Hendrik Lesser is a German businessman and developer. He is the CEO and founder of Remote Control Productions. In 2016, he was appointed President of the European Game Developers Foundation.

Early life and career

Lesser was born in

Munich, Germany Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. He was closely involved in the Evangelical Church in Munich, working as a youth leader in the organization. He then attended Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich and studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

s, as well as studying philosophy under the tuition of the

Munich School of Philosophy Munich School of Philosophy (German: ''Hochschule für Philosophie München'') is a small Jesuit higher education college in Munich, Germany founded in 1925. History Founded as a seminary at Pullach in 1925 by Augustin Bea, first named the Ber ...

. Lesser started his games industry career as an intern at

Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns three major Imprint (trade name), publishing labels, Rockstar Games, Zynga and 2K ...

in Germany, working across various roles. During this time he directly oversaw the relationship with

Ascaron Ascaron Entertainment was a video game developer based in Germany. Founded as Ascon by Holger Flöttmann in 1991 and later renamed in October 1996 due to the possible confusion with the Swiss company Ascom (company), Ascom AG, the company produce ...

which produced various hits including the PC RPG Sacred. After working for

he formed his own consultancy (Hendrik Lesser Productions) providing freelance insight into business development, marketing, production and creative content. During this time he was also a Jury member at

Deutscher Entwicklerpreis The Deutscher Entwicklerpreis () is a prize for video game development studios from German speaking countries, organized by Aruba Events GmbH. Description The Deutscher Entwicklerpreis was first awarded on 12 November 2004 in Essen. Between 20 ...

and worked as the Head of Department for Games Academy in Berlin. In 2005, he founded his own company Remote Control Productions as ML Enterprises GmbH with Marc Möhring. In 2008, the company was renamed to Remote Control Productions (RCP). Over the next 15 years, RCP grew to a group of around 20 studios. In 2023, RCP founded Lesser Evil, a new publishing label headed by Lesser and featuring his likeness as the logo. The label is dedicated to making games which "take a stand" and "video games with clear political or social intent and messaging", Lesser Evil has identified itself as "uncompromisingly anti-authoritarian, anti-racist, and pro-democracy." Lesser Evil's first game, ''Death From Above'' is set in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

during the Russian invasion of 2022. Lesser has also served as the president of the European Game Developers Federation since 2016 and a board member since 2013. He is also a founding member and managing director of Games Bavaria Munich.

Chimera Entertainment

The first member of the RCP developer family,

Chimera Entertainment Chimera Entertainment is a German video game developer based in Munich. The company is part of the developer family of Remote Control Productions. As of April 2021, the company employs 70 people. History Chimera Entertainment was founded by the ...

, was founded by Lesser, Christian Kluckner and Alexander Kehr in 2006. Since then, the studio has released 25 projects (Including

Angry Birds Epic ''Angry Birds Epic'' was a free-to-play role-playing video game that is the ninth installment in the '' Angry Birds'' series, developed by Chimera Entertainment and published by Rovio Entertainment. The game was announced on March 12, 2014 an ...

and

Angry Birds Evolution ''Angry Birds Evolution'' (listed as ''Angry Birds Evolution 2020'' and later ''Angry Birds Evolution 2022''), is a free-to-play 3-D turn-based role-playing puzzle game that was released worldwide by Rovio Entertainment on June 15, 2017. The game ...

) and currently employs over 80 people. The studio won the LARA Startup Award in 2007. EGDF & other trade and cultural organizations Lesser has been the president of the European Game Developers Federation since 2016 and a board member since 2013. He helped doubled the associations' membership base from 10 to more than 20 associations by encouraging Eastern and South-Eastern European games industry associations to join the EGDF. Lesser is also a founding member and managing director of Games Bavaria Munich. Games Bavaria Munich e.V. (GBM) was founded to represent the common interests of local companies in the games industry. The association acts as a voice for developers in politics, business and society. At the same time, it offers a forum for joint exchange and cooperation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lesser, Hendrik Living people German game designers German computer scientists Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni People from Munich Year of birth missing (living people)