Sidney K. Meier (pronounced MIRE; born February 24, 1954) is an American businessman and computer programmