Jez San
Encyclopedia
Jeremy 'Jez' San OBE is an English
game programmer
and entrepreneur
who founded Argonaut Software as a teenager in the 1980s. He is also a writer
and helped design the Super FX
chip for the Super NES
.
. Within a year he taught himself assembly language
, which he soon mastered for several chipsets.
San started his career in software by founding Argonaut Software in 1982 as a way to get software consulting jobs with large companies. He worked on security systems with British Telecom and Acorn. In 1984, he started developing his first game, Skyline Attack for the Commodore 64
and also co-wrote a book called Quantum Theory (about the Sinclair QL
). He also took an active interest in online services, becoming a wizard (admin) at Essex MUD
, the world's first multiplayer online role-playing game.
His first major success was his 1986 game Starglider
for the Atari ST
and the Commodore Amiga. It sold hundreds of thousands of copies (earning him £2 per copy in royalties) and was one of the first popular 3D
computer games. The money helped launch Argonaut as a larger company that started hiring other people in 1986.
In the late 1980s, Argonaut signed a deal with Nintendo
. He attracted Nintendo's attention because Argonaut was the first developer to successfully design 3D modeling on the NES
and the Game Boy
. X was published by Nintendo as the first 3D Game Boy game. San helped develop the first 3D graphics accelerator known as the Super FX
chip that made Star Fox possible on the Super NES
.
In 1996 Argonaut received external funding from Apax Partners and was listed publicly on the London Stock Exchange
in 2000. San's stake was reduced from 90% in 1996 to almost 50% post AGT's IPO in March 2000. San also helped found ARC International
ARK.L when it was spun out from Argonaut in 1998 and was its largest shareholder on IPO. San made substantial share sales during the flotation by Goldman Sachs
and Warburg
and in 2007 has fully exited ARC.
San received an OBE
in 2002, the first explicitly awarded for services to the computer game industry. Since that time, others have been honoured including Peter Molyneux
, Ian Livingstone
, Jane Cavanagh and Richard and David Darling.
After announcing a substantial loss in August 2004, Argonaut Group PLC suspended trading of its shares in October and appointed administrators for Argonaut Software Ltd, Morpheme Ltd and Just Add Monsters Ltd—the wholly owned subsidiaries of the PLC. The administrators sold Morpheme and Just Add Monsters back to Jez San and the other founders as ongoing businesses, while Argonaut Software Ltd was eventually liquidated.
In November 2004, Just Add Monsters became Ninja Theory
and continued the development of PlayStation 3
first-party game Heavenly Sword
, which debuted three years later in September 2007. Also in 2004, Morpheme became Morpheme Wireless Ltd for a while before San left, was eventually consumed by Eidos
/SCi
before being shut down in 2009.
After taking a hiatus from the computer games industry in 2004, San founded Crunchy Frog Ltd, which in 2005 became online poker company PKR. San serves as President, having hired his replacement with CEO Malcolm Graham, formerly of the Ritz Casino and AntFactory. PKR offers a unique 3d perspective for online poker, and operates in legal territories in Europe, Asia and Canada but does not operate in the USA, where online gambling is a grey area.
In 2008 San co-founded a mobile application developer and publisher Origin8 with fellow game industry colleague Foo Katan. The company produces iPhone
and BlackBerry
software, and has offices in London
.
San is a life member of BAFTA, and was an advisory board member of the GDC
and TIGA
for several years.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
game programmer
Game programmer
A game programmer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebase for video games or related software, such as game development tools. Game programming has many specialized disciplines all of which fall under the umbrella term of "game programmer"...
and entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
who founded Argonaut Software as a teenager in the 1980s. He is also a writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and helped design the Super FX
Super FX
The Super FX is a coprocessor chip used in select Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game cartridges. This custom-made RISC processor was typically programmed to act like a graphics accelerator chip that would draw polygons to a frame buffer in the RAM that sat adjacent to it...
chip for the Super NES
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
.
Biography
San's interest in computing began at age 12 when he bought his first computer, a TRS-80TRS-80
TRS-80 was Tandy Corporation's desktop microcomputer model line, sold through Tandy's Radio Shack stores in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The first units, ordered unseen, were delivered in November 1977, and rolled out to the stores the third week of December. The line won popularity with...
. Within a year he taught himself assembly language
Assembly language
An assembly language is a low-level programming language for computers, microprocessors, microcontrollers, and other programmable devices. It implements a symbolic representation of the machine codes and other constants needed to program a given CPU architecture...
, which he soon mastered for several chipsets.
San started his career in software by founding Argonaut Software in 1982 as a way to get software consulting jobs with large companies. He worked on security systems with British Telecom and Acorn. In 1984, he started developing his first game, Skyline Attack for the Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
and also co-wrote a book called Quantum Theory (about the Sinclair QL
Sinclair QL
The Sinclair QL , was a personal computer launched by Sinclair Research in 1984, as the successor to the Sinclair ZX Spectrum...
). He also took an active interest in online services, becoming a wizard (admin) at Essex MUD
MUD
A MUD , pronounced , is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, with the term usually referring to text-based instances of these. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction, and online chat...
