John Rowe

Developer BIO

John Rowe is a long-time veteran of the video game business, with more than 20 years experience working with pioneers of the interactive entertainment industry and current leaders such as Sony, Sega, Microsoft and Nintendo.

John comes to Sammy Studios from Midway Home Entertainment, a company he joined when the Williams/Bally/Midway parent company, WMS, acquired Tradewest in 1994. John served as Midway's vice chairman and head of product development, where he spearheaded the company's entry into the consumer video game market and helped increase the consumer division's annual revenues from $80 million to over $300 million. Under his leadership, the division released such blockbuster games as Doom, NBA Hang Time, Cruisin' USA, Rampage, NFL Blitz, and titles from the Mortal Kombat series.

Previously, John co-founded Tradewest, a groundbreaking publisher responsible for licensing and delivering a number of video games' most memorable titles to the U.S. After introducing the popular arcade game Ikari Warriors, Tradewest released a number of classic titles including Double Dragon and Ironman Stewart's Super Off Road, as well as John Elway Quarterback, the first sports game to feature an all-star athlete.

John was instrumental in establishing the consumer division of Tradewest, where he helped to secure the Double Dragon license for Nintendo's home system. During this time he worked closely with U.K. developer Rare Ltd. to create the hit game series Battletoads. John was also a key component in Tradewest's acquisition of Cinematronics, the famed video game developer that created Dragon's Lair and Space Ace series.

Prior to co-founding Tradewest, John began his career in video games with SNK Corporation where he served as Executive Vice President. At SNK John helped establish the company's first U.S. office focusing on sales, marketing, distribution and quality assurance for coin-op games in North America.

John studied management at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He lives with his wife and 2 children in San Diego, California.

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Games Credited

• Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy (2008), Sierra Entertainment, Inc.
• Darkwatch (2005), Capcom Entertainment, Inc.
• Iron Phoenix (2005), SEGA of America, Inc.
• Spy Fiction (2004), Sammy USA Corporation
• Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 (2000), Midway Games Ltd.
• Ready 2 Rumble Boxing (1999), Midway Games, Inc.
• Cruis'n World (1997), Nintendo of Europe GmbH
• Privateer 2: The Darkening (1996), Electronic Arts, Inc.
• Mortal Kombat 3 (1995), Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc.