Steve Jobs and Apple Voted to Have “Biggest Impact in Shaping The Video Game Industry”

In anticipation of the London Games Conference kicking off November 10th, Intent Media conducted a survey (via MCV) that asked more than 1,000 industry executives which products and people have had the biggest impact on video games. With results that are likely to anger and puzzle the core gaming community, the study has found Apple and Steve Jobs as the most influential.

Some of the other names that topped the votes are a little less surprising. Jobs was able to beat out gaming industry heavyweights Gabe Newell, co-founder and managing director of Valve, and Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto. He even topped Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, and inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee. 46% of participants puts Jobs in their top five.

Top five people to have shaped video games    
1 Steve Jobs
2 Gabe Newell (co-founder and managing director of Valve)
3 Shigeru Miyamoto (developer of Mario, Donkey Kong, Zelda)
4 Tim Berners-Lee (inventor of the world wide web)
5 Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook)

On the console/platform side of things, the iPhone claimed top spot over Nintendo Wii, followed by Xbox Live, PS1, and Steam. 53% of participants placed the iPhone in their top five selections. Before you go crazy in the comments, we know what you’re thinking, and we’re thinking the same things. Who exactly were the execs included in this survey? Apple employees? Well, not exactly…

Top five products to have shaped video games    
1 Apple’s iPhone
2 Nintendo Wii console            
3 Xbox Live                    
4 The original PlayStation console                    
5 Steam (digital distribution)

The London Games Conference is largely focused on digital games, i.e downloaded games. With presentations like the “The Future of Video Games” and “The 5 Events That Will Change Video Games”, it’s safe to say mobile games will be a huge topic of discussion, especially with Senior Designer at PopCap David Bishop on hand. Some of the other more than 300 execs attending the conference (who may or may not have been included in the survey) include Lionhead Studio’s Peter Molyneux, Sega execs, OnLive CTO Tom Paquin, GameStop execs, and Valve’s Jason Holtman.

There is definitely no denying that Steve Jobs and Apple have just about revolutionized, at the very least, the mobile gaming industry.

The better question is, just how important are the company’s accomplishments to the industry? Will the iPhone and App Store really have a bigger impact on gaming than the World Wide Web? Should Steve Jobs be regarded as doing more for gaming than people like Miyamoto? After all, gaming never appeared to be a major focus for Jobs even as it began to drive adoption of iOS devices early on.

Where does Steve Jobs and Apple stand for you among the gaming industry’s most influential?

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