, the world's first multiplayer online role-playing game.
His first major success was his 1986 game Starglider
Starglider
Starglider is a 3D video game released in 1986 by Rainbird. It was developed by Argonaut Software, led by programmer Jez San. The game was inspired by Jez San's love of the 1983 Atari coin-op Star Wars, It was a fast-moving, first-person combat flight simulator, rendered with colourful wireframe...
for the Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
and the Commodore Amiga. It sold hundreds of thousands of copies (earning him £2 per copy in royalties) and was one of the first popular 3D
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
computer games. The money helped launch Argonaut as a larger company that started hiring other people in 1986.
In the late 1980s, Argonaut signed a deal with Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
. He attracted Nintendo's attention because Argonaut was the first developer to successfully design 3D modeling on the NES
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
and the Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
. X was published by Nintendo as the first 3D Game Boy game. San helped develop the first 3D graphics accelerator known as the Super FX
Super FX
The Super FX is a coprocessor chip used in select Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game cartridges. This custom-made RISC processor was typically programmed to act like a graphics accelerator chip that would draw polygons to a frame buffer in the RAM that sat adjacent to it...
chip that made Star Fox possible on the Super NES
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
.
In 1996 Argonaut received external funding from Apax Partners and was listed publicly on the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
in 2000. San's stake was reduced from 90% in 1996 to almost 50% post AGT's IPO in March 2000. San also helped found ARC International
ARC International
ARC International plc was a developer of configurable microprocessor technology and is now owned by Synopsys. ARC developed synthesisable IP and licensed it to semiconductor companies....
ARK.L when it was spun out from Argonaut in 1998 and was its largest shareholder on IPO. San made substantial share sales during the flotation by Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational bulge bracket investment banking and securities firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients...
and Warburg
Warburg Pincus
Warburg Pincus, LLC is an American private equity firm with offices in the United States, Europe, Brazil and Asia. It has been a private equity investor since 1966...
and in 2007 has fully exited ARC.
San received an OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
in 2002, the first explicitly awarded for services to the computer game industry. Since that time, others have been honoured including Peter Molyneux
Peter Molyneux
Peter Douglas Molyneux OBE is an English computer game designer and game programmer. He created the God games Dungeon Keeper, Populous, and Black & White, among others, as well as business simulation games such as Theme Park and more recently, the RPG series Fable.Despite the success of his games,...
, Ian Livingstone
Ian Livingstone
Ian Livingstone OBE is an English fantasy author and entrepreneur. He is a co-writer of the first Fighting Fantasy gamebook, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, and co-founder of Games Workshop....
, Jane Cavanagh and Richard and David Darling.
After announcing a substantial loss in August 2004, Argonaut Group PLC suspended trading of its shares in October and appointed administrators for Argonaut Software Ltd, Morpheme Ltd and Just Add Monsters Ltd—the wholly owned subsidiaries of the PLC. The administrators sold Morpheme and Just Add Monsters back to Jez San and the other founders as ongoing businesses, while Argonaut Software Ltd was eventually liquidated.
In November 2004, Just Add Monsters became Ninja Theory
Ninja Theory
Ninja Theory, Ltd. is a video game developer based in Cambridge, England. Originally founded as Just Add Monsters in March 2000, the company was purchased by former Argonaut Games CEO Jez San in November 2004...
and continued the development of PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
first-party game Heavenly Sword
Heavenly Sword
Heavenly Sword is a video game developed by Ninja Theory exclusively for the PlayStation 3 console and published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe...
, which debuted three years later in September 2007. Also in 2004, Morpheme became Morpheme Wireless Ltd for a while before San left, was eventually consumed by Eidos
Eidos Interactive
Eidos Interactive Ltd. is a British video game publisher and is a label of Square Enix Europe. As an independent company Eidos plc was headquartered in the Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton....
/SCi
SCi
Square Enix Limited, doing business as Square Enix Europe, is a British publisher of video game software wholly owned by Square Enix. Square Enix Europe has its head office in the Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton....
before being shut down in 2009.
After taking a hiatus from the computer games industry in 2004, San founded Crunchy Frog Ltd, which in 2005 became online poker company PKR. San serves as President, having hired his replacement with CEO Malcolm Graham, formerly of the Ritz Casino and AntFactory. PKR offers a unique 3d perspective for online poker, and operates in legal territories in Europe, Asia and Canada but does not operate in the USA, where online gambling is a grey area.
In 2008 San co-founded a mobile application developer and publisher Origin8 with fellow game industry colleague Foo Katan. The company produces iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
and BlackBerry
BlackBerry
BlackBerry is a line of mobile email and smartphone devices developed and designed by Canadian company Research In Motion since 1999.BlackBerry devices are smartphones, designed to function as personal digital assistants, portable media players, internet browsers, gaming devices, and much more...
software, and has offices in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
San is a life member of BAFTA, and was an advisory board member of the GDC
Game Developers Conference
The Game Developers Conference is the largest annual gathering of professional video game developers, focusing on learning, inspiration, and networking...
and TIGA
The Independent Games Developers Association
TIGA is the national trade association representing the business and commercial interests of video and computer game developers in the UK and Europe...
for several years.