Ray Muzyka

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Muzyka during an interview for G4TV at E3 2011 .

Raymond "Ray" Muzyka (* 1969 in Edmonton ) is a Canadian investor , entrepreneur and doctor . He is co-founder of the game development company BioWare , for which he worked as CEO from 1995 to 2012 and, together with his founding colleague Greg Zeschuk, made a significant contribution. In addition, from 2008 he was Vice President of the US publisher Electronic Arts and General Manager of the BioWare label within the EA Group.

Career

education

Muzyka completed a medical degree at the University of Alberta , which he completed in 1990 with a bachelor's degree. There he received his doctorate in 1992 and received his license as a general practitioner from the Canadian College of Family Physicians (CCFP) in 1994 . In 2001 he received a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario . Muzyka graduated from the Old Scona Academic High School in Edmonton, where he received an International Baccalaureate .

Foundation and management of BioWare

In 1995 Muzyka founded the software development company BioWare in Edmonton together with his fellow students Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip . At the beginning, the company developed medical teaching software for the University of Alberta, all founders also worked as doctors on the side. The company's first product was the Gastroenterology Patient Simulator program, a program designed to teach medical students how to diagnose and treat gastrointestinal disorders. Eventually the company turned to game development and established itself as a leading developer of computer role-playing games . In 1997, Yip left the company and turned back to medicine. Under the direction of Muzykas and Zeschuk, Bioware was listed several times in the list of the 100 best employers in Canada by Mediacorp Canada and Maclean’s .

For BioWare's first computer game Shattered Steel , Muzyka worked as an author, for Baldur's Gate as a designer and production manager. Together with Zeschuk, Muzyka was co-executive producer for all BioWare games over the next few years, including Baldur's Gate 2 , MDK2 , MDK2: Armageddon , Neverwinter Nights , Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic , Jade Empire , Sonic Chronicles: Die Dunkle Brotherhood and Mass Effect . In addition to his development responsibilities, Muzyka was responsible for the finance, human resources, operations, marketing and legal affairs of BioWare. After BioWare was taken over by the US publisher Electronic Arts in 2008 , Muzyka was appointed General Manager and EA Vice President in addition to his CEO position at BioWare, later promoted to Senior Vice President and General Manager of the now greatly expanded BioWare label within the EA group.

Even before the takeover by EA, BioWare founded a branch studio in Austin in 2006 for the development of the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic . Under EA, further branches in Montreal (2009) and Galway (Ireland, 2009) followed by 2011. In addition, BioWare's EA development studios Mythic Entertainment (2009), Victory Games (2011, as BioWare Victory), EA2D (2011, as BioWare San Francisco), Klicknation (2011, as BioWare Sacramento) and two marketing teams in EA - Reported to Headquarters Redwood Shores and Europe, which Muzyka oversaw as Group General Manager.

In 2012, Muzyka announced on the company's official blog that he and his partner Zeschuk would withdraw from the game industry and support companies in the fields of technology, new media or social and ethical investments as a mentor and investor . Shortly after his departure, EA's BioWare group was gradually reduced to the three studios in Edmonton, Austin and Montreal through internal reorganization.

Outside employment

Muzyka served on the Board of Directors of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences from 2001 to 2008 and served as Director and Co-Chairman of CodeBaby, a software company focused on next-generation user interfaces for digital media and the Internet. Muzyka joined the Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation in September 2012 as a so-called Volunteer Director of the Advisory Board. Muzyka is an active member of the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO), a global network for business leaders, and was a founding member of A100, a technology network for the Canadian province of Alberta, in 2012. Furthermore Muzyka was the first time in 2012 opened the exhibition The Art of Video Games at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in an advisory capacity.

Success as a poker player

A passionate poker player and participant in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas and similar events, Muzyka won the first DICE poker tournament in 2006, in which numerous well-known poker players such as Scott Fischman , Chris Ferguson and Perry Friedman took part. In the finals, he defeated Fischman, Friedman and Mike Morhaime of Blizzard Entertainment . He is the first and so far only player to win the DICE tournament for the second time with his victory in 2010. In 2008 he took part in the main event of the Canadian Poker Tour and defeated his four opponents in the final, which he won the 2008 WCPC Champions League. In 2010 he finished the WSOP main event in 374th place out of 7,319 players. In total, Muzyka earned almost $ 140,000 in poker in live tournaments .

Awards

  • 1997 “Young Entrepreneur of the Year” (Alberta) from the Business Development Bank of Canada and “Export Development Award” (Canada) from the Export Development Corporation of Canada (together with Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip).
  • 2001 "Canada's Top 40 under 40" (together with Greg Zeschuk).
  • 2001 “Entrepreneur of the Year” in the software and information services category from the auditing firm Ernst & Young (together with Greg Zeschuk).
  • 2004 Game Developers Choice Awards : IGDA Award for Community Contribution (together with Greg Zeschuk).
  • 2011 induction into the AIAS Hall of Fame of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (together with Greg Zeschuk).
  • 2013 Game Developers Choice Awards: Lifetime Achievement Award (together with Greg Zeschuk).

Ludography

Web links

Commons : Ray Muzyka  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Young Entrepreneurs Awards: 10th anniversary Archived from the original on February 16, 2013. (Online view) In: Maclean’s . November 3, 1997. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  2. ^ Ray Muzyka: From Ray Muzyka . BioWare. 2012. Retrieved September 18, 2012.
  3. ^ BioWare: Ray Muzyka & Greg Zeschuk Retire . BioWare. 2012. Retrieved September 18, 2012.
  4. ↑ a b Bioware Interview ( English ) In: RPGVault . News Corp . April 26, 1998. Archived from the original on July 26, 2006. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  5. ^ Onstad, Katrina (October 23, 1999). "The West's new Gold Rush: Two young Edmonton doctors who created the Baldur's Gate phenomenon plot their next move: Doctors with an obsession for video games have created Baldur's Gate - a game that's selling feverishly," National Post , p. 2.
  6. ↑ http://pc.ign.com/articles/106/1062743p1.html
  7. ↑ Roland Austinat (October 14, 2004): Again in the Canadian Top 100 list , Gamestar , IDG . Retrieved December 29, 2006.
  8. ↑ blog.bioware.com/2012/09/18/from-ray-muzyka/
  9. ↑ http://www.stollerykids.com/about-us/our-board/ray-muzyka.aspx
  10. ↑ A100: Raymond Muzyka ( Memento from July 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ PastPixels: Art of Video Games - Advisory Group ( Memento of May 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (English), last accessed on May 30, 2012.
  12. ↑ - ( Memento of February 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ↑ Raymond Muzyka in the Hendon Mob Poker Database, accessed June 6, 2020.
  14. ↑ Canada's Top 40 under 40 2001 ( Memento from September 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (pdf; 52 kB)
  15. ↑ http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Edmonton+game+developer+named+Entrepreneur+of+the+Year.-a078634563
  16. ↑ - ( Memento of December 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  17. ^ Eddie Makuch: BioWare founders getting Lifetime Achievement Award ( English ) In: Gamespot . CBS Interactive . February 11, 2013. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Muzyka, Ray
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Muzyka, Raymond (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian computer game developer
DATE OF BIRTH 1969
PLACE OF BIRTH Edmonton , Alberta , Canada