I may shake my head at the endless, greedy pursuit of wealth for its own sake that defines our society, but at the end of the day, I still want to know who’s making the big bucks and imagine what I’d do with them, baby. Thankfully, the Sunday Times has just released its Rich List, featuring the 30 richest people in the British games industry.
Topping the list are Igor and Dmitry Bukhman, whose names, games and studio I had never heard of before looking at this list. The brothers founded and own Playrix, a 4,000-person-strong developer of free-to-play mobile games, with their most notable releases being Township, Fishdom, Homescapes and Gardenscapes. I guess I’m happy for them and their staggering £12.5 billion fortune.
Alongside a metaverse guy and the founder of Candy Crush developer King, now the oft-forgotten third pillar of Activision Blizzard King, you come across some rich guys more familiar to PC gamers: Dan and Sam Houser, who have a net worth estimated at £350 million. The co-founders of niche indie developer Rockstar Games built their fortunes on the earnings from Rockstar’s breakout hits: The Warriors in 2005 and Bully in 2006. The runaway success of those games allowed Rockstar to move on to less lucrative passion projects like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption.
The biggest surprise, at least for me, is No. 6 on the list: Garry’s Mod’s titular creator, Garry Newman. I guess this shouldn’t be much of a surprise. Garry’s Mod is ubiquitous in the PC gaming world, and despite the name, it’s a $10 standalone game. Newman’s Facepunch Studios is also behind the hugely successful Rust, and his deep pockets make me much less concerned about Newman’s impending legal battles related to Skibidi Toilet.
The 30-person list has a lot to take in: PewDiePie is still filthy rich, believe it or not, and I certainly warmed my heart when I saw Luca Galante, founder of Poncle and creator of Vampire Survivors, at number 26. That there are only three women on the list is a bit disappointing and not exactly surprising, but I don’t know if “more women in the UK games industry, 1%” should be our next rallying cry for gender equality in the hobby. However, we can all agree on one thing: the people on the list that I really like and admire, like Galante and Newman, are just cool guys with talent who also got lucky, and the rest should pay more taxes.
