As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, Gordon Hall – founder of Möbius Entertainment which later became Rockstar Leeds – has died at the age of 51.
Friends and colleagues of Hall located in Yorkshire announced the news yesterday, as well as shared memories of the man and his work in and out of the office. Described as a top bloke, Hall played not only a pivotal role in cultivating talent, but also bringing some video game hits into the world and port-counterparts. One of the founders of Möbius Entertainment in 1997, the company got its start making licensed Game Boy Color and Advance games: Alfred’s Adventure, High Heat Major League Baseball 2002 (and its 2003 sequel), Army Men: Turf Wars, Bionicle, Barbie Horse Adventures, and more. The game that would soon transform the company was their GBA adaptation of the neo-noir hit of the early 2000s, Max Payne. Due to its success, Rockstar Games bought Möbius Entertainment and rebranded it as Rockstar Leeds.
Hall continued to work with Rockstar Games, producing some of the handheld Grand Theft Auto games – Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and GTA: Chinatown Wars – as well as Red Dead Redemption. From 2011 to 2013, Hall left Rockstar Games to pursue player psychology and microtransactions strategy and then was hired on as the Chief Creative Officer (CCO) for Activision Blizzard Mobile.
Martyn Brown, one of the co-founders of Team17 and friend to Hall, made the following statement:
“Gordon was simply brilliant to be around, incredibly motivating and ever positive,” said Martyn Brown, business development at Five Aces Publishing and co-founder of Team17. “His pursuit of excellence was staggering and he formed a great, trusting bond with those who chose to work (hard) alongside him. As a close friend, he was truly inspirational and socially speaking a real energetic one-off who could endlessly entertain at the drop of a hat, holding everyone in the palm of his hand. Gordon will be very sadly missed.”
According to GamesIndustry.biz, Hall is survived by his son James.
We here at Nintendo Wire would like to extend our condolences to Gordon Hall’s family, friends, and to those who will dearly miss him in the games industry.
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Written by Jennifer Burch
Illustrator, designer, writer and big Nintendo geek, you can find Jennifer with an N3DS within reach 24/7. As the oldest of three, she has survived many Mario Party, Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart sessions intact in addition to getting her brothers hooked on some really weird games. (Cubivore anyone?)
