Chris Sawyer

Chris Sawyer
Born
Christopher Sawyer
Alma materUniversity of Strathclyde
OccupationsVideo game designer
Video game programmer
Years active
  • 1983–2005
  • 2010–2017
Known for
Websitewww.chrissawyergames.com

Christopher Sawyer is a Scottish video game designer and programmer. He is best known for creating Transport Tycoon, which has been considered "one of the most important simulation games ever made", and the bestselling RollerCoaster Tycoon series.

Sawyer began his career developing eleven games published for the Memotech MTX in 1984–5, some of which were clones of existing arcade video games. In the late 1980s and early 1990s he ported nine games from the Amiga and other systems to MS-DOS. From 1994 to 2004 he designed and programmed a series of Tycoon games, which became hallmarks of the simulation genre. After a period away from the gaming industry in the late 2000s, Sawyer founded the mobile game studio 31X which has handled modern ports of his work. Wired has described Sawyer as "one of gaming's greatest enigmas" given his legendary contributions to the genre while maintaining little presence online, and rarely agreeing to give interviews.