Variety's videogames impact report

Today's issue of Daily Variety features our Videogames Impact Report, an annual look at the industry, some big trends, and key figures. There's a good overview of the whole special right here.

(As you might guess, it was supposed to run during E3, but got delayed due to some bureaucratic reasons.)

It features a lead article (by yours truly) about the balance of power between developers and publishers in the industry and questions whether recent moves like Bungie's defection from Microsoft and new contracts for top talents like Ken Levine and the heads of Infinity Ward and Blizzard signal any major shifts. If you're interested in the article, which features insights from people including Levine and Bungie CEO Harold Ryan, check it out here. (Nifty graphic on the right was made for the article)

The main focus of the special, however, is short profiles of 40 key industry players. Obviously you can't help but leave some important people out on any limited list. However, I'd like to think we've assembled a nice broad representation of major folks including developers, publishing execs, media figures, power brokers, and Hollywood types bringing traditional media to videogames and vice-versa (this is Variety, after all). Some of them you may have heard of if you're a gamer and some if you're more of a traditional Hollywood person. But hopefully some are new and interesting to you.

Below are links to everyone on the list and their profiles (some written by me, a few by Variety critic Leigh Alexander, and the rest by other freelancers). I'm also glad to say that we'll be supplementing this coverage by featuring extended excerpts of the interviews we conducted for some of these profiles here on the blog throughout the week. So if any of these names intrigue you, be sure to come back soon.

For now, the names (and brief descriptions of where they work or who they are):

Developers: Lucy Bradshaw and Will Wright ("Spore"); Jon Burton (Traveller's Tales, "Lego Star Wars/Indiana Jones/Batman"); Grant Collier, Jason West and Vince Zampella (Infinity Ward, "Call of Duty"); Hideo Kojima ("Metal Gear Solid"); Ken Levine (2K Boston, "Bioshock"); George Lucas and Haden Blackman (LucasArts, "Force Unleashed"); Lane Merrifield ("Club Penguin"); Shigero Miyamoto (please just know who he is); Mike Morhaime (Blizzard, "World of Warcraft"); Alex Rigopulos (Harmonix, "Rock Band"); Harold Ryan (Bungie, "Halo").

Publishing executives: Steve Chiang (EA Sports); Reggie Fils-Aime (Nintendo); Yves Guillemot (Ubisoft); Kaz Hirai (Sony); Graham Hopper (Disney); Sam and Dan Houser (Rockstar); Sandi Isaacs (Paramount); Bobby Kotick (Activision Blizzard); David Lee (Nexon); Don Mattrick (Microsoft); Shari Redstone (Midway); John Riccitiello (EA); Steve Schnur (EA Music); Martin Tremblay and Kevin Tsujihara (Warner Bros.); Strauss Zelnick (Take-Two).

Hollywood types: Cody Alexander and Derek Douglas (William Morris agents); Paul W.S. Anderson (director); Seamus Blackley (CAA agent); Keith Boesky (independent agent); Jerry Bruckheimer (movie/game producer); Vin Diesel (actor-producer); Steven Spielberg (three game deal at EA); Neil Tiles (president of G4); Thomas Tull (head of Legendary Pictures, co-founder of Brash).

Uncategorizable but fascinating: Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw ("Zero Punctuation"); Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik (Penny Arcade); Jamil Moledina (Game Developers Conference); Leland Yee (California State Senator); Martin Zagorsek (NPD).