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Bill Roper (video game producer)

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Bill Roper
Roper in 2019
Born (1965-03-27) March 27, 1965 (age 59)
Concord, California, U.S.[1][2]
Occupation(s)Game designer, voice actor

Bill Roper (born March 27, 1965) is an American video game designer and producer. He is a co-founder and the current Chief Executive Officer at Lunacy Games. Previously he was Chief Creative Officer at Web3 start-up Midnight. He has also served as co-founder and Chief Creative Officer at AuthorDigital (Adept Stusios / Arcadia Games) and was Chief Creative Officer at Improbable. Roper was Vice President/GM at Disney Interactive Studios from 2011–2016,[3] and headed video game studios and creative and development departments for two decades, including divisions at Blizzard Entertainment, Flagship Studios, and Cryptic Studios. He is also an accomplished musician, and a founding member of the folk band The Poxy Boggards.[4]

Career

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Roper worked at Blizzard North and Blizzard Entertainment from 1994 to 2003, and was Vice President at Blizzard North at the time of his departure.[5] He served in senior production and design capacities on the Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo series. He also provided voice-over talent for numerous games.[6]

After his departure from Blizzard, Roper co-founded and held the position of CEO for Flagship Studios, the developer of Hellgate: London and Mythos (which was later released by HanbitSoft).[7] In early 2008, amidst rumors of layoffs within the company,[8] the company dissolved and lost the rights to both Mythos and Hellgate: London to Hanbitsoft and Comerica[9] respectively, after it secured financing with Texas-based Comerica Bank to support the continuing development of its franchises.[10] HanbitSoft currently owns the intellectual property rights to Mythos and Hellgate: London.[11]

In November 2008 Roper joined Cryptic Studios as Design Director and Executive Producer of their newest project, Champions Online.[12] In March 2010, Roper was promoted to Chief Creative Officer of Cryptic, replacing Jack Emmert after the latter transitioned to the role of Chief Operations Officer.[13] On August 16, 2010, Roper announced his departure from Cryptic Studios to join Disney.[14]

Roper was brought on to head the Marvel Franchise games created by Disney Interactive.[15] He was then promoted to VP/GM, Core Games when Alex Seropian left Disney.[16] While in this role, his Core Games group released Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, Fantasia: Music Evolved, and Disney Infinity, the latter quickly rising to high levels of critical and commercial success.[17]

Roper was formerly Chief Creative Officer at Improbable.[18] In an interview with VentureBeat, Bill Roper unveiled the name of a new studio he founded, Lunacy Games, which is currently developing an "open world survival RPG set in the post-apocalyptic American West" as well as a sequel to 2007's Hellgate: London, codenamed Hellgate: Redemption[19]

Honors

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Roper was named #41 in IGN's Top 100 Game Creators of All Time.[20]

Game Titles

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Roper has worked on the following titles:[21]

References

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  1. ^ "Roper at MySpace". MySpace. Retrieved April 12, 2011.
  2. ^ "Roper's Facebook page". Facebook. Retrieved April 12, 2011.
  3. ^ "Bill Roper". Giant Bomb. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  4. ^ "The Poxy Boggards". The Jester's Court. Archived from the original on January 26, 2010. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
  5. ^ Parker, Sam (July 1, 2003). "Bill Roper interview". GameSpot. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
  6. ^ Hartley, Adam (April 21, 2010). "From Warcraft to Hellgate and beyond". GamesRadar+. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  7. ^ Wallis, Alistair (June 29, 2007). "Q&A: Flagship's Roper Talks Hellgate Pricing, Mythos". Gamasutra. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
  8. ^ "FSS Senior Developer speaks out at You Got Flagshipped". Flagshipped.com. Archived from the original on December 28, 2008. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
  9. ^ Green, Jeff. "Flagship Founder Bill Roper Interview". 1up.com. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
  10. ^ Linde, Aaron (March 26, 2008). "Comments - Hellgate: London Receives Additional Financing; Failship Uses Sales Rights As Loan Collatoral - Shacknews - PC Games, PlayStation, Xbox 360 and Wii video game news, previews and downloads". Shacknews. Archived from the original on July 31, 2008. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
  11. ^ Warner, Matt (July 15, 2008). "HanbitSoft CEO claims ownership rights to Hellgate:London and Mythos". Engadget. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
  12. ^ "Cryptic Studios Hires Industry Veteran Bill Roper | Champions Online Official Site". Champions-online.com. November 3, 2008. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
  13. ^ Horner, Kyle (March 30, 2010). "Bill Roper made Cryptic's CCO, Jack Emmert switches to COO". Massively. Retrieved March 31, 2010.
  14. ^ "Bill Roper Departs Cryptic Studios | Champions Online Official Site". Champions-online.com. August 16, 2010. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
  15. ^ Brown, Nathan (July 22, 2011). "Bill Roper joins Disney Interactive". Edge Online. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  16. ^ Conditt, Jessica (February 7, 2012). "Former Bungie president, Alex Seropian, leaves Disney Interactive". Engadget. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  17. ^ "Disney May Turnaround Its Interactive Media Losses Over Infinity". Nasdaq, Inc. March 18, 2014. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  18. ^ "Former Disney VP Bill Roper and GitHub's Jason Jhonson join Improbable's leadership team". Improbable. June 5, 2017. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  19. ^ Takahashi, Dean (March 27, 2024). "Bill Roper unveils Lunacy Games studio with survival game demo and a new Hellgate license". VentureBeat. Retrieved April 22, 2024.
  20. ^ "Bill Roper: Top Game Creator". IGN. March 6, 2009. Archived from the original on March 6, 2009. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
  21. ^ "IMDB profile". Imdb.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2009. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
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