Foreword

The worldwide video-game industry is in a state of enormous flux. Vast budget opuses, such as Activision's Call of Duty, sit alongside mobile phone games created by tiny two-man teams. We work in an industry that is more diverse than ever–an industry that is appealing to an ever-broadening and growing mass market. Could we see a day when people interact with computer games as much as they do with television? Could we see a day when the framework of a game helps us cross a cultural divide? These thoughts would have seemed crazy five years ago, but they now appear certain to become realities. Video games are in the most exciting place they have ever been right now.

I have been lucky enough to see this industry go through many, many changes, starting with those early days at Bullfrog Productions, when two of us created a game called Populous on a shoestring, through to setting up Lionhead Studios and selling the company to Microsoft. Along the way, there have been many good times and a few bad ones, too. Therefore, I could really empathize on a personal level with the experiences and stories documented in this book.