Chris Cross has been working in videogame development since the mid-90s. He started off in QA at Blizzard, gained notoriety for his work on the critically acclaimed Medal of Honor series, and has led development teams at independent studios and large publishers. From big budget AAA games , to iOS games made by a team of four, to reimagining Pac-Man for Google Stadia, Cross has done it all.
I’ve interviewed Cross several times for various magazines and websites, but those pieces never showed how imaginative, interesting, and fun hanging out with him can be. I think this episode of RPadTV 3000 gets all of that across. Check out the video above to watch Chris Cross and I talk about:
- Monetization in videogames
- Why he has no desire to work on AAA games anymore
- Our fascination with Britney Spears
- His love of golf
- Being an Asian-American in game development
- The cool tech behind Ghosts Attack that was ahead of its time
- What he has in common with Ken Jeong and Bobby Lee
One of my dreams is for Asian-American kids to view Cross as a videogame design role model. His accomplishments are outstanding and I believe that he could inspire kids to explore a career in videogame development. Using RPadTV 3000 to highlight excellent Asian-Americans that I know was one of the motivations behind this project. I’d love for my nephew to watch this conversation, see a creative and intelligent guy that looks like him, and get inspired.
On an unrelated note, Chris Cross is a funny guy. He’s mellowed a lot over the years, but he still busts out great jokes (especially off camera). In his younger days, he was often a nonstop barrage of sharp zingers. Thankfully my nephew won’t see that.
Anyway, check out my chat with Cross when you have a chance and subscribe to his YouTube channel to watch his wonderful Coffee With Cross series. It’s like Bob Ross, but with game design!