Difference between revisions of "David Perry"

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==History outline==
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==Quote to maybe work in later==
*Born April 1967 in Lisburn, growing up in Templepatrick and Donegore, attending Methodist College Belfast.
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{{quote|Quality is so important. That's what made me very comfortable. It was a very comfortable discussion, and very easy for me to make the decision because PlayStation to me means top-quality gaming. So let's see if we can add cloud gaming to that. [And] Sony paid a lot of money for our company, and I don't think they would have done that [if cloud gaming were not part of their strategy]. If they had bought us for a million, they could easily just throw us in a cupboard somewhere. When they spend a lot of money, it makes me very comfortable that they are going to really take this very seriously, and listen to what we have to say, and try to use the technology and the team that we have to the best of their ability. So, I feel very comfortable with the size of the deal.|''David Perry''|ref={{ref|1=https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnyegriffiths/2012/08/02/david-perry-earthworm-jim-gaikai-sony-sale/?sh=423e35f72e84}}}}
*Began coding from a young age, at 15 he was already writing game programming books (1982), coding his own ZX Spectrum games. His very first game, a driving game featuring indistinct black blobs avoiding one another, was sent to a home computer magazine which proceeded to actually publish it. After sending them a few more games, the magazine sent him a check for £450, but as a teenager had no bank account with which to initially cash it.
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[[User:CartridgeCulture|CartridgeCulture]] ([[User talk:CartridgeCulture|talk]]) 20:07, 10 November 2021 (EST)
*Continued as a bedroom programmer until he was offered a £3,500/year position as an apprentice to a vet programmer who taught him more advanced coding (Andy Lawrie I believe, but verify this)
 
*When he first started working in games, was working under a man named Andy Lawrie, described by Perry as "someone you couldn't bullshit to", very technical and aware, and he was one of the biggest influences in solidifying Perry's passion into a shape he could work with - basically taught him to be quality, punctual, and to think things through. Also taught Perry to be involved in multiple things at once.
 
*At 17, travelled from Ireland to live in London making games for Mikro-Gen and later notably Probe Software.
 
*In 1991, moved to the US to develop for Virgin Games USA.
 
*Rough list of games worked on by/based on work by David Perry, and released after he left: Terminator MCD, RoboCop v Terminator MD, Jungle Book MD.
 
*Founded Shiny in 93 to work as an independent developer.
 
*Once attended payroll classes at an unknown American school, not because of any schooling, but just because he wanted to learn about payroll as a developer. Later used the experience to set up and manage his company's payroll systems entirely by himself. Used that lesson when getting into venture capital investing.
 
*Also took photography classes for similar reasons (to understand marketing?)
 
*Also is apparently notably skilled in public relations.
 
*Got MDK packed in with every purchase of first-generations iMacs.
 
*In 2002, sold Shiny to Atari for $47million. Perry remained as President.
 
*Worked with Wachowskis on Matrix games. Their first, Enter The Matrix, sold well despite poor critical reception, notably featuring movie side-characters.
 
*The second Matrix game, featuring main characters from the movies, was personally described by Perry as "an apology for the first one."
 
*He left the game industry (stopped directly developing/etc) in 2006 to act solely as a consultant and investor.
 
*Stands 6 foot 7.
 
*Lifetime achievement award awarded August 1st, 2012.
 
*Started Gaikai, later sold to Sony (to become PS Now?). Built Gaikai's first server entirely by himself in his living room, using 100% parts he ordered, and also done personally so he could better understand exactly how it works.
 
*"I hate mystery." - has a significant and personal drive to learn and discover, part of what makes him and his work so notable.
 
*Took Gaikai to Sony (digital and in-person), Google (digital and in-person), Facebook, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Samsung smart TVs.
 
*Compared Gaikai to Verizon/telephone company: They don't care about data harvesting or revenue sharing or moving customers from one platform to another, but instead just charging for time played. Like Verizon "just supplies the dial tone", Gaikai "just provides the streaming."
 
*Gaikai pulled $30mil in funding, then approached by multiple unnamed large corporations for acquisition, eventually sold to Sony for $380mil. Part of the reason he/Gaikai chose Sony was because he believes in the solidity of the PlayStation brand and his new corporate parent. Also because Sony invested enough money in the acquisition to show Perry that they were serious and wanted to actually further develop and move this technology forward.
 

Latest revision as of 20:07, 10 November 2021

Quote to maybe work in later

Quality is so important. That's what made me very comfortable. It was a very comfortable discussion, and very easy for me to make the decision because PlayStation to me means top-quality gaming. So let's see if we can add cloud gaming to that. [And] Sony paid a lot of money for our company, and I don't think they would have done that [if cloud gaming were not part of their strategy]. If they had bought us for a million, they could easily just throw us in a cupboard somewhere. When they spend a lot of money, it makes me very comfortable that they are going to really take this very seriously, and listen to what we have to say, and try to use the technology and the team that we have to the best of their ability. So, I feel very comfortable with the size of the deal.

David Perry[1]


CartridgeCulture (talk) 20:07, 10 November 2021 (EST)