ANDREW GOWER

http://www.runescape.com/

Net worth         : £106 million (US$217 million) shared with Brother Paul.

Andrew Christopher Gower, 31, who is noted for writing the MMORPG RuneScape with the assistance of his brother Paul Gower, remains its lead developer.

Andrew Gower is best known for the massively multi-player online game RuneScape, which he created in January 1999 as an undergraduate at the University of Cambridge. He, together with his brother Paul, was the 654th richest man in the UK in 2007, worth £106 million (US$217 million).

In July 2008 RuneScape was updated to use more textures, thus creating RuneScape HD. In 2009, the Sunday Times listed them as the 566th richest men, worth an estimated £99 million.

You need to check out this exclusive interview by Bruce Everiss who is a veteran when it comes to the gaming industry.

The interview is quite thourough and Bruce does a good job in exploring the developper and the entrepreneur in Andrew.

You can click here for the full interview.

One thing you can learn about Andrew in this interview is that he really is passionate about what he does. He mentions that he started developing games right from the age of 7. WOW!

Andrew is clearly a fruit of the information age generation. This is the generation that was born during the reign and boom of the PC. When I try to think of where and what I was doing at the age of 7, I know very well that I wasn’t any where near a computer….let alone having one in our home.

Nevertheless, passion seems to be the driving force behind Andrew’s phenomenal success. Here is an excerpt of Andrew’s Interview with Bruce:

Question from Bruce: When I worked with Richard Darling he hated being on the Sunday Times Rich List, yet Jez San in his interview for Bruceongames brought the subject up himself! How do you feel about being on there each year?

Answer from Andrew: I really don’t like it. I’m just a normal guy who lives a rather normal life, with a passion for creating games, and wish people would focus on the games I’m making rather than me! Also people don’t realise that the value is very much an ‘in theory’ figure, based on the value of my studio, rather than being money in my bank account that I could actually spend. I feel these ‘on paper/in theory’ valuations really just give people the wrong idea. For me it’s really not about the money anyway.

Passion, passion, passion!! That’s the key word to retain.

“Passion is the genius of genius!” Tony Robbins

“Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.”
Oprah Winfrey

“I think that, as life is action and passion, it is required of a man that he should share the passion and action of his time at peril of being judged not to have lived.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes