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Chris Roberts | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Chris Roberts atGDC Online 2012 | |
| Born | (1968-05-27)May 27, 1968 (age 57) Redwood City, California, U.S. |
| Occupations | Business executive,game designer,filmmaker |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Known for | Wing Commander Freelancer Star Citizen |
| Title | Founder & CEO ofCloud Imperium Games |
| Spouse | |
| Partner | Madison Peterson (–2005)[1] |
| Children | 2 |
Chris Roberts (born May 27, 1968)[2] is a British-American video gamedesigner,programmer, film producer and film director. He created theWing Commander series while atOrigin Systems and has been working on thecrowdfunded space simulatorStar Citizen since 2010.
Roberts was born inRedwood City, California to a British father and an American mother, and grew up inManchester, England.[2][3] He attendedParrs Wood High School, the same school as computer music composerMartin Galway. As a teenager, he created several video games for theBBC Micro, includingStryker's Run,Wizadore, andKing Kong.[4]
Roberts returned to the United States in 1986 to visit his parents, who had settled inAustin, Texas.[2] Chris Roberts joined Origin Systems in 1987. There he createdTimes of Lore which was published in 1988. The game's interface had a strong influence on other Origin products such as the popularUltima series.[5] A similar game system was used in Roberts's next release for Origin,Bad Blood (1990).[6]
Wing Commander was published later in 1990 and was highly acclaimed.Wing Commander (and the franchise it spawned) soon became Origin's most successful product. Roberts wasn't as heavily involved in the sequelWing Commander II, which he only produced. He instead concentrated onStrike Commander. First shown to the public at SummerCES 1991, the project suffered from numerous delays and was not released until 1993. He returned toWing Commander soon after, devising the original concept for the spin-offWing Commander: Privateer (which his brother, Erin Roberts, produced) and being more deeply involved inWing Commander III andWing Commander IV. For these sequels, Roberts directed the live-action cinematic scenes. Roberts's major role in developing theWing Commander games ledNext Generation to name him one of their "75 Most Important People in the Games Industry of 1995".[7]
Following the traditions of Origin Systems, Chris Roberts's residence at the outskirts ofAustin, Texas was named "Commander's Ranch", a reference to theWing Commander series.[8]
Roberts left Origin in 1996 and foundedDigital Anvil with Tony Zurovec and his brother Erin Roberts.[9][10] He cited disillusionment with working with large development teams and Origin parent companyElectronic Arts' unwillingness to give substantial funding to games that weren't sequels.[9] The fledgling studio set up shop inAustin and for several years worked quietly, inking a publishing deal withMicrosoft in 1997.[10]
Roberts had stated that he desired to produce films as well as games with Digital Anvil. The 1999 feature film release ofWing Commander directed by Roberts himself, starringFreddie Prinze Jr. and featuringvisual effects from Digital Anvil, failed to attract either critical praise or financial success.
Digital Anvil's first finished game wasStarlancer, released to a generally favorable critical reception in 2000.[11] Developed jointly between Warthog and Digital Anvil, the game was produced by the Roberts brothers, and Eric Peterson. The company was acquired by Microsoft soon after, who sold two of Digital Anvil's projects,Conquest: Frontier Wars led by Eric Peterson, andLoose Cannon led by Tony Zurovec toUbisoft. Roberts left the company after the acquisition, abandoning the director position of his ambitious projectFreelancer, although he remained with the game in a consulting role for a while. The game was commonly regarded asvaporware due to its promised release date of 2001; however, it was eventually released in 2003 with a markedly different feature set than the initial plans.[12][13]
After leaving Digital Anvil, Roberts founded Point of No Return Entertainment, planning to produce films, television and games. However, no projects materialized from Point of No Return. Roberts founded Ascendant Pictures in 2002 and served as a producer for a number of Hollywood productions includingEdison,Timber Falls,Outlander,Who's Your Caddy?,The Big White,Ask the Dust,Lucky Number Slevin andLord of War, which were almost entirely financed by a loophole in the German tax laws that was finally closed in 2006. Roberts' activities as a film producer ended with the depletion of the funds raised by this controversial financing scheme.[14][1] In 2005, actorKevin Costner sued Ascendant Pictures for breach of contract on an unreleased film.[15] The company was acquired byBigfoot Entertainment in 2010.[16]
