterated as Gumpei Yokoi, was a Japanese toy maker and video game designer. As a long-time Nintendo employee, he was best known as the original designer of several notable Nintendo products, including the Ultra Hand toy, the Game & Watch and Game Boy handheld game systems, as well as the producer of a few critically acclaimed franchises such as Metroid and Kid Icarus. The modern Nintendo philosophy of focusing on interactive gameplay over cutting-edge technology was espoused by Yokoi. (Full article...)
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  Iwatani at the 2011 Game Developers Conference

  Tōru Iwatani (岩谷 徹, Iwatani Tōru; born January 25, 1955) is a Japanese video game designer who spent much of his career working for Namco. He is best known and commemorated for being the creator of the arcade game Pac-Man (1980). In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creators of all time. (Full article...)
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  Wright speaking at the 2010 Game Developers Conference

  
  William Ralph Wright (born January 20, 1960) is an American video game designer and co-founder of the game development company Maxis, which later became part of Electronic Arts. In April 2009, he left EA to run Stupid Fun Club Camp, an entertainment think tank in which Wright and EA are principal shareholders.
  
  The first computer game Wright designed was Raid on Bungeling Bay in 1984, but it was SimCity that brought him to prominence. The game was published by Maxis, which Wright co-formed with Jeff Braun. Wright continued to innovate on the game's central theme of simulation with numerous other titles including SimEarth and SimAnt. (Full article...)
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  Carmack in 2025

  
  John D. Carmack II (born August 21, 1970) is an American computer programmer and video game developer. He co-founded the video game company id Software and was the lead programmer of its 1990s games Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, and their sequels. Carmack made innovations in 3D computer graphics, such as his Carmack's Reverse algorithm for shadow volumes.
  
  In 2013, he resigned from id Software to work full-time at Oculus VR as their CTO. In 2019, he reduced his role to Consulting CTO so he could allocate more time toward artificial general intelligence (AGI). In 2022, he left Oculus to work on his AGI startup, Keen Technologies. (Full article...)
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  Nishikado in 2011

  Tomohiro Nishikado (西角 友宏, Nishikado Tomohiro; born March 31, 1944) is a Japanese video game developer and engineer. He is the creator of the arcade shoot 'em up game Space Invaders, released to the public in 1978 by the Taito Corporation of Japan, often credited as the first shoot 'em up and for beginning the golden age of arcade video games. Prior to Space Invaders, he also designed other earlier Taito arcade games, including the shooting electro-mechanical games Sky Fighter (1971) and Sky Fighter II, the sports video game TV Basketball in 1974, the vertical scrolling racing video game Speed Race (also known as Wheels) in 1974, the multi-directional shooter Western Gun (also known as Gun Fight) in 1975, and the first-person combat flight simulator Interceptor (1975). (Full article...)
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  Inafune at Japan Expo 2012

  Keiji Inafune (稲船 敬二, Inafune Keiji; born 8 May 1965) is a Japanese video game producer, character designer, game designer, and businessman. In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creators of all time.
  
  Starting his career at Capcom in the late 1980s, his job was as an artist and illustrator. The first two games he worked on were the original Street Fighter and Mega Man in 1987. He was then a character designer and planner of the Mega Man series during the NES and Super NES era. For Mega Man X, he created and designed the character Zero. (Full article...)
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  North in 2025

  
  Nolan North (born October 31, 1970) is an American actor best known for his voice acting roles.
  
  After his breakthrough role as Dr. Chris Ramsey on the ABC soap opera Port Charles in 1997, North moved into voice acting when the show ended in 2003 and has since become best known for his video game roles as Nathan Drake in the Uncharted series, Desmond Miles in the Assassin's Creed series, Merasmus in Team Fortress 2, the Prince in Prince of Persia, Dr. Edward Richtofen in the Call of Duty franchise, Deadpool in various Marvel Comics media, the Penguin in the Batman: Arkham franchise, Captain Martin Walker in Spec Ops: The Line, David in The Last of Us, himself as one of the voices for the player character in Saints Row IV, Iron Man in Marvel's Avengers, and Ghost in the Destiny video game series. (Full article...)

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A Commodore 64 computer.

Recent video game-related events

March 24, 2026 – 2022–2026 video game industry layoffs

American video game company Epic Games announces that it will lay off more than 1,000 employees along with more than $500 million in savings from cuts to contracting and marketing amid a sharp decline in the number of people playing its flagship video game Fortnite. (Reuters)

September 29, 2025 –

American video game company Electronic Arts (EA) agrees to be acquired by a group of private investors, including Silver Lake, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and Affinity Partners, in a deal valued at $55 billion. The transaction, which will take EA private, constitutes the largest leveraged buyout on record. (Bloomberg News)

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