Martyn Brown, co-founder of Team17 and 35-year gaming industry veteran, has died at age 57.
Brown founded Team17 with Debbie Bestwick and Michael Robinson in 1990.
Brown has helped create more than 50 video games, including Worms and Alien Breed. He also created the consulting firm Insight For Hire and helped back studios Double Eleven, Exient, The Blast Furnace and New Star Games, according to GamesIndustry.biz.
Others who have died recently include Dan Van Elderen (2024), Masayuki Kato (2024), Matthew White (2023), Alex Cabal (2024), Joe Banks (2024), Thomas Kurtz (2024), Christophe Vivet (2024), Manny Granillo (2024), Erin Fusco (2024), Dylan Mecham (2024), Greg Hildebrandt (2024), Mike Brennan (2024), Rupert Easterbrook (2024) and Uwe Mathon (2024).
Longtime industry game developer Don Daglow keeps a list of those who have died in the gaming industry on this link.
“Martyn passed away peacefully in his sleep at 8:17 a.m. on December 28, 2024, surrounded by his family, following a prolonged battle with a series of strokes,” Jack Brown wrote. “Please know that he went out on his own terms listening to his favorite music and surrounded by his loved ones.”
Other game developers are leaving memorials to Brown on social media, including one Facebook page.
Kevin Dent wrote: “Such an amazing guy, he lived his life in high gear and took us with him. There are very few people in the gaming industry who are as infectious as Martyn, everyone probably has a Martyn story and mine were all positive and normally involved meeting him in a dark bar during a video game industry event somewhere in the world.
Kristy Payne wrote on Facebook: “I’ve been processing the tragic news and wondering what can I say about this lovely man, Martyn Brown? He had a huge sense of fun, he was extremely mischievous, totally amusing but also kind, caring and he always took care of his friends and kept in touch with everyone!
When he visited…he brought me THE BEST pork/scotch egg pies and the only crossword we ever had over the years was about #HandbagGate when he hid a plate full of fish goujons in my bag handbag at the London Games Festival launch party… I opened my bag at a meeting the next day to a foul smell and my handbag was in ruins! »
Payne added: “I find it hilarious now, but I didn’t find it very funny at the time! Needless to say, the lovely Martyn sent me a beautiful new leather handbag as an apology… I’m going to bring out this handbag he bought me about 20 years ago, and I will cherish it even more now! Farewell, charming and charming man… no doubt you will raise hell, party hard, order a huge round of drinks, cuddle dogs and play Perudo wherever you are!
Kish Hirani said he met Brown at the Team17 office when his engineers (PlayStation Dev Services) visited the studio.
“We got along extremely well and had no idea it would become such a close friendship as a family,” Hirani said.
“He made my role at PlayStation easier because he was extremely well connected, especially in the indie space. If developers needed help or connections on PlayStation, he always shared my details for direct contact, which helped us all, because approaching PlayStation might otherwise seem intimidating, but contact and collaboration is always a good thing “, Hirani said on Facebook.
He added: “We got a lot closer after I got laid off at PlayStation and got a top secret XR project with Porsche in 2016. As it was a remote project and my only direct communication was with HQ from Porsche to Stuttgart, I needed someone. speak with “out loud”. I used to go to his house and do the annual group trips to Galway for his birthday in January. He would have turned 58 next month.
“I gained much of the fame (and a fair amount of infamy) through my association with Martyn. I expected random industry people to approach me because of Martyn, he was a natural connector with people,” Hirani said. “Like at the Nordic Game party in San Francisco, GDC, a few years ago, when Rico Holmes, who I had never met or known, came up and just kissed me on the cheek and said three words which I consider a badge of honor: “Martyn Brown’s friend!” » I will miss you so much my dearest friend, my brother from another mother. RIP.”
