We’re sad to report that Team17 co-founder Martyn Brown has passed away. He was 57.
Brown helped establish the veteran British publisher in 1990 following the merger of 17-Bit Software and Swedish developer Team 7. Brown led Team17 alongside Michael Robinson, Debbie Bestwick, Andreas Tadic, Rico Holmes and Peter Tuleby.
He oversaw the company’s glory years as a developer, producing Amiga hits such as Alien Breed, Body Blows, Superfrog, Project X and Worms – the latter of which is arguably Team17’s most famous IP.
Bestwick would instigate a management buyout in 2010, which resulted in her becoming the sole manager. Brown would officially leave Team17 in 2011, joining Double Eleven.
In a post on LinkedIn from earlier this year, Brown lamented the fact that he had recently been made redundant from a Singapore-based developer. “The general games industry is going through some very hard times, and there isn’t the level of positivity and, more importantly, funding that there was once was, so time for a shift for me.”
He won the award for Games Legend at the Games Republic Awards in November, but was sadly unable to attend the event.
Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time.
Go on.... treat yourself to a new game.
