MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
The chief executives controlling gaming’s two newest games platforms have ascended the Guardian Media 100; the annual list of influential people who shape UK entertainment and news.
Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg finished first place, while Apple boss Steve Jobs took fifth.
Both executives are placed higher than News Corporation kingpin Rupert Murdoch, music mogul Simon Cowell, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Independent newspaper proprietor Alexander Lebedev.
Zuckerberg’s Facebook was described in the Media 100 as being "an immense media distribution platform" and the "number one media player" of the moment.
Jobs’s iPhone and iOS platform has sparked an app phenomenon, the Guardian said.
“The key is in its apps. Though these existed long before Apple joined the mobile market, it was the iPhone which made them mainstream and hundreds of thousands have been created since 2008. Every content producer now seems keen to build one.”
Both executives have helped transform the games sector, offering developers a games platform that crosses the eyes of hundreds of millions of potential customers.
And, in what is becoming a crucial turning-point for the games industry, the lines are blurring between both mobile and social games platforms.
Game studios such as Zynga are tying social games, like Farmville, to Apple devices, while mobile games developers such as Relentless are integrating Facebook features into mobile apps.
