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This article is about the video game designer. For the musician, see Smile Empty Soul.
Mike Booth
Occupation(s)Chief Creative Officer at Bad Robot Games
Former founder and CEO of Turtle Rock Studios
Board member ofResolution Games

Michael Booth is an American video game designer and executive and the current chief creative officer of Bad Robot Games.[1] He was also creator and lead designer of Left 4 Dead and founder of Turtle Rock Studios, later acquired by Valve Corporation.[2]

Early career and Nox

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Throughout his career, Booth has generally focused on creating cooperative online multiplayer games,[3] a genre for which he continues to advocate as recently as 2022.[4] One of Booth's earliest projects was Nox, which he created in his apartment. He brought a demo to the Game Developers Conference, and ultimately, Nox was published in 2000 through the Westwood Studios division of Electronic Arts,[5] with Booth in the roles of project lead and lead designer.[6] His career at Electronic Arts continued[2] with Booth serving creative roles for 2000's Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge[7] and 2003's Command & Conquer: Generals.[6]

Turtle Rock Studios

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In 2002, Booth founded Turtle Rock Studios,[8] where he served as CEO and game director.[9] In 2003, Booth programmed an official bot that enabled offline multiplayer play in Counter-Strike.[10] He was project lead and lead designer for Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, released in 2004.[2] In 2004 he began creating cooperative online game Left 4 Dead,[11] for which he was also lead designer.[2] Booth created the AI Director in Left 4 Dead[1] that dynamically adjusted a player's experience of the game during each playthrough.[12]

Booth also was part of the creative teams for other Counter-Strike games and Team Fortress 2.[2] After Valve acquired Turtle Rock Studios in 2008,[13] Booth stayed on with the company until 2012.[14]

Blizzard Entertainment, Facebook, and Resolution Games

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Booth departed Valve and joined Blizzard Entertainment as game director[14] on an unannounced project.[15]

From December 2015[16] until December 2019, he was director of social virtual reality (VR) at Facebook,[17] working with CEO Mark Zuckerberg and chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer.[18] In April 2017, Booth led the beta rollout of Facebook Spaces, a social VR product created for Oculus Rift.[19] Prior to the launch, Booth appeared in live VR demonstrations of the product in April[18] and October 2016.[20]

Booth joined the board of directors of Resolution Games in March 2020.[21] He worked with Resolution on Demeo, a 2021 tabletop role-playing game originally created for VR.[1]

Bad Robot Games

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Booth joined Bad Robot Games in December 2020, managing the company's newly created in-house development studio. He reports to Anna Sweet, CEO of Bad Robot Games.[6] By February 2022, he had taken on the role of chief creative officer.[1]

Awards and recognition

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Bell, Alice (4 February 2022). "Left 4 Dead creator Mike Booth says there still aren't enough co-op games". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e Spangler, Todd (10 December 2020). "J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Games Forms In-House Studio Led by Gaming Vet Mike Booth". Variety. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  3. ^ Sinclair, Brendan (12 February 2021). "Bad Robot looking to be the rare Hollywood-and-games success story". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  4. ^ Allen, Jen (7 February 2022). "'Left 4 Dead' creator thinks there "just aren't enough" co-op games". NME. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  5. ^ Aihoshi, Richard (27 May 2000). "Nox Developer Profile: Michael Booth". IGN. Archived from the original on 11 July 2000. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  6. ^ a b c Takahashi, Dean (10 December 2020). "JJ Abrams' Bad Robot launches internal game studio headed by Left 4 Dead creator". VentureBeat. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  7. ^ Quick, Sonya (11 January 2008). "O.C. developer of game Left 4 Dead bought by Valve Corp". Orange County Register. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  8. ^ Bramwell, Tom (18 March 2015). "Turtle Rock Studios reforms". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  9. ^ McElroy, Griffin (17 March 2010). "Left 4 Dead co-dev Turtle Rock Studios reanimated". Engadget. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  10. ^ Callaham, John (17 April 2003). "Official Counter-Strike Bot Interview". HomeLan Fed. Archived from the original on 26 April 2003. Retrieved 28 January 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  11. ^ "The Making Of... Left 4 Dead". GamesRadar. 27 April 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  12. ^ Champandard, Alex J. (7 October 2009). "11 Secrets about LEFT 4 DEAD's AI 11 Secrets about LEFT 4 DEAD's AI Director and its Procedural Zombie Director and its Procedural Zombie Population Population". AIGameDev.com. Archived from the original on 30 October 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  13. ^ "Mike Booth, the Architect of Left 4 Dead's AI Director, Explains Why It's So Bloody Good". Kotaku Australia. 20 November 2018. Archived from the original on November 21, 2018. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  14. ^ a b Calvin, Alex (18 March 2020). "Valve and Facebook vet Booth joins Resolution Games board". PCGamesInsider. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  15. ^ Cook, JR (31 July 2015). "The Unsolved Mystery of Mike Booth". BlizzPro. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  16. ^ Robertson, Adi (21 February 2016). "Facebook founds team to help people 'connect and share' in virtual reality". The Verge. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  17. ^ Denzer, TJ (3 December 2019). "Mike Booth leaves Facebook VR to return to game development". Shacknews. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  18. ^ a b Terdiman, Daniel (13 April 2016). "How Facebook's Social VR Could Be the Killer App for Virtual Reality". Fast Company. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  19. ^ Statt, Nick (18 April 2017). "Facebook's bold and bizarre VR hangout app is now available for the Oculus Rift". The Verge. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  20. ^ Machkovech, Sam (6 October 2016). "Facebook's first VR experience demonstrated by Mark Zuckerberg [Updated]". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  21. ^ Forde, Matthew (18 March 2020). "Resolution Games adds Left 4 Dead creator Mike Booth to board of directors". PocketGamer.biz. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  22. ^ Thorsen, Tor; Sinclair, Brendan (23 February 2009). "Little Big Planet wins big at D.I.C.E." GameSpot. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  23. ^ "2009 Games Multiplayer". BAFTA Awards. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  24. ^ "D.I.C.E. Awards By Video Game Details". D.I.C.E. Awards. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
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