MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Given the colossal news that Grand Theft Auto V is going to make, the changes to this year’s MediaGuardian 100 2012 do seem somewhat strange.
Rockstar founders Sam and Dan Houser made No.27 in the 2011 list. Since then the studio has released the critically popular Max Payne 3 and has began to ramp up the hype for GTA V – the hype for which is almost unparalleled in console gaming history.
However, after two successive years in the listings the duo have been dropped – a poor move that’s indicative of gaming’s underrepresentation in The Guardian’s list.
Gaming’s sole representative in the 2012 listing is Mind Candy boss Michael Acton Smith, who having missed out in 2011 topped the reader poll for best contender.
A top 50 ranking forMichael Acton Smith, the chief executive of games studio Mind Candy, is the least you’d expect for the man behind the global kids’ phenomenon Moshi Monsters,” his entry reads.
This well-spoken, hugely driveninternetentrepreneur was named Tech Guru 2012 at the Mega awards, winning the prize for the individual who the judges believed made the most impact on technology innovation in the last year. Mind Candy, his British entertainment company based in the heart of east London’s Tech City, was launched 2004, eight years after he left Birmingham University with a degree in geography.
Launched in 2008, Moshi Monsters now has 60 million registered users in 150 territories worldwide and has expanded offline with bestselling toys, trading cards, a Moshi DS game and a popular magazine. Challenges include the leap from desktop to tablet, with his team hard at work on a Moshi app.”
But where are the likes of Ian Livingstone, who this year has worked tirelessly to win tax breaks for UK game developers and introduced gaming to the UK education system?
And what of Peter Molyneux? David Rutter? Phil Harrison? Peter Moore?
