Realtime Worlds: profile of boss Dave Jones
He may be a legendary figure in computer gaming, but Realtime Worlds boss Dave Jones has traditionally shunned the limelight.
Dave Jones photographed by The Courier in 1996.
- By Graeme Ogston
- Published in the Courier : 19.08.10
- Published online : 19.08.10 @ 10.53am
Married with a young son, the unassuming 44-year-old rarely gives interviews and has refused requests from us to speak about his company's spectacular fall.
Educated at the former Linlathen High School in Dundee, Jones worked for a spell at Timex before taking redundancy to begin a computer science course at the then Dundee Institute of Technology.
In his first year there he designed his first computer game, the success of which helped the gaming pioneer decide to leave college and establish DMA.
Jones co-founded DMA Design in Dundee in 1988, which quickly gained attention with its high quality and challenging games, before scoring a worldwide smash in the 1990s with Lemmings.
A millionaire by his mid-20s, he drove a gleaming Ferrari with the company's initials on its number plate.
The title sold over 20 million copies and cemented Jones' reputation as a major player in the booming industry.
The firm changed direction with its next huge success — Grand Theft Auto, a cops and robbers game that drew accusations of glorifying violence.
Jones became creative director of DMA in 1997, when it was bought by British publisher Gremlin Interactive. In 2001 he was appointed visiting professor of games and technology in Abertay University's school of computing.
Before DMA became part of Rockstar in 2002, Jones left to set up a new development studio in Dundee as a subsidiary of Rage Software. Through a management buyout, this later became Realtime Worlds, which "thrilled" Jones.
At the time he said, "I have recruited the best people who have worked on previous hit titles with me, and it is going to be a lot of fun making games with this talented team."
Jones then designed the third-person shooter Crackdown, which sold over 1.5m copies in its first six months.
He continued to ride high in the gaming industry, being named Scotland's director of the year at the Institute of Directors (Scotland) awards in Edinburgh in March.
Mr Jones now lives in north-east Fife.
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