John Romero

Shortly after succeeding wildly as one of the lead programmers of Quake, John Romero left idSoftware to form his own game company, Ion Storm. Romero said he took the risk because he wanted to step out from idSoftware's first-person shooter games. Now he has built a company, modeled after LucasArts and SquareSoft, which can develop different genres of games. The goal remains, he says, to "make some cool stuff and put it out there."

In this audio interview, Andy Patrizio talks with Romero about his upcoming games, his motivation, and his assessment of the computer game market in 1998. (Recorded May 4, 1998; runs 10:43; requires RealAudio player).

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Job
Co-founder, Game Designer at Ion Storm

Home
Dallas, Texas

Game Resume
Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Doom II, Heretic, Hexen, Quake, Daikatana (upcoming)

Professional Goal
"Make some cool stuff and put it out there. That's what really matters."

Why He Doesn't Mind That He Doesn't Own The 3-D, First-Person Shooter Niche Anymore:
"It's not all about sales. I want to play these games ... I love playing other people's games."