Bill Roper (video game producer)

Bill Roper (born March 27, 1965) is an American video game designer and producer. He is a co-founder and the current Chief Creative Officer at AuthorDigital / Arcadia Games. Previously, he 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]

Bill Roper
Roper in 2007
Born (1965-03-27) March 27, 1965
Concord, California, U.S.[1][2]
Occupation(s)Game designer, voice actor

Career

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]

Honors

Roper was named #41 in IGN's Top 100 Game Creators of All Time.[19]

Game Titles

Roper has worked on the following titles:[20]

References
  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. "Bill Roper: Top Game Creator". IGN. March 6, 2009. Archived from the original on March 6, 2009. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
  20. "IMDB profile". Imdb.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2009. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
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