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Let's talk video game business executives. Who are the best? Who are the worst?

_Aaron_

_Aaron_

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,226
We sometimes hear about certain business executives in the video games media, often for the wrong reasons as negative attention drives clicks and traffic. But I thought it might be interesting to discuss and get people's opinions on these key figures, since they can have such large influence on the industry.

So, who are the best video game execs? Which unsung heroes have brought about positive change or had a lasting impact on the industry? Who demonstrates a genuine passion for the medium and craft, respect for the consumer and has empowered developers? Who has made the right calls and contributed to a company or product's success and growth?

And on the other end of the scale, who are the worst video game execs? Whose actions in the industry could be perceived as detrimental or regressive? Or perhaps who has shown no interest in video games and seem driven by corporate greed? Or who has demonstrated anti-consumer behaviours and fostered toxic work culture? Who has made key decisions that have lead to a company or product's downfall? (Please don't be hateful answering this part.)

Basically let's collectively create a ranking or DnD alignment chart of video game business executives.
 
Messofanego

Messofanego

Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,744
UK
lol

lmao even

How do we even get to the point of being parasocial for freaking executives? Especially since none of us have worked for them.
 

Dis

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,026
They are all awful people who would throw you and anyone else below them under the bus the moment they could to get a little bit further ahead. They may put on a nice facade, act friendly or like they care about their consumers but they absolutely don't. People should stop trying to act like they are their friends or on their side, they aren't.

The only compliment I can give a gaming exec right now is to Jim Ryan and the compliment I can give him is that he's an asshole but at least he wears that pretty openly on his sleeve. He hasn't hid it, he's made comments both publicly and inside the company that came out that make it clear he's an asshole and I at least appreciate that when it comes to execs I don't have to actually argue with people who think he's somehow one of the special mythical executives people like to pretend exist that gives a shit about anything but his own ambition.
 
Saikyo

Saikyo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,372
List of business executives that are the best:

List of business executives that are the worst:
Friendly reminder that companies aren't your friends
 
Tavernade

Tavernade

Tavernade
Moderator
Sep 18, 2018
8,987
Renna Hazel said:
I'd say Iwata was good.
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Same. I mean I'm sure he did bad CEO stuff like everyone else too (that bit where he announced a new Smash to sorta pressure Sakurai into doing it before asking him was kind of a dick move) but stuff like all the stories of him as a programmer, the Iwata Asks, and Nintendo Directs all paint him as a pretty decent guy.
 
Korigama

Korigama

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,863
_Aaron_ said:
So, who are the best video game execs? Which unsung heroes have brought about positive change or had a lasting impact on the industry? Who demonstrates a genuine passion for the medium and craft, respect for the consumer and has empowered developers? Who has made the right calls and contributed to a company or product's success and growth?
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Iwata is the only person who comes to mind fit each point of that description, but he's gone.
 
misery mired

misery mired

Member
Apr 2, 2022
652
i genuinely don't think i've read a single story of iwata doing anything even remotely approaching unethical when it comes to how he ran the business. and we have a few public examples of him in fact doing the exact opposite, like when he halved the salary of nintendo's exec team in order to avoid laying anyone off during the wii u era. he had some accompanying quote about how developers wouldn't be capable of producing their best work if they didn't have a sense of job security

nintendo has always been overly litigious, which was also true under iwata, so i guess some people would lay that responsibility on him. not sure if i would, but i can at least understand the argument

still, hard to imagine any exec before or after (at any company) ever being as sincerely principled as he was. i've little doubt the vast, vast majority of execs are scumbags who prioritize capitalism over human dignity, but i think iwata did enough to set his style of leadership apart as something genuinely admirable
 
shadowman16

shadowman16

Member
Oct 25, 2017
33,187
Only thing that I recall from Iwata that sucks (if true) was the whole Goldeye thing - rumor was that he's the person in Nintendo that basically forced Xbox to cancel their 360 port back in the day, in a rather jerk move.

However there's also many cool stories of Iwata helping to code various games even after his many promotions - dude actually had love for gaming and was more than a faceless suit. Also back during the darker days at Nintendo, he took a paycut in a move to prevent/minimise layoffs (which you almost never hear of...)

