Brett Sperry is an American
video game designer
Video game design is the process of designing the rules and content of video games in the Video game development#Pre-production, pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the Video game development ...
, fine arts
gallerist, and professional
photographer
A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs.
Duties and types of photograp ...
. He is also a prominent developer of the
Las Vegas
Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
arts community, where he has made significant investments in property and infrastructure, primarily in the
Downtown Las Vegas
Downtown Las Vegas (commonly abbreviated as DTLV) is the central business district and historic center of Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. It is the original townsite, and the Downtown gaming Las Vegas, Downtown Gaming Area was the primary gambl ...
area.
In the world of video and computer games, Sperry was the co-founder and president of
Westwood Studios
Westwood Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was founded by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle in 1985 as Brelous Software, but got changed after 2 months into Westwood Associates and was renamed to Westw ...
, where he created the ''
Command and Conquer'' series, among other titles. During this time, Sperry was named the sixth most influential person in the history of computer gaming. Westwood Studios later received the 2015 Industry Icon Award, presented by 2015 Game Awards host
Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland (born 21 December 1966) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his starring role as Jack Bauer in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox drama series ''24 (TV series), 24'' (2001–2010, 20 ...
.
Background and education
Brett Sperry moved from his native Connecticut to the Las Vegas Valley in 1979. He later spent a year at
Arizona State University
Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...
, where he studied psychology and architecture. A self-taught programmer, he began his professional work with video and computer games in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he performed contract work for hire with
Imagic
Imagic ( ) was an American video game developer and publisher that created games initially for the Atari 2600. Founded in 1981 by corporate alumni of Atari, Inc. and Mattel, its best-selling titles were ''Atlantis'', '' Cosmic Ark'', and '' De ...
and other companies.
Video and computer games
Westwood Studios
In 1985, from a suburban Las Vegas garage, Brett Sperry and his business partner
Louis Castle
Louis Castle is an American video game designer. He is known for co-founding Westwood Studios, designing the PC game ''Blade Runner'', and collaborating with Steven Spielberg on the '' Boom Blox'' and '' Boom Blox Bash Party'' video games for th ...
founded Brelous Software, with Sperry serving as president and Executive Producer. Two months later, they renamed the company Westwood Associates, and in 1992, they changed the name again to
Westwood Studios
Westwood Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was founded by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle in 1985 as Brelous Software, but got changed after 2 months into Westwood Associates and was renamed to Westw ...
, reflecting their studio-like approach to the business.
As the company became more successful, Sperry and Castle received full buyout offers from both
Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly On-Line Systems and Sierra On-Line, Inc.) was an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher founded in 1979 by Ken Williams (game developer), Ken and Roberta Williams. The company is ...
and
Richard Branson
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English business magnate who co-founded the Virgin Group in 1970, and controlled 5 companies remaining of once more than 400.
Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneu ...
’s satellite division,
Virgin Interactive
Avalon Interactive Group, Ltd., formerly known as Virgin Interactive Entertainment, was a British video game distributor based within Europe that formerly traded as the video game publishing and distributing division of British conglomerate the V ...
(a division of
Spelling Entertainment Group). In 1992, Sperry and Castle sold Westwood Studios to Virgin, despite receiving a higher offer from Sierra, citing the potential for greater freedom and autonomy. As Westwood grew into one of the most successful video and computer game companies, Sperry continued as President and Executive Producer. However, in 1997, he took on a larger role as Virgin Interactive's President of Worldwide Development, an internal effort to turn Virgin's struggling video game divisions into a profitable enterprise.
In 1998,
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...
purchased the Westwood library and assets outright from Spelling/Virgin.
Jet Set Games
In early 2009, Brett Sperry announced the collaborative launch of the Las Vegas-based software publisher Jet Set Games, a computer gaming company focused on mobile devices such as
iPads
The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. Since then, the iPad product lin ...
and
iPhones
The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at M ...
. The company's first successful release was the ''Highborn''
strategy game
A strategy game or strategic game is a game in which the players' uncoerced, and often autonomous, decision-making skills have a high significance in determining the outcome. Almost all strategy games require internal decision tree-style think ...
.
Las Vegas arts developer
Since 2007, Brett Sperry has been a central figure in the development of the Las Vegas arts community.
Brett Wesley Gallery and Artifice Lounge
Starting with a 2007
Downtown Las Vegas
Downtown Las Vegas (commonly abbreviated as DTLV) is the central business district and historic center of Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. It is the original townsite, and the Downtown gaming Las Vegas, Downtown Gaming Area was the primary gambl ...
land purchase, Brett Sperry built and designed the award-winning Brett Wesley Gallery, which became home to a succession of notable art installations, exhibits, and international artists. In 2016, Brett Wesley Gallery was named the "Best of the City."
Sperry then acquired additional parcels nearby, and in collaboration with development partner Trinity Schlotmann, he created the Artifice Lounge, a multi-use "art-inspired" bar and lounge that Sperry designed from what was formerly an empty 1950s warehouse.
Art Square
Sperry made a sizable economic and architectural investment in the creation of the adjacent Art Square, a 20,000-square-foot site featuring retail and professional spaces, desert gardens, a performance arts theater, and a restaurant—all of which, apart from the restaurant, Sperry conceived and designed.
The Art Square complex was sold to Las Vegas Arts District Development in 2015.
The Modern Contemporary and Luminous Park
In 2009, Sperry became the spearhead and Chairman of a proposed $29-million international-class arts museum based in Las Vegas called "The Modern Contemporary." The museum and its grounds are part of a conceptual entity known as "Luminous Park."
Sperry's tenure as Chairman was contractually completed in 2014. Since then, he has been an active member of the board of directors.
References
External links
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Brett Wesley Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sperry, Brett
American art dealers
American video game designers
Dungeons & Dragons video game designers
Living people
People from Newington, Connecticut
Western High School (Nevada) alumni
Westwood Studios
Year of birth missing (living people)