John Hight

Moby ID: 8091

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John Hight – Director of Product Development, Sony Computer Entertainment of America.

In 1991, John built his first game, Battleship, for the Philips CDi player. Since that time he has worked on 32 games and 9 educational products on various platforms. He’s been fortunate to serve many different development roles: programmer, artist, designer, writer, producer, and studio executive. He has worked on both the development side and publishing side of the business. He’s listened to hundreds of concept pitches, negotiated many development deals, and managed dozens of projects.

As a studio director, John currently oversees a staff of 105 employees at Sony’s Santa Monica Studio. They are currently in production on God of War 3.

John spearheaded the PlayStation Network first party publishing effort, with pioneering games like BlastFactor – Sony’s first downloadable game and flOw – the first indie game published on PlayStation 3. flOw was the first game developed by thatgamecompany, a startup founded by former USC interactive media students.

Prior to joining Sony, John held management and creative positions with Atari, Electronic Arts, and 3DO. While Executive Producer at Atari, John brought Wizards of the Coast, BioWare, and Obsidian together to develop Neverwinter Nights 2. In his role as Executive Producer and Director of Design for Electronic Arts / Westwood Studios, John contributed to the design, script, cinematics, and art production of Nox, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, and Yuri’s Revenge.

John holds a B.S.E. in Computer Science from the University of New Mexico and an M.B.A. from U.S.C.’s Marshall School of Business. He is a past board member of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. John is the lead author of Game Development Essentials: Game Project Management; Hight, John & Novak, Jeannie; Thomson Delmar Learning, 2007.

Credited on 74 games

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WarCraft Rumble (2023, iPad) SVP & General Manager
Diablo IV (2023, Windows) Franchise General Manager, WarCraft
Overwatch 2 (2022, Windows) Blizzard Development Family
Diablo II: Resurrected (2021, Windows) Blizzard Development Family
WarCraft III: Reforged (2020, Windows) Blizzard Development Family
World of WarCraft: Battle for Azeroth (2018, Windows) Production Director
StarCraft: Remastered (2017, Windows) Blizzard Development Family
LocoRoco: Remastered (2017, PlayStation 4) Director, External Production
StarCraft II: Nova Covert Ops - Mission Pack 3 (2016, Windows) Blizzard Development Family
World of WarCraft: Legion (2016, Windows) Production Director
Overwatch (2016, Windows) Additional Blizzard Contributions
StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void (2015, Windows) Blizzard Development Family
Journey (2015, PlayStation 4) thatgamecompany thanks
Heroes of the Storm (2015, Windows) Blizzard Development Family
World of WarCraft: Warlords of Draenor (2014, Windows) Strike Team
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls - Ultimate Evil Edition (2014, PlayStation 4) Production Director
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls (2014, Windows) Production Director
Hearthstone: Heroes of WarCraft (2014, Windows) Blizzard Development Family
God of War: Ascension (2013, PlayStation 3) Additional Production Support
World of WarCraft: Mists of Pandaria (2012, Windows) Lead/Senior Producers

[ full credits ]

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