David Braben | |
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| Born | David John Braben (1964-01-02)2 January 1964 (age 61) |
| Alma mater | Jesus College, Cambridge |
| Occupation(s) | Business executive;video game developer anddesigner |
| Years active | 1984–present |
| Known for |
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| Title | Founder and President ofFrontier Developments |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
David John BrabenOBE FREng (born 2 January 1964) is an Englishvideo game developer anddesigner, founder and President ofFrontier Developments, and co-creator of theElite series ofspace trading video games, first published in 1984.[1] He is also a co-founder of and works as a trustee for theRaspberry Pi Foundation, which in 2012 launched a low-cost computer for education.[2][3]
Braben was born inWest Bridgford,Nottingham. He attendedBuckhurst Hill County High School inChigwell, Essex.[4] He studiedNatural Sciences atJesus College, Cambridge, specialising in Electrical Science in his final year.[5]
In 2008, Braben was an investor and non-executive director[6] of Phonetic Arts, a speech generation company led by Paul Taylor. Phonetic Arts was acquired by Google in 2010,[7] for an undisclosed sum.
In May 2011, Braben announced a new prototype computer intended to stimulate the teaching of basic computer science in schools. CalledRaspberry Pi, the computer is mounted in a package the size of a credit card, has a USB port on one end with a HDMI monitor socket on the other, and provides an ARM processor running Linux for an estimated price of about £15 for a configured system, cheap enough to give to a child to do whatever he or she wants with it.[8] The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a charity whose aim is to "promote the study of computer science and related topics, especially at school level, and to put the fun back into learning computing".[9]
Braben has been called "one of the most influential computer game programmers of all time", based on his early game development with theElite series in the 1980s and 1990s.[10]Next Generation listed him in their "75 Most Important People in the Games Industry of 1995", chiefly due to the originalElite.[11]
Elite was developed in conjunction with programmerIan Bell while both were undergraduate students atCambridge University.Elite was first released in September 1984 and is known as the first game to have3D hidden-line removal. In 1987, Braben publishedZarch for theAcorn Archimedes, ported in 1988 asVirus for the Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, and PC.[12]
AfterZarch, Braben went on to develop the sequel toElite,Frontier, published in 1993, and foundedFrontier Developments, agames development company whose first project was a version ofFrontier for theAmiga CD32. Braben is still the CEO and majority shareholder of the company, whose projects since 2000 have includedDog's Life,Kinectimals,RollerCoaster Tycoon 3,LostWinds,Planet Coaster,Elite: Dangerous,Jurassic World Evolution,Kinect Disneyland Adventures,Zoo Tycoon,Coaster Crazy, and games based on theWallace & Gromit franchise.[13]
In 2006, Braben was working on an ambitious next-generation game calledThe Outsider, being developed by Frontier Developments. As said in an interview,[14] he was planning to start working onElite 4 – as a spaceMMORPG game – as soon asThe Outsider wentgold. Braben said explicitly that this title was of special value to him.The Outsider was abandoned due to the removal of publisher support and was never published.
In 2012, Braben explained in an interview with developer websiteGamasutra his opinion that the sale of secondhand games negatively affects the development of new titles, also holding the price of games in general much higher than they would otherwise be.[15] However, later in 2014 he acknowledged: "Piracy goes hand in hand with sales. If a game is pirated a lot, it will be bought a lot. People want a connected experience, so with pirated games we still have a route in to get them to upgrade to the real version. And even if someone's version is pirated, they might evangelise and their mates will buy the real thing."[16]
On 6 November 2012, Braben's Frontier Developments announced a newElite sequel calledElite: Dangerous on theKickstartercrowdfunding site.[17]Elite: Dangerous achieved its funding goal and was listed as one of the most funded Kickstarter campaigns.[18] The game was released on 16 December 2014, and by April 2015 had sold over 500,000 copies.[19] As of August 2017, the game has sold over 2.75 million copies.[20][21]
In August 2022, Frontier announced David’s transition to his new role of President and Founder, stepping down as CEO.
In May 1993, he married Katharin Dickinson in Cambridge.[5] His current wife is Wendy Irvin-Braben, and he has two sons.[22] According to theSunday Times Rich List in 2020, Braben and his wife have an estimated combined worth of £182 million, an increase of £50 million from the previous year.[23]
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On 5 September 2005, Braben received the Development Legend Award at theDevelop Industry Excellence Awards in Cambridge.[24]
In 2012, Braben was elected as aFellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.[25]
In 2013, Braben was co-award winner of Tech Personality of the Year at the UK Tech Awards 2013.[26] In the same year, he was awarded an honorary degree byAbertay University.[27]
Braben was appointedOfficer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the2014 Birthday Honours for services to the UK computer and video games industry.[28][29]
In January 2015, he received the 2015 Pioneer,Game Developers Choice Award (GDCA), for his work on the Raspberry Pi and for working more than 30 years as a game developer.[30]
On 12 March 2015, Braben was awarded theBAFTA Academy Fellowship Award in video gaming at the11th British Academy Games Awards.[31]
Braben is the recipient of three honorary doctorates from Abertay University (2013),[32] the Open University (2014),[33] and the University of York (15 July 2015).[34]
| Game name | First released | Braben's role(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Elite | 1984 | Designer and programmer |
| Zarch | 1987 | Developer |
| Conqueror | 1990 | Developer |
| Campaign | 1992 | Programmer (original 3D shape display code) |
| Frontier: Elite II | 1993 | Designer, writer and programmer |
| Frontier: First Encounters | 1995 | Director and writer |
| Darxide | 1995 | Designer |
| V2000 | 1998 | Programmer |
| Infestation | 2000 | Creative director and engine and tool programmer |
| Dog's Life | 2003 | Director and designer |
| RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 | 2004 | Executive producer |
| RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Soaked! | 2005 | Executive producer |
| RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Wild! | 2005 | Executive producer |
| Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit | 2005 | Executive producer |
| Thrillville | 2006 | Executive producer |
| Thrillville: Off the Rails | 2007 | Executive producer |
| LostWinds | 2008 | Executive producer |
| LostWinds 2: Winter of the Melodias | 2009 | Chairman |
| Kinectimals | 2010 | Executive producer |
| Kinect Star Wars | 2012 | Chairman and Founder |
| Tales From Deep Space | 2014 | CEO and Founder |
| Elite: Dangerous | 2014 | Director |
| Planet Coaster | 2016 | CEO and Founder |
| Jurassic World Evolution | 2018 | CEO and Founder |
Braben, who attended Buckhurst Hill County High, a grammar school in Chigwell, Essex, was a natural programmer, talented at maths and physics.
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