Using the Huffington Post’s Fundrace 2008 website 1UP ran a piece detailing the presidential campaign contributions made by a variety of video game industry employees across all hierarchies.
It’s worth noting that a fair amount of the money donated went straight into the black hole of failed campaigns.
[Activision CEO Bobby] Kotick and his wife, for example, each gave $2,300 to Republican Mitt Romney’s ill-fated bid. Valve’s Gabe Newell, creator of the Half-life series, gave Democrat Chris Dodd $2,300, while Spore designer Will Wright sent $3,500 Rudy Giuliani’s way (and made us wonder what Will thought he saw in the irascible former Big Apple mayor).
Clearly Wright supported Rudy because the creator of SimCity has always had an intense fascination with the way mayors handle catastrophic disasters affecting their cities, and 9/11 was as close to the game’s Godzilla button as you’re going to get.
Here’s the full list:
Activision
Brian Kelly, Co-Chairman
$4,600, John McCain (R)
Ron Doornick, Director
$2,300 Mitt Romney (R)
Nina Kotick, CEO
$2,300, Mitt Romney (R)
Robert Kotick, CEO
$2,300, Mitt Romney (R)
Brian Barnes, Game Designer
$2,000, Ron Paul (R)
Erol Otus, Designer/Illustrator
$700, Ron Paul (R)
Charles Homic, Programmer
$400, Ron Paul (R)
Travis Stansbury, Attorney
$325, Ron Paul (R)
Chris Nelson, Programmer
$285, Ron Paul (R)
TOTAL: $15,210 to Republicans
ZeniMax Media (Bethesda Softworks):
Brendan Anthony, Game Programmer
$352, Barack Obama (D)
TOTAL: $352 to Democrats
Blizzard Entertainment:
Kyle Harrison, Technical Artist
$500, Mike Huckabee (R)
Christopher Ryder, 3D Artist
$500, Ron Paul (R)
Jesse McCree, Video Game Designer
$250, Ron Paul (R)
TOTAL: $1,250 to Republicans
Electronic Arts:
William Wright, Vice President, Designer
$3,500, Rudy Giuliani (R)
Cindy Nicola, VP, Talent Acquisition
$4,600, Barack Obama (D)
Steven Schnur, Worldwide Executive Mark (?)
$4,600, Hillary Clinton (D)
John Taylor, Technical Arts
$2,365, Ron Paul (R)
Michael Lawson, Software Engineer
$2,300, Fred Thompson (R)
Ian Schmidt, Sales
$1,300, Fred Thompson (R)
Sharon Zezima, Attorney
$1,000, Hillary Clinton (D)
Jason Horwath, No title listed
$840, Barack Obama (D)
John E. Taylor, Technical Artist
$500, Ron Paul (R)
Timothy Cotton, Game Designer
$234, Ron Paul (R)
Jason Fisher, Software Engineer
$225, Ron Paul (R)
TOTAL: $10, 424 to Republicans; $11,040 to Democrats
Ensemble Studios:
Mike Wagner, Computer Stuff
$221, Ron Paul (R)
TOTAL: $220 to Republicans
Flagship Studios:
Christopher Lambert, Game Programmer
$500, Barack Obama (D)
Jeff Lind, Software Developer
$340, Barack Obama (D)
Obsidian Entertainment:
Michael Edwards, Computer Programmer
$355, Ron Paul (R)
TOTAL: $355 to Republicans
PopCap Games:
John Vechey (Quarter 2, 2007), Game Developer
$2,800, Barack Obama (D)
David Haas, COO
$270, Barack Obama (D)
John Vechey (Quarter 1, 2007), Manager
$250, Hillary Clinton (D)
TOTAL: $3,320 to Democrats
Valve Software:
Gabe Newell, Managing Director
$2,300, Christopher Dodd (D)
Bill Van Buren, Producer
$250, John Edwards (D)
Christopher Green, No title listed
$500, Barack Obama (D)
Campaign Contributions by the Gaming Biz
Using the Huffington Post’s Fundrace 2008 website 1UP ran a piece detailing the presidential campaign contributions made by a variety of video game industry employees across all hierarchies.
As Gamepolitics remarks:
One of Gamepolitic’s readers has a possible answer to that:
Here’s the full list:
Activision
Brian Kelly, Co-Chairman
$4,600, John McCain (R)
Ron Doornick, Director
$2,300 Mitt Romney (R)
Nina Kotick, CEO
$2,300, Mitt Romney (R)
Robert Kotick, CEO
$2,300, Mitt Romney (R)
Brian Barnes, Game Designer
$2,000, Ron Paul (R)
Erol Otus, Designer/Illustrator
$700, Ron Paul (R)
Charles Homic, Programmer
$400, Ron Paul (R)
Travis Stansbury, Attorney
$325, Ron Paul (R)
Chris Nelson, Programmer
$285, Ron Paul (R)
TOTAL: $15,210 to Republicans
ZeniMax Media (Bethesda Softworks):
Brendan Anthony, Game Programmer
$352, Barack Obama (D)
TOTAL: $352 to Democrats
Blizzard Entertainment:
Kyle Harrison, Technical Artist
$500, Mike Huckabee (R)
Christopher Ryder, 3D Artist
$500, Ron Paul (R)
Jesse McCree, Video Game Designer
$250, Ron Paul (R)
TOTAL: $1,250 to Republicans
Electronic Arts:
William Wright, Vice President, Designer
$3,500, Rudy Giuliani (R)
Cindy Nicola, VP, Talent Acquisition
$4,600, Barack Obama (D)
Steven Schnur, Worldwide Executive Mark (?)
$4,600, Hillary Clinton (D)
John Taylor, Technical Arts
$2,365, Ron Paul (R)
Michael Lawson, Software Engineer
$2,300, Fred Thompson (R)
Ian Schmidt, Sales
$1,300, Fred Thompson (R)
Sharon Zezima, Attorney
$1,000, Hillary Clinton (D)
Jason Horwath, No title listed
$840, Barack Obama (D)
John E. Taylor, Technical Artist
$500, Ron Paul (R)
Timothy Cotton, Game Designer
$234, Ron Paul (R)
Jason Fisher, Software Engineer
$225, Ron Paul (R)
TOTAL: $10, 424 to Republicans; $11,040 to Democrats
Ensemble Studios:
Mike Wagner, Computer Stuff
$221, Ron Paul (R)
TOTAL: $220 to Republicans
Flagship Studios:
Christopher Lambert, Game Programmer
$500, Barack Obama (D)
Jeff Lind, Software Developer
$340, Barack Obama (D)
TOTAL: $840 to Democrats
Firaxis Games:
Sergey Tiraspolsky, Software Engineer
$230, Barack Obama (D)
TOTAL: $230 to Democrats
Obsidian Entertainment:
Michael Edwards, Computer Programmer
$355, Ron Paul (R)
TOTAL: $355 to Republicans
PopCap Games:
John Vechey (Quarter 2, 2007), Game Developer
$2,800, Barack Obama (D)
David Haas, COO
$270, Barack Obama (D)
John Vechey (Quarter 1, 2007), Manager
$250, Hillary Clinton (D)
TOTAL: $3,320 to Democrats
Valve Software:
Gabe Newell, Managing Director
$2,300, Christopher Dodd (D)
Bill Van Buren, Producer
$250, John Edwards (D)
Christopher Green, No title listed
$500, Barack Obama (D)
TOTAL: $3,050 to Democrats
-Jens