UK Games Pioneers Honored

Brothers David and Richard Darling, who started their first games company in 1982 and then founded Codemasters, are both made Commanders of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honors.

It’s not often that people from the games industry receive honors, especially those who were among its pioneers, so it was gratifying to those in the know to read that brotehrs David and Richard Darling were both made Commanders of the British Empire (CBE) in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honors, given the title “for services to the computer games industry.”

The two began their career in 1982 when they founded Galactic Software, according to the BBC, after which they spent time with software publishers Mastertronic. But it was in 1986 that they really found their stride when they began game company Codemasters, with the first title, BMX Simulator, arriving the following year.

Their titles were for the early computers of the 1980s, and very successful, but they also began producing unlicensed games for Nintendo’s Entertainment System, such as Micro Machines, that managed to bypass the NES’s lock-out chip.

Codemasters has grown to become a major game publishers, not only providing titles for all the major consoles, but also mobile phones and handheld devices, as well as PCs. In 2005 Develop magazine hailed it as the world’s leading independently owned game developer. The brothers sold their stake in the company last year.