Team17 Co-Founder Martyn Brown Has Died at the Age of 57 - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 January 2025 / 6,007 Views
Martyn Brown, the co-founder of publisher Team17, has died at the age of 57.
He worked in the video game industry for over 3 years and is best known for working on the Worms and Alien Breed series. However, he has credits on over 50 video game.
"Martyn passed away peacefully in his sleep at 8:17am, 28th of December, 2024 surrounded by family, following a prolonged battle with a series of strokes," said Jack Brown, Martyn Brown's son, in a statement. "Know that he went out on his own terms listening to his favourite music and surrounded by loved ones."
"Martyn was such a friendly, funny person," Game Republic MD Jamie Sefton told GamesIndustry. "He was the first to welcome me into Game Republic - which he co-founded in 2003 - and was so generous with his help, advice and contacts. We shared a love of arcade machines and also Leeds United football club and watched many matches together.
"We gave Martyn our GR Games Legend award just a few weeks ago and he was so pleased to receive it. Martyn was a Yorkshire and industry legend not just for Team17 but also for his incredible support and help for many more developers and people in games. RIP my friend."
Games industry consultant, CTO and BAME in Games Chair Kish Hiraniin a tribute to Brown stated, "I first properly met Martyn at his Team17 office when my engineers and I (PlayStation Dev Services) visited his studio. It was back in 2008, when Worms 2 Armageddon was being developed for PS3. My engineers spent the time with the team and I sat with Martyn in his office, gauging the culture ‘emotional intelligence’ of the team, as I always did with the studios we visited.
"We just got along so extremely well and little did we know that this would become a friendship as close as family. He made my PlayStation role easier as he was extremely well connected, especially in the indie space. If devs needed help or connections at PlayStation, he would always share my details for direct contact, which helped us all, since approaching PlayStation could otherwise seem daunting but contact and collaboration are always a good thing.
"We got a lot closer after I was made redundant at PlayStation and got a top secret VR project with Porsche in 2016. As it was a remote project and my only direct communication was with the Porsche HQ in Stuttgart, I needed someone to talk with ‘out loud’. I used to go stay at his place and do the annual group trips to Galway for his birthday in Jan. He would have been 58 next month.
"I never was a big drinker and never will be. He would respect that and still find opportunities to mess around with me. One EGX party he asked me what I would like to drink and I said, 'Just a glass of red please'. He came back with a pint of beer for himself and a full British pint glass of red wine for me. It took me the whole evening but I did finish it.
"I got a lot of the reflected fame (and a good dose of infamy) by association with Martyn. I came to expect random industry people approaching me because of Martyn, he was a natural people connector. Like at the Nordic Game party in San Francisco, GDC a few years back, when Rico Homles came and just kissed me on my cheek and uttered three words that I take as a badge of honour: "Martyn Brown’s friend!"
"I am going to so miss you my dearest friend, my brother from another mother. RIP."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
