Alexander Peter Rigopulos (born 1970s in Boxford, Massachusetts) is an American

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

designer and musician, best known as the former CEO and current creative director of

Harmonix Music Systems Harmonix Music Systems, Inc., doing business as Harmonix, is an American video game developer company based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company was established in May 1995 by Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy. Harmonix is perhaps best known as bein ...

, a company he founded with Eran Egozy in 1995. He is also a member of the band Newfane with his brother Chris Rigopulos, who is the current COO at Harmonix.

Career

Rigopulos, born in Boxford, Massachusetts, is a graduate of

Deerfield Academy Deerfield Academy (often called Deerfield or DA) is an Independent school, independent College-preparatory school, college-preparatory boarding and day school in Deerfield, Massachusetts. Founded in 1797, it is one of the oldest secondary schoo ...

along with two other brothers. He graduated with a B.S. in music and theater arts in 1990 and an M.S. in media arts and sciences in 1994 from the Media Lab at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

.Interview with Alex Rigopulos
at GameCritics.com While there, he met Egozy, an electrical engineer, and they discovered ways to create interactive music devices. After they received their degrees, the two formed Harmonix to create music video games such as ''

Frequency Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. Frequency is an important parameter used in science and engineering to specify the rate of oscillatory and vibratory phenomena, such as mechanical vibrations, audio ...

'' and ''

Amplitude The amplitude of a periodic variable is a measure of its change in a single period (such as time or spatial period). The amplitude of a non-periodic signal is its magnitude compared with a reference value. There are various definitions of am ...

'', but the company became highly successful with its contributions to both the ''

Guitar Hero ''Guitar Hero'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2005, in which players use a guitar-shaped game controller to simulate playing primarily lead guitar, lead, bass guitar, bass, and rhythm guitar across numerous songs. Players match ...

'' and ''

Rock Band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

'' series of games, both which used specially designed controllers based on instruments like guitars and drum kits to mimic the playing of numerous rock songs. Rigopulos and Egozy were listed in ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine's 2008 list of the 100 most influential people for their work on ''Rock Band''. In May 2014, amid layoffs at Harmonix, Rigopulos announced that he would step down as CEO, being replaced by Steve Janiak, while he would become the chief creative officer for the company. Rigopulos personally cites Japanese game designers Masaya Matsuura, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, and Keita Takahashi as some artists that have inspired his work at Harmonix.Behind the Games: Alex Rigopulos
at

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

In August 2010, Rigopulos joined the advisory board of the AbleGamers Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing the rich world of digital entertainment to people with disabilities. In September 2015, he joined the advisory board for the

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...

platform Fig. Rigopulos also donated $2,000 to the ScoreHero website, a website used to track ''

'' and ''Rock Band'' scores. He donated $9600 to the

Colbert Super PAC Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow (better known as the Colbert Super PAC) was a United States political action committee (PAC) established by Stephen Colbert, who portrayed a Stephen Colbert (character), character of the same name who was ...

in 2011. He was also one of the highest backers of the

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

campaign for Double Fine Productions' '' Broken Age'', which led to a character named Alex, loosely based on Rigopulos' own image and voiced by Rigopulos, being included in the game. In April 2015, rock band The Warning met their

GoFundMe GoFundMe is an American for-profit crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. From 2010 to the ...

goal thanks in large part to Rigopulos.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rigopulos, Alex 1970s births Living people Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni People from Boxford, Massachusetts American technology chief executives American people of Greek descent Deerfield Academy alumni American video game producers Game Developers Conference Pioneer Award recipients Year of birth missing (living people)