WHO HE IS: Kudo Tsunoda, VP/general manager and executive producer Electronic Arts?Chicago branch. He’s been with EA, a $2.6 billion global operation, since 2003.
He oversees EA’s mega hit games, like the “Fright Night” franchise and constantly evolving “Def Jam,” to which EA will add the highly anticipated “Icon” game in March.
The games his teams have designed have grossed more than $600 million.
HOW HE VIEWS HIS JOB: “Our games are about taking the player away from everyday hassles like when the rent is due.”
PROS: “This job has improved my life in so many ways!”
“Many lessons learned from making games apply to real life.” He has swum with sharks, sky dived, learned to DJ while hanging with hip hop artists, attended trick based ski camp for two weeks and even flown helicopters and jet planes.
The benefits of these experiences have spilled into his personal life to help him grow.
CONS: A game designer at heart, budgeting and scheduling might not be favorite tasks, but he says, “I appreciate how doing them allows me to be a better designer.”
KEY TO SUCCESS: “A good life attitude. The biggest risk you can take is not taking a risk.”
Growing up on Manhattan’s Upper East Side in a “totally chaotic mad house with five kids taught me to do good work under enormous deadline stress.”
ON THE SIDE: Swimming with sharks, sky diving, boxing and anything else that will challenge his limitations.
BACKSTORY: Kudo earned a BA in philosophy from George Washington University by winning college videogame tournaments in Tecmo Bowl, Double Dribble, and Racquet Attack.
Moving to L.A., he took a job in a pool hall where Philips Media CFO Craig Cox spotted him playing video games during breaks. Cox offered him a game play hint operator job, which required players who were stuck on their next game move to call the support line for $2.99 a minute.
Next job: Real Time Associates, starting as “basically cleaning out supply cabinets.” Kudo progressed through his year and a half there from assistant to executive producer. He then spent five years at 3DO become an executive producer. He spent a year as an EA in Vancouver before coming to Chicago at year ago.
BIG BREAKS: Meeting Craig Cox, who put him in the game industry. Working with EA’s worldwide COO John Shappert while he headed the Vancouver branch. “He’s made me a better game maker. He cared about my life and me as a person.”
WORDS OF WISDOM: “Get a toe hold in the industry somehow. Don’t worry about what job it is. If you attack it with a genuine level of passion and creativity, people will recognize your work.”
HIS ULTIMATE GOAL: “I’m never so focused on where my career is going, or what my title is as much as I am really trying to help define engrossing game playing, and what new ways people are experiencing games.”
A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION: A “blueprint to his brain” is Steve Maguire’s book “Debugging the Development Process.” He gives a copy to each new EA employee.
Kudo Tsunoda’s phone is 312/661-7625; Email ktsunoda@ea.com.
