Andy Gavin

Born: June 11, 1970 (28)

Chairman

Naughty Dog

Jason Rubin

Born: Jan. 6, 1970 (29)

President

The duo at Naughty Dog can’t keep track of all the awards they have won for their Crash Bandicoot video game series. And yet, the two longtime friends seem to take the hoopla in stride. After all, they’ve been creating games since they were 15.

Rubin and Gavin were typical ’80s pre-teen game addicts when they met at a Hebrew school in Virginia at age 12. Both played every arcade and home game they could get their hands on.

Looking for pocket money to keep them flush with video games, the boys started their own development company. Rubin was the better artist and Gavin was better at writing computer codes. Within a couple of years, they sold their first game to a publisher.

“I think that (publishing) company was surprised at how hardball 15-year-olds could be when negotiating a contract.” Gavin said.

At age 17, they sold their first game to Electronic Arts, one of the biggest game-publishing companies in the industry. By then their own company, Naughty Dog, was slowly taking off, though neither Gavin nor Rubin thought it would blossom into a full-time career.

Gavin studied neurobiology at Haverford College with the intent of becoming a doctor, then went to MIT for a master’s degree in computer science and electrical engineering. Rubin got a degree in economics at the University of Michigan, then came to L.A. to learn 3-D computer graphics and surfing not necessarily in that order.

Both soon realized they liked the game business more than anything else they were pursuing, and Naughty Dog started picking up momentum. They had a game published by Universal Interactive Studios, which led to a three-project deal with the studio. So in 1994, Gavin moved west, with Rubin flying out to accompany him on his cross-country drive. During that trip, the two friends came up with the idea for a new kind of action game and what would become Crash Bandicoot.

Several Crash Bandicoot games later, the Santa Monica based company is considered one of the industry’s most innovative game developers. For Gavin and Rubin, a typical work week is 18-hour days, seven days a week. Gavin went through one nine-month span when he was only out of the office for a total of six days. According to company lore, employees have been known to sleep in the dog’s bed in the office.

“I try to live three or four lives in the space when most people live just one,” said Gavin, who claims to sleep about four hours a night. “Everyone here works hard and plays hard that is a very important skill here. But my social life was and is Naughty Dog.”

Sara Fisher