Rand Miller

Rand Miller (born January 17, 1959) is a CEO and co-founder of Cyan Worlds[1] (originally Cyan). He and brother Robyn Miller became famous due to the success of their computer game Myst, which remained the all-time bestselling computer game from its release in 1993 until that record was surpassed by The Sims nearly a decade later.[2] Rand also worked on the game's sequel, Riven, and later reprised his role as protagonist Atrus in Myst III: Exile, realMyst, Uru, Myst IV: Revelation, and Myst V: End of Ages.[3] He also co-authored Myst novels The Book of Atrus, The Book of Ti'ana, and The Book of D'ni.[4]

Rand Miller
Miller in 2014
Born (1959-01-17) January 17, 1959
Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, U.S.
OccupationCo-founder and CEO of Cyan Worlds
Children3
RelativesRobyn Miller (Brother)

He remains the CEO of Cyan Worlds.[1]

Career

Prior to the success of Myst, Rand and Robyn Miller released The Manhole, Spelunx, and Cosmic Osmo and the Worlds Beyond the Mackerel.[5]

Miller, his brother, and the company they founded came to international prominence with the success of Myst in 1993 and its sequel Riven in 1997, both of which broke sales records.[6]

Following the success of Myst and Riven, Miller spent nearly seven years spearheading development of Uru: Ages Beyond Myst,[7] an online massively-multiplayer extension of the Myst franchise. Miller noted that "the essence of Uru was people love to explore and the fault in the one-off games is you get to explore until it stops. Well, what if it didn't stop? What if the worlds continued?"[8]

Upon its release in 2003, Uru was a commercial failure.[9] Online services were ceased by original publisher Ubisoft in 2004.[10] Despite this earlier setback, Cyan Worlds announced in Los Angeles at E3 2006 that they would be partnering with GameTap to bring Uru Live online again. On February 15, 2007, Myst Online: Uru Live was released. However, this version also failed to attain sufficient popularity and was shut down in 2008.[11]

Uru's failure caused Cyan Worlds to briefly cease operations.[12]

Miller appeared shocked by Uru Live's ultimate failure, as reflected in his letter to the Uru Live community,[13] which he wrote to explain why the game had to be shut down for an indefinite amount of time. In a previous interview, Miller had stated that finance from outside investment, not technology, was the reason for the failed project: "I think the biggest failure was running out of money, and thus running out of time, and thus losing control of our own destiny. No matter what promises are made or common goals are agreed upon, whoever pays the bills has the final say."

On October 17, 2013, Miller announced the development of Obduction, intended to serve as the spiritual successor to the Myst series, via a Kickstarter campaign.[14] The game was released in 2016 (for PC) and 2017 (for Mac OS).

Personal life

Miller lives in Spokane, Washington, and has a wife, Robin, three daughters, and two step-daughters.[4]

References
  1. Myst creator Rand Miller teases new Kickstarter project during IndieCade. PCWorld. Retrieved on 2014-01-14.
  2. Walker, Trey. (2002-03-22) The Sims overtakes Myst. GameSpot. Retrieved on 2014-01-14.
  3. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0589166/
  4. Rand Miller. MobyGames (2009-04-10). Retrieved on 2014-01-14.
  5. Games - Cyan, Inc. - Makers of Myst, Riven, and More. Cyan.com. Retrieved on 2014-01-14.
  6. ‘Myst’ creator keeps the dream alive - Spokesman.com - Sept. 27, 2013. Spokesman.com. Retrieved on 2014-01-14.
  7. Writing the Next Age | News | The Pacific Northwest Inlander | News, Politics, Music, Calendar, Events in Spokane, Coeur d'Alene and the Inland Northwest. Inlander.com. Retrieved on 2014-01-14.
  8. Gamasutra - Myst Will Persist: How Uru Got Its Groove Back. Gamedevelopment.com (2006-06-29). Retrieved on 2014-01-14.
  9. Myst creator warns of over ambition in MMO space | GamesIndustry International. Gamesindustry.biz (2008-09-18). Retrieved on 2014-01-14.
  10. Uru Live Dead. IGN. Retrieved on 2014-01-14.
  11. GameTap Shuttering Myst Online: Uru Live. Gamasutra (2008-02-04). Retrieved on 2014-01-14.
  12. Myst Creator Cyan Worlds Folds Archived 2013-10-14 at the Wayback Machine. Blogcritics (2005-09-19). Retrieved on 2014-01-14.
  13. "Cyan Worlds, Inc". Web.archive.org. 2007-03-28. Archived from the original on 2007-03-28. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
  14. Chalk, Andy (October 17, 2013). "Myst Studio Brings Obduction To Kickstarter". The Escapist. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
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