Joe Brisbois

Joe Brisbois most recently was an Executive Producer at Turn 10 Studios, the creators of the racing franchise “Forza Motorsport” on the Xbox. Joe’s diverse history of developing a variety of entertainment properties, as well as his lifelong passion for motorsports, allowed him to drive the studio’s media, community, and partner activation efforts.

Joe began his professional career in 1993 at Park Place Productions working as an artist on games including Champions World Class Soccer and Dick Vitale’s College Basketball for Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis and PC. During this time, Joe also ran the company’s green screen filming studio for the creation of in-game assets and media content.

After graduating from San Diego State University at the end of 1993 with a BA degree in Art, Joe joined Sony Computer Entertainment America as an artist on a series of ESPN sports games for PC, Super Nintendo, and Sega Genesis including Baseball Tonight, SpeedWorld and NBA Hangtime ’95. He then served as lead artist on the PlayStation launch title ESPN Extreme Games and created the cinematic sequences for the space adventure Blasto before changing roles to produce his first game, 3Xtreme.

Joe moved on from Sony Computer Entertainment America in 2000 to produce several games for LucasArts, a Lucasfilm Ltd. company, including Star Wars Bounty Hunter for PlayStation 2 and GameCube, Star Wars: The Clone Wars for Xbox Live, and a trio of games for Nintendo’s GameBoy Advance: Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Star Wars The New Droid Army and Star Wars Jedi Power Battles. While at LucasArts, Joe worked extensively with Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Skywalker Sound, incorporating work from both companies into his game projects. Joe also worked closely with Lucas Licensing and partners including BestBuy, Dark Horse Comics, Hasbro, and Wizards of the Coast to develop opportunities for Star Wars-based videogame properties.

Joe then worked on The Sims Bustin’ Out for Electronic Arts before returning to Sony Computer Entertainment America in early 2004 to begin production on EyeToy: AntiGrav. An early advocate of physical gaming, Joe worked closely with Nike and their Motion Lab on the creation and branding of EyeToy: Kinetic, an interactive personal training product that utilized the EyeToy peripheral device and launched in 2005. He also produced EyeToy: Play2 and EyeToy: Groove for the PlayStation2. During this time at Sony, Joe was part of the team that developed early PlayStation3 development processes and initiated design and development of original titles such as Lair for the PS3. He developed successful working relationships with Sony studios in Europe, Japan, and China where he launched two of the first ever PlayStation games available in that country (EyeToy: Play and EyeToy: Antigrav).

In 2005, Joe joined Harmonix Music Systems as Vice President of Business Development where his work encompassed the Guitar Hero series, the Phase project with Apple, and Rock Band with MTV and Electronic Arts. Joe’s duties at Harmonix included developing strategic marketing and licensing relationships with companies ranging from Apple to Fender, Nintendo to Warner Bros. Records, and Green Day to Bon Jovi. Following its acquisition by Viacom Inc. in 2007, Joe left Harmonix to start a new venture called Modlife.

As General Manager of Modlife, Inc., Joe created and led the company through the development of an online platform that provides artists with a suite of customizable tools to run their online businesses and connect directly with their fans. Joe signed artists including Jack White (The White Stripes, The Dead Weather, The Raconteurs, Third Man Records), Pearl Jam, Korn, Blink-182, and Angels & Airwaves.

Joe has taught 3D Modeling and Animation at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University, and spoken about many aspects of physical gaming and game creation at events such as the Game Developers Conference (GDC), SIGGRAPH and the Serious Games Summit as well as made personal appearances on G4TV, ABC Radio, SportsByline and GamerNation. He has been quoted and featured in such publications as The New York Times, Washington Post and Animation Magazine.