Mike O'Brien (game developer)
Mike O'Brien | |
|---|---|
| Occupations | President of ArenaNet (2000–2019) Programmer at ManaWorks (since 2019) |
| Known for | ArenaNet Guild Wars AppleWin |
Mike O'Brien is an American programmer and video game developer who was the co-founder and former president of ArenaNet, the studio that developed the Guild Wars franchise of MMORPG video games.[1] He was named one of the most influential people in the video game industry in a 1999 PC Gamer cover story titled "Game Gods".[2][3]
Career
[edit]Before working in the video game industry, O'Brien programmed railroad traffic control software.[3]
He joined Blizzard Entertainment in 1995[3] where he led creation of the 3D engine for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos[4][5] and Battle.net.[6][3] The chat rooms, matchmaking systems, rankings, ladders and actual communication code for Battle.net were created by him.[3] He also worked on Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, Diablo and StarCraft.[2][6]
In 2000, O'Brien left Blizzard to co-found ArenaNet. Among his reasons for leaving Blizzard were the direction of Warcraft III, and their rejection of an idea of his to turn Battle.net into a third-party game store (similar to Steam, which did not exist yet).[7]
In early October 2019, through the official Guild Wars 2 news page, O'Brien announced his departure from ArenaNet and his intention to start a new development studio.[8] He is currently working as a programmer at the studio "ManaWorks".[9]
References
[edit]- ↑ "Studio Profile – ArenaNet". Edge Magazine. September 2011. pp. 132–135.
- 1 2 "ArenaNet - Our Team". ArenaNet. Archived from the original on 5 March 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Game Gods". PC Gamer. Vol. 6, no. 9. September 1999. p. 76.
- ↑ "Changes at Blizzard". GameSpot. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
- ↑ "Guild Wars 4th Anniversary Interview". IGN. 23 April 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
- 1 2 Kalning, Kristin (28 March 2007). "'Guild Wars': An experiment that worked". NBC News. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
- ↑ Wilde, Tyler (8 October 2024). "Oof: Years before Steam, a Blizzard engineer wanted to turn Battle.net into a third-party game store, but was reportedly turned down". PC Gamer. Retrieved 8 June 2026.
- ↑ "A Message From Mike O'Brien". GuildWars2.com. 3 October 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ↑ "ManaWorks Team". mana.works. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
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