But then again Im sure there's other stuff we dont know about... I mean, with all due respect, the Wii U was approved on his watch, which... yeah...
 
Neoleo2143

Neoleo2143

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,477
Satoru Iwata was probably the only one with the principles and knowhow. Can you really imagine any other ceo in the industry doing something like Iwata asks.
 
SNRUB

SNRUB

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,040
New Jersey
Shawn Layden looked like a swell guy you can go to a bar and have a drink with.

Too bad being nice gets you nowhere and he got the bum's rush amidst that whole power struggle with Jim Ryan.
 
RoyalGoldenFES

RoyalGoldenFES

Member
Jul 14, 2023
466
Ignoring anything that can be said about ethics or whatever;

Business-wise, Ken Kutaragi and Peter Moore both had to deal with unseating a powerful competitor at the start of their time, and would wind up being incredibly successful at making the consoles that existed during their leadership (PS1 and Xbox 360) overtake massive market share over their competitors
 

CanUKlehead

Member
Oct 30, 2017
3,492
Did Ted Price ever heel turn, cause I thought Insomniac's development and all that was lauded as being not particularly evil compared to...everyone else.

Low bar, and who knows and all
 
Bishop89

Bishop89

What Are Ya' Selling?
Member
Oct 25, 2017
35,969
Melbourne, Australia
DRj22WL.gif


The king
 
Renna Hazel

Renna Hazel

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,857
RoyalGoldenFES said:
Ignoring anything that can be said about ethics or whatever;

Business-wise, Ken Kutaragi and Peter Moore both had to deal with unseating a powerful competitor at the start of their time, and would wind up being incredibly successful at making the consoles that existed during their leadership (PS1 and Xbox 360) overtake massive market share over their competitors
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I forgot about Peter Moore. I'll definitely add him to the good list.
 
entremet

entremet

You wouldn't toast a NES cartridge
Member
Oct 26, 2017
61,791
Tom Kalinske had a good initial run at Sega of America, but messed up later.
 
GamerEDM

GamerEDM

Member
May 7, 2020
2,386
Jimbo definitley the worst ... he is the reason i got rid of my PS5 and got a PC

Phil spencer , Iwata , Peter moore, Shawn layden probably the best
 
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Nostremitus

Nostremitus

Member
Nov 15, 2017
7,783
Alabama
I think it's safe to say John Riccitiello remains among the worst.

He's in charge of EA: voted worst company in America back to back due to predatory practices.

He's in charge of Unity: managed to unify the entire industry against him and Unity through shitty and predatory business decisions.
 
Derbel McDillet

Derbel McDillet

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Nov 23, 2022
16,348
RoyalGoldenFES said:
Ignoring anything that can be said about ethics or whatever;

Business-wise, Ken Kutaragi and Peter Moore both had to deal with unseating a powerful competitor at the start of their time, and would wind up being incredibly successful at making the consoles that existed during their leadership (PS1 and Xbox 360) overtake massive market share over their competitors
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Seriously.

The PS1 selling what it did and Xbox outselling the GameCube on its first outing is wild. Red Ring of Death issues aside, it's funny how the 360 "came in last", but pretty much set the precedent of quality online going forward and we're still asking the others to catch up.
 
red mage

red mage

Alt-Account
Banned
Aug 17, 2023
2,300
How are people saying "They're all bad!!"?

What about Satoru Iwata?

Hironobu Sakaguchi?

Not even them?
 
Greywaren

Greywaren

Member
Jul 16, 2019
10,251
Spain
It's safer to assume all of them are garbage.

Even the "good ones" are still executives at the end of the day.
 

kxs

Member
Jul 25, 2022
371
In general, today's gaming executives are a bit better than the 80s and 90s. They are more likely to have played some games and at least adhere to some corporate social responsibility. This is true both in the West and Japan.

Of course, there are still notorious bad apples like Bobby Kotick.

I think people here would like the developer turned business executive like Iwata, Druckmann or Miyazaki.
 
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