Gregory Zeschuk (born 1969) is a Canadian businessman who was a VP at

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 ...

and General Manager at BioWare Austin until 2012. He co-founded

video game developer A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with em ...

BioWare in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

in 1995 with Ray Muzyka and Augustine Yip, after all three earned their medical degrees from the University of Alberta. Zeschuk announced his retirement from BioWare on September 18, 2012. He is currently involved in a number of projects related to the craft-beer industry, including the production of a web-based interview show known as "The Beer Diaries." Greg is also the chairman of the board of the smart playground technology startup, Biba Ventures based in Vancouver, BC. In 2009, he was chosen by

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

as one of the top 100 game creators of all time alongside Ray Muzyka.

Early life

Zeschuk was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Growing up, Zeschuk played many role-playing games, including

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

, saying he felt they were "always the strongest experience." During his childhood, he spent one summer making games on his

Apple II Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...

computer with a group of his friends.

Founding of BioWare

Zeschuk attended the University of Alberta, studying medicine, where he met fellow medical students Ray Muzyka and Augustine Yip working on medical simulation programs. During their residency, the first software they produced was called the ''Acid-Base Simulator''. Zeschuk graduated in 1992, and was appointed Research Associate in the Division of Studies in Medical Education along with Muzyka. Zeschuk then spent two years training in both the US and Canada. In 1994, he and Muzyka began working on a piece of medical simulator software called ''Gastroenterology Patient Simulator''. While working on this, the team realised they were more passionate about video game development rather than medical software. Zeschuck, Muzyka and Yip pooled together $100,000 and set out to make their first game. BioWare was incorporated on 1 February 1995 in a small room in Zeschuk's basement.

Works

Awards and recognition

At the Game Developers Choice Awards, on March 27, 2013, Zeschuk received the Lifetime Achievement Award. On December 27, 2018, Zeschuk was appointed to the Order of Canada.

References

External links

Bioware website

The Beer Diaries website

Biba Ventures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeschuk, Greg Canadian video game designers Canadian people of Ukrainian descent People from Edmonton Living people Members of the Order of Canada University of Alberta alumni BioWare people Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame inductees Game Developers Conference Lifetime Achievement Award recipients 1969 births