The Top 10 Most Important People in Gaming (1947-1979)
The people that have shaped the industry
From the Archives: I originally published this article on September 2024. I had long term plans to do this for gaming eras and decades but fell behind. Since I’m working on getting those past project working again, it made sense to republish this one. Stay tune for more on influential people in gaming in the near future. I did some slight format changes and a slight edit here or there, but it’s mostly unchanged.
The early days of gaming were more about an industry created during the tech startup decades following World War II. We also had the first superstar game developers and entrepreneurs who helped shape the first major era in gaming. So, let’s look at my list of the top ten most influential people in gaming during these early years. Once again, this is based on personal research and is a subjective opinion.
10 - Don Rawitsch, Bill Heinemann, and Paul Dillenberger
While we kicked off the list with a group of three men instead of one person, I wanted to give all three their dues for their creation of The Oregon Trail. More people, especially school students, have played this game more than any. There is an argument to be made that video games can be more than just about fun or “mindless thrills,” and The Oregon Trail is one the better cases for that topic. Even non-gamers have at least tried it, and it has been an educational tool for many kids. It started as a board game for Rawitsch’s students but was transformed into interactive education that lives to this day. These three men helped make that happen.
9 - David H. Ahl
David H. Ahl wrote the BASIC Computer Games, which set the stage for the early era of PC gaming. Ahl compiled programming tools and directions for the enthusiasts of microcomputers at the time to put numerous titles on their computers. Many of these enthusiasts, specifically on the younger side, would be some of the early-era game developers. Ahl’s book became an inspiration and an essential part of video game and computer history.
8 - Steve Russell
Working at MIT, scientist Steve Russell created the influential Spacewar! on a PDP-1 computer. Spacewar! became popular among college students and would be influential in many future aspects of the gaming industry. It was the first multiplayer game and was the first experience of a video game for many of the attendants that saw it. Nolan Bushnell’s interest in video games came from Spacewar! However, Russell’s influence went beyond video games; he mentored Bill Gates and Paul Allen in using a mainframe computer!
7 - William Higinbotham
William Higinbotham was part of the scientific front during World War II and was part of the team that built the nuclear bomb. After this, he helped found the Federation of American Scientists, a nuclear nonproliferation group seeking a more peaceful world. While already having an exciting life and career, Higinbotham would have a different legacy, as some now call him the “grandfather of video games.” He created the game Tennis for Two in 1958 for Brookhaven National Laboratory. Higinbotham’s goal was to show computers could be used for something fun and interactive.
In many ways, Tennis for Two is arguably the first video game when you consider that you simulate a game of tennis rather than the games before it, which were usually tic-tac-toe or checkers on a screen. Higinbotham preferred you talk about his nuclear nonproliferation work over his game, and while it’s a good cause, it can’t be denied that Tennis for Two is just as much a part of his legacy as that noble cause.
6 - Tomohiro Nishikado
Before all the iconic developers we know today, there was Tomohiro Nishikado. During the golden age of arcade video games, Taito tapped Nishikado whenever they needed a hit video game. Time after time, he delivered. Iconic titles from the early days of gaming, such as TV Basketball, Speed Race, Western Gun, and his masterpiece and main legacy hit - Space Invaders. The man just produced hit after hit, creating a standard for the industry. While I believe Shigeru Miyamoto is the greatest video game designer of all time, the impact and legacy of Tomohiro Nishikado are pretty darn close.
5 - Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. & Estle Ray Mann
Thomas Goldsmith and Estle Ray Mann made the most critical patent in video games, setting the stage for interactive games. While the patent never got to the creation and selling stage, it’s an undeniably important part of gaming history. If this is where the idea of video games begins, Goldsmith and Mann deserve credit and placed on this list, even if it was more idea than practice.
4 - Gerald “Jerry” Lawson
Video games were stuck as part of the machine you bought and brought home, lacking a way to expand and create content libraries similar to music. Then, while making the Fairchild Channel F console, Gerald Lawson helped create the video game cartridge. By doing so, the video game console could expand by letting consumers buy new games and develop their catalog. Lawson has recently been credited and celebrated for creating the video game cartridge. As video games have become a staple of worldwide culture, Lawson has been recognized as a part of Black history and has established an icon for many minority gamers to look up to.
3 - Nolan Bushnell
From a business standpoint, no one is as influential and important as Nolan Bushnell to the games industry. He started by helping market Pong for his new company, Atari. Taking advantage of its success, he pushed Atari to become the face of arcade gaming and eventually released the Atari VCS console. Bushnell’s company put video games in the public mind as the Atari VCS went on to sell over twenty million units, despite being a new piece of tech and having a high price. In the process, Bushnell created the precedent of a video game platform and ecosystem while also creating the first childhood video game memories.
2 - Christopher Strachey
The man I consider the real “father of video games,” Christopher Strachey, developed the first video game as part of a thesis, Draughts. Strachey was already a brilliant computer programmer who worked with computer legend Alan Turing. Draughts is an interactive game of checkers, which is pretty basic but was part of a rush by many institutions to create an interactive game on a screen. While there have been many to point to Alexander Douglas’ OXO as the first video game, there’s evidence Draughts was published first as a thesis. Unfortunately, Strachey isn’t as well known as many men on this list. I’m trying to change that by making people aware of Strachey, especially as he should be a part of LGBTQ+ history. Christopher Strachey is the real father of gaming and deserves as much credit and attention as anyone in history.
1 - Ralph H. Baer
While Christopher Strachey made the first video game, Ralph Baer is the man that pretty much created the industry as we know it today. Baer created and launched the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home video game console. While the system flopped and Baer’s ambitions proved to be too early for the times, it began the roadmap for the number one way most people play video games - in their living rooms with a box tethered to their TV. Baer has said he envisioned a catalog of titles in different genres similar to movies and music. He saw what the video game industry would be before anyone else. Baer has received a lot of attention and recognition for his contributions to entertainment. He even received an award from the President of the United States.
While an argument could be made that Atari and Bushnell set the industry on its course for success, Baer set the starting point to begin a colossal industry. Christopher Strachey deserves more recognition as the first video game developer, but Baer has more than earned his for the creation of the video game console. The title of “father of video games” belongs to Ralph Baer for a reason, and its why I have him as the most important person of the early era of video games.
Really great post about some of the true pioneers of the gaming industry. I've been reading a lot about Ralph Baer recently so it was awesome to see top the list--but all these guys are giants in one way or another.