About

Ozymandias is the Xbox Live and Playstation Network gamertag of Andre Vrignaud, as well as my platform to speak to gamers and the game industry directly. (The nom de plume was inspired by my English literature background as I fell in love with the classic poem by Shelley oh so many years ago. And yes, it’s also a primary character in the excellent Watchmen graphic novel. Philistines. )

I’ve worked in the game industry for nearly 25 years. I started as a tester (back in the days when you could start as a tester) at Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI), where I worked on a variety of AD&D games as well as one of the first MMOs to ever be released – Dark Sun Online. After SSI I joined the Total Entertainment Network (TEN) where I helped build one of the first online gaming networks. TEN died a horrible start-up death due to being too early and eventually became Pogo (which was then was acquired by EA to be their casual games arm).

After TEN I worked at Intel where I managed their PC games strategy, coincidentally was involved with some of the early Xbox/Intel negotiations, and finally had the opportunity to join the nascent Xbox team back in 2002. There I helped manage the overall gaming platform strategy for Xbox, Xbox LIVE, and Windows, with a particular focus on helping design, evangelize, and launch Xbox LIVE and the Xbox 360. I then spent a bit of time at Amazon working on Kindle and other unannounced initiatives, and am currently a Chief Consultant at Hit Detection, an interactive entertainment industry consulting firm.

With full credit to Major Nelson, I’m going to crib a bit of his About text as it will apply to what I say and do as well.

What you can expect here:

There’s a lot of speculation and commentary on the game industry, game platforms, and technology all over the web. While I will obviously never share anything confidential, just by nature of the fact that I’m paid to think about this stuff all the time, my hope is that I’ll be able to shed light on some of the reasons things happen in the industry and spark some interesting conversations. Frankly, I also hope to learn more about what you want to see in the future of our gaming industry so I might be able to help make it happen.

Standard Legal Disclaimer:

I run this blog on my own time and at my own cost. Anything I say on this blog is my own personal opinion, and is not read or approved by anyone before it is posted. I will do my best to ensure everything I post is accurate, but all posts are provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights.

What you will not find here:

Please note that I cannot and will not comment on rumors, unreleased details, confidential data, or anything that is covered by the many NDAs I’ve signed over the years. Just want to be upfront as I’ll simply ignore any posts or emails seeking this sort of information.

That’s about it! I’m definitely interested in hearing your thoughts, so please feel free to comment on posts, and I’ll be sure to respond as appropriate. You’re also welcome to email me at ozymandias at ozymandias.com, but please understand that I may not be able to reply to every message. You may also be interested in following me on Twitter.

Thanks for reading!