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Ray Muzyka

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Ray Muzyka
Muzyka at interview by G4TV at E3 2011.
Born
Edmonton, Alberta
NationalityCanadian
Other namesRaymond Muzyka
Known forcreating BioWare, playing in various poker events

Dr. Ray Muzyka is a Canadian entrepreneur. He is the CEO at BioWare Corp as well as a Senior Vice President and General Manager of the BioWare Label of Electronic Arts (comprising BioWare Edmonton, BioWare Austin, BioWare Montreal, BioWare Ireland, BioWare Victory, BioWare San Francisco, BioWare Sacramento and Mythic Entertainment, now BioWare Mythic) at BioWare's parent company Electronic Arts.

Career

Muzyka co-founded BioWare, which was incorporated in in 1995, with the other co-founder of BioWare, Greg Zeschuk, after they earned their medical degrees at the University of Alberta.[1] After selling BioWare to Electronic Arts in 2008, Muzyka became a General Manager and Vice President at EA in addition to his CEO role at BioWare, and subsequently became a Senior Vice President and General Manager of the BioWare Label at EA.

Muzyka and Zeschuk were the co-executive producers on Shattered Steel, the Baldur's Gate series (PC), MDK2, MDK2: Armageddon, the Neverwinter Nights series, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox and PC), Jade Empire (Xbox) and Mass Effect (Xbox 360 and PC), released in 2007, a sci-fi action RPG based on another original BioWare intellectual property. BioWare released Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, a DS RPG title set in the Sonic the Hedgehog universe, published by Sega, in 2008. BioWare also created the 2009 release Dragon Age: Origins, a fantasy roleplaying game for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC set in a new BioWare-created universe, and in 2010 launched Mass Effect 2, sequel to Mass Effect.

The latest BioWare projects are another LucasArts collaboration, Star Wars: The Old Republic. An MMORPG style game, which launched December 20, 2011 in the United States and Europe (and Asia-Pacific in early 2012), as well as Mass Effect 3, which released March 6th, 2012, and the play-for-free PC title Wrath of Heroes from BioWare Mythic, which is in open beta as of April, 2012. The BioWare team has hinted that additional Mass Effect DLCs and future products are in development, as well as new iterations in the Dragon Age universe, and has also announced Command and Conquer: Generals II is in development at BioWare Victory at the Spike VGA awards in December, 2011.

As of 2011, BioWare has studio teams at eight locations (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; plus Austin, Texas, USA; its associated CS center in Galway, Ireland; the BioWare Mythic studio in Fairfax, Virginia; Montreal, Quebec, Canada; San Francisco, CA; Sacramento, CA; Victory in Los Angeles and Austin and Shanghai) plus marketing teams at EA Redwood Shores and in Europe. BioWare is also selling content directly to its fans through the BioWare Community at www.bioware.com and store.bioware.com, with a social community established at social.bioware.com. BioWare also formed a new substudio based in Austin in late 2005, developing an MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic; BioWare and LucasArts announced a partnership on this project in 2007. BioWare formed its new Montreal studio location in early 2009 and partnered with Mythic as part of the BioWare RPG/MMO Group of Electronic Arts in 2009. The BioWare Ireland location was announced in mid-2010.

In addition to his project development role, Muzyka has also managed the financial, human resources, operations, marketing and legal business side of BioWare, and has completed his executive MBA program at the Ivey School of Business, UWO. Dr. Muzyka also graduated from Old Scona Academic High School in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada where he took the International Baccalaureate program, finishing fourth world-wide the year he graduated. He completed his Medical Doctorate (MD) in 1992 from the University of Alberta, and subsequently obtained his specialization from the Canadian College of Family Physicians (CCFP) in 1994.

Muzyka was from 2001-2008 a board member of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, and serves as a Director and Co-Chairman of CodeBaby Corp., another software company developing a next generation interface for digital media and the Internet.

An avid poker player who plays in the WSOP and other events each year, Muzyka won the inaugural DICE poker tournament [4] in 2006 which featured a range of notable poker celebrities such as Scott Fischman, Chris Ferguson and Perry Friedman, playing heads-up with Mike Morhaime from Blizzard at the final table. He also became the only player thus far to win the DICE tournament twice, when he chopped the final table with three other players for first place again in the 2010 DICE tournament. He competed in the 2008 WCPC CPT Main Event (Western Canadian Main Event, Canadian Poker Tour) and chopped the final table with the final four players to take home the 2008 WCPC ring. He finished 374th of 7319 players in the 2010 Main Event of the WSOP.

BioWare projects credited with platforms and dates

References

  1. ^ Onstad, Katrina (October 23, 1999). "The West's new Gold Rush: Two young Edmonton doctors who created the Baldur's Gate phenomenon plot their next move: Doctors with an obsession for video games have created Baldur's Gate – a game that's selling feverishly", National Post, p. 2.
  2. ^ "Sega Announces BioWare Will Create Sonic Role Playing Game For". 2007-06-21. Retrieved 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Text "Nintendo DS" ignored (help)
  3. ^ a b [1]
  4. ^ a b [2]
  5. ^ [3]
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