Mike Booth
Mike Booth | |
|---|---|
| Occupation(s) | Chief Creative Officer at Bad Robot Games Former founder and CEO of Turtle Rock Studios |
| Board member of | Resolution Games |
Michael Booth is an American video game designer and executive and the current chief creative officer of Bad Robot Games.[1] He was also creator and lead designer of Left 4 Dead and founder of Turtle Rock Studios, later acquired by Valve Corporation.[2]
Early career and Nox
[edit]Throughout his career, Booth has generally focused on creating cooperative online multiplayer games,[3] a genre for which he continues to advocate as recently as 2022.[4] One of Booth's earliest projects was Nox, which he created in his apartment. He brought a demo to the Game Developers Conference, and ultimately, Nox was published in 2000 through the Westwood Studios division of Electronic Arts,[5] with Booth in the roles of project lead and lead designer.[6] His career at Electronic Arts continued[2] with Booth serving creative roles for 2000's Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge[7] and 2003's Command & Conquer: Generals.[6]
Turtle Rock Studios
[edit]In 2002, Booth founded Turtle Rock Studios,[8] where he served as CEO and game director.[9] In 2003, Booth programmed an official bot that enabled offline multiplayer play in Counter-Strike.[10] He was project lead and lead designer for Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, released in 2004.[2] In 2004 he began creating cooperative online game Left 4 Dead,[11] for which he was also lead designer.[2] Booth created the AI Director in Left 4 Dead[1] that dynamically adjusted a player's experience of the game during each playthrough.[12]
Booth also was part of the creative teams for other Counter-Strike games and Team Fortress 2.[2] After Valve acquired Turtle Rock Studios in 2008,[13] Booth stayed on with the company until 2012.[14]
Blizzard Entertainment, Facebook, and Resolution Games
[edit]Booth departed Valve and joined Blizzard Entertainment as game director[14] on an unannounced project.[15]
From December 2015[16] until December 2019, he was director of social virtual reality (VR) at Facebook,[17] working with CEO Mark Zuckerberg and chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer.[18] In April 2017, Booth led the beta rollout of Facebook Spaces, a social VR product created for Oculus Rift.[19] Prior to the launch, Booth appeared in live VR demonstrations of the product in April[18] and October 2016.[20]
Booth joined the board of directors of Resolution Games in March 2020.[21] He worked with Resolution on Demeo, a 2021 tabletop role-playing game originally created for VR.[1]
Bad Robot Games
[edit]Booth joined Bad Robot Games in December 2020, managing the company's newly created in-house development studio. He reports to Anna Sweet, CEO of Bad Robot Games.[6] By February 2022, he had taken on the role of chief creative officer.[1]
Awards and recognition
[edit]- Booth's game Left 4 Dead received eight nominations at the 12th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, winning Outstanding Achievement in Online Game Play and Computer Game of the Year.[22]
- Booth, along with Left 4 Dead creatives Gabe Newell and Chet Faliszek, won the British Academy Games Award for Multiplayer in 2009.[23]
- Demeo, which Booth creative directed, was nominated for the D.I.C.E. Award for Immersive Reality Game of the Year.[24]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Bell, Alice (4 February 2022). "Left 4 Dead creator Mike Booth says there still aren't enough co-op games". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
- ^ a b c d e Spangler, Todd (10 December 2020). "J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Games Forms In-House Studio Led by Gaming Vet Mike Booth". Variety. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
- ^ Sinclair, Brendan (12 February 2021). "Bad Robot looking to be the rare Hollywood-and-games success story". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
- ^ Allen, Jen (7 February 2022). "'Left 4 Dead' creator thinks there "just aren't enough" co-op games". NME. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
- ^ Aihoshi, Richard (27 May 2000). "Nox Developer Profile: Michael Booth". IGN. Archived from the original on 11 July 2000. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
- ^ a b c Takahashi, Dean (10 December 2020). "JJ Abrams' Bad Robot launches internal game studio headed by Left 4 Dead creator". VentureBeat. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
- ^ Quick, Sonya (11 January 2008). "O.C. developer of game Left 4 Dead bought by Valve Corp". Orange County Register. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
- ^ Bramwell, Tom (18 March 2015). "Turtle Rock Studios reforms". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
- ^ McElroy, Griffin (17 March 2010). "Left 4 Dead co-dev Turtle Rock Studios reanimated". Engadget. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
- ^ Callaham, John (17 April 2003). "Official Counter-Strike Bot Interview". HomeLan Fed. Archived from the original on 26 April 2003. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "The Making Of... Left 4 Dead". GamesRadar. 27 April 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
- ^ Champandard, Alex J. (7 October 2009). "11 Secrets about LEFT 4 DEAD's AI 11 Secrets about LEFT 4 DEAD's AI Director and its Procedural Zombie Director and its Procedural Zombie Population Population". AIGameDev.com. Archived from the original on 30 October 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Mike Booth, the Architect of Left 4 Dead's AI Director, Explains Why It's So Bloody Good". Kotaku Australia. 20 November 2018. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
- ^ a b Calvin, Alex (18 March 2020). "Valve and Facebook vet Booth joins Resolution Games board". PCGamesInsider. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
- ^ Cook, JR (31 July 2015). "The Unsolved Mystery of Mike Booth". BlizzPro. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
- ^ Robertson, Adi (21 February 2016). "Facebook founds team to help people 'connect and share' in virtual reality". The Verge. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
- ^ Denzer, TJ (3 December 2019). "Mike Booth leaves Facebook VR to return to game development". Shacknews. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
- ^ a b Terdiman, Daniel (13 April 2016). "How Facebook's Social VR Could Be the Killer App for Virtual Reality". Fast Company. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
- ^ Statt, Nick (18 April 2017). "Facebook's bold and bizarre VR hangout app is now available for the Oculus Rift". The Verge. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
- ^ Machkovech, Sam (6 October 2016). "Facebook's first VR experience demonstrated by Mark Zuckerberg [Updated]". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
- ^ Forde, Matthew (18 March 2020). "Resolution Games adds Left 4 Dead creator Mike Booth to board of directors". PocketGamer.biz. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
- ^ Thorsen, Tor; Sinclair, Brendan (23 February 2009). "Little Big Planet wins big at D.I.C.E." GameSpot. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
- ^ "2009 Games Multiplayer". BAFTA Awards. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
- ^ "D.I.C.E. Awards By Video Game Details". D.I.C.E. Awards. Retrieved 2 February 2024.