In 2011, Chris Roberts foundedCloud Imperium Games with his wife Sandi Roberts, as well as business partner and long-time international media attorneyOrtwin Freyermuth.[1] In October 2012, Cloud Imperium Games launched acrowdfunding campaign on their website to develop a space simulation game,Star Citizen, and later added aKickstarter campaign in conjunction. By November 2012, they had earned US$6,238,563, surpassing all stretch goals set for the campaigns, and breaking video game industry crowdfunding records.[17] Chris Roberts had stated that if at least $23 million could be raised over the course of the crowdfunding campaign, no outside investors' or developers' funding would be required. This goal was reached October 18, 2013.[18]
As of June 11, 2024, Cloud Imperium Games has raised over US$700 million in crowdfunding and over $63.25 million in external investments.[19] Cloud Imperium Games' other title in development,Squadron 42, a single-player campaign set in theStar Citizen universe, is still in development with an estimated release date of 2026, having been feature-complete and in the polish phase since 2023.[20]
Roberts had a long on-and-off relationship with his common-law wife Madison Peterson.[1] Roberts and Peterson had a home inSan Diego.[1] He has 1 daughter with Peterson.[1] The first marriage of Chris Roberts with actress Sandi Gardiner (born 24 May 1980 in Adelaide, Australia) was annulled in 2005.[1] He remarried Gardiner in 2009.[1] Roberts sold hisHollywood house in 2007.[1] Afterward he was unsure whether he'd stay in Los Angeles so he rented homes for 10 years.[1] In September 2018 he purchased a house for $4.7 million via the Roberts Family Trust in thePacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles.[1] He also has a daughter Skye Roberts with Gardiner.[1] Skye is an actress who was born inSanta Monica.[21]
| Name | Year | Credited With | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| King Kong | 1983 | designer[24] | BBC Micro User |
| Match Day | 1985 | designer (BBC Micro port)[25] | Ocean Software |
| Wizadore | 1985 | designer | Imagine Software |
| Stryker's Run | 1986 | designer, programmer, artist | Superior Software |
| Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny | 1988 | designer[26][27] | Origin Systems |
| Times of Lore | 1988 | director, designer, writer, programmer, tester | Origin Systems |
| Bad Blood | 1990 | director, designer, programmer | Origin Systems |
| Wing Commander | 1990 | director, lead designer, producer, programmer | Origin Systems |
| Wing Commander: The Secret Missions | 1990 | producer, programmer | Origin Systems |
| Wing Commander: The Secret Missions 2: Crusade | 1991 | producer, programmer | Origin Systems |
| Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi | 1991 | producer | Origin Systems |
| Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi: Special Operations 1 | 1991 | creative director | Origin Systems |
| Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi: Special Operations 2 | 1992 | creative director | Origin Systems |
| Strike Commander | 1993 | director, producer, artist, programmer | Origin Systems |
| Strike Commander: Tactical Operations | 1993 | producer | Origin Systems |
| Wing Commander: Privateer | 1993 | executive producer | Origin Systems |
| Wing Commander: Armada | 1994 | producer | Origin Systems |
| Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger | 1994 | director, producer, writer, actor | Origin Systems |
| Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom | 1996 | director, executive producer | Electronic Arts |
| Starlancer | 2000 | executive producer | Microsoft |
| Conquest: Frontier Wars | 2001 | producer, writer | Ubisoft |
| Freelancer | 2003 | original concept | Microsoft Game Studios |
| Star Citizen | TBA | director | Cloud Imperium Games |
| Squadron 42 | "2026" | director | Cloud Imperium Games |
| Name | Year | Credited With | Distributor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wing Commander | 1999 | director, actor | 20th Century Fox |
| The Punisher | 2004 | executive producer | Lions Gate Entertainment |
| The Jacket | 2005 | executive producer | Warner Independent Pictures |
| The Big White | 2005 | producer | Momentum Pictures |
| Lord of War | 2005 | producer | Lionsgate Films |
| Ask the Dust | 2006 | executive producer | Paramount Classics |
| Lucky Number Slevin | 2006 | producer | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Who's Your Caddy? | 2007 | executive producer | The Weinstein Company |
| Outlander | 2008 | producer | The Weinstein Company |
| Black Water Transit | 2009 | executive producer[28] | Capitol Films |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
