User:Vlakshman0767/sandbox

= Vijay Lakshman =

Short Biography
Vijay Lakshman is a veteran of the games industry, a serial entrepreneur, and a specialist in game design and educational technologies. His skills include 30 years of proven production and leadership experience creating AAA Console, PC, Handheld, Casual, iOS, Social, Educational, and MMO games on multiple platform delivery systems including Unity, iOS, Android, all Consoles, and on Facebook. He has a lifetime career of over 85 titles shipped as the executive in charge of production, including The Elder Scrolls: Arena, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, D&D Online, Lord of the Rings Online, and Animal Jam.

Lakshman has raised approximately $15M for three separate educational startups, and provides executive leadership in the development of educational, social, mobile, and online entertainment, with a focus on creating a profitable double bottom line business backed by great products that can make a difference in our world today.

Lakshman graduated from The George Washington University and Harvard Business School’s elite General Manager Program.

History
Vijay Lakshman is a 30-year veteran of the gaming industry, having been the executive in charge of multiple mega-franchises including, The Elder Scrolls, Animal Jam, The Lord of the RingsTM, Crash BandicootTM, and Spyro the DragonTM. He has successfully produced and shipped over 85 titles and generated over one billion dollars in sales revenue to date. He currently serves as Author and Board Member for Mythborn Media, LLC.

Lakshman began his career at Bethesda Softworks, where he was the designer and producer of The Elder Scrolls world upon which the entire franchise was built, starting with the first game in the series, The Elder Scrolls: Arena. This title went on to receive the Role-Playing Game of the Year in 1994, and the series has garnered every RPG of the Year award since. Bethesda Softworks latest release, The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, is considered to be the standard for RPGs in the PC and Console world.

Lakshman went on to lead Looking Glass Technologies, where he was the Executive Producer of Flight Unlimited 2, British Open Golf, Dark Camelot, and Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri. His passion for different genres and game styles allowed him to learn a number of different game development methodologies.

Lakshman has since worked in senior executive positions for FASA Interactive, Bootprint Entertainment, and Vivendi/Universal Games. He served at the latter as Vice President of Development for six years. During the first three years of his leadership VUG saw their revenue rise from $40 million to over $300 million and their EBITDA rise from $10 million to over $200 million in the same period. This rise was directly attributed to the quality and timeliness of his development plan, and his ability to execute that plan under difficult market circumstances such as the hardware transition from the PlayStation1 to the PlayStation2, and his passion for leading a team with integrity combined with strategic vision.

Lakshman was recognized for this achievement and given leadership of Vivendi’s Online Games Division, where he spearheaded the Massively Multiplayer Online Game initiative with Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. He was directly responsible for securing creative, art, and technology talent necessary for its successful development and deployment. LOTRO: Shadows of Angmar launched in 2006 and to date has hundreds of thousands of subscribers generating approximately millions annually in subscription revenue. Turbine Entertainment, the game developer of LOTRO, was purchased by Warner Bros. Interactive.

Lakshman continued his rise in executive leadership, spearheading National Geographic’s entry into social, casual, and the mobile games space, and from a standstill in 2008 he delivered over 23 products across 38 skus by end of 2010. During his tenure, NatGeo Games and developer Smartbomb Interactive launched the world’s most successful kid’s MMO, Animal Jam, which has grown from its launch in 2010 to over 20 million subscribers to date.

Lakshman has been honored to serve as a judge for The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s Youth Entrepreneurs Semifinal Business Plan Competition (NFTE), and is a featured speaker on The Business Destiny Radio Show, which focuses on providing CEOs and business owners with useful information and insights on how to run and grow their businesses to achieve their personal goals and professional success.

He has also been a speaker for the 2004 Game Developers Conference on “Managing Mega-Franchises”, and again in 2005 for “What Hot Publishers are Looking For in Game Development”. Lakshman was further honored to be interviewed twice on “Profiles in Success”, a nationally syndicated radio broadcast that showcases top tier executives in business leadership and strategy in 2012 and 2013.

Mythborn Series - Dark Fantasy
Most recently, Lakshman published his first novel, Mythborn I, which won the 1st place Cygnus Award for ‘Best Fantasy E-Book’ from Chanticleer Books, and the Silver Medal for ‘Best Dark Fantasy’ as judged by the Independent Publishers Book Awards (IPPY). Shortly thereafter, Mythborn II went on to garner the 1st place and Grand Prize OZMA Award for Best Dark Fantasy from Chanticleer Books.

As a result, the Mythborn series has been signed to a multi-title deal by SPB, and is being prepared for novelization, television, movie, and video game opportunities.

Mythborn I will relaunch Q1 2018, followed by Mythborn II through V during the first half of 2018.

Early Childhood
Vijay was born during a trip to visit Canada where his father, Dr. Raj Lakshman, was attending a medical conference. As a result, he was born in Ottawa on July 20, 1967. The family returned to their home in Bangkok, Thailand, where Dr. Lakshman taught at the university medical school. Vijay grew up in Bangkok, adventuring in the South China Sea.

When he was five, his father and mother moved the family to the United States. Vijay went from the equatorial tropics of Thailand to Wisconsin, Madison, where he saw snow for the very first time. He was also convinced Americans were great warriors because they wore blades on their feet. He later learned these were ice skates, and that people balanced on them while sliding on ice.

Soon thereafter the family moved again to Falls Church, Virginia. Vijay came to Virginia in 1972, during times of high racial tension due to the Iranian Oil Crisis. As a result, Vijay was enrolled in a full contact karate school to learn how to protect himself. He dedicated the next forty years to mastering the martial arts, his quest taking him across the U.S. and Europe, to Hong Kong and China.

In 1991 he earned his black belt and accumulated over 2,800 fights against the best the world has to offer. He has spent 40 years in karate, 20 years in kendo, 15 years in combat grappling, and trained with some of the most dangerous black belts in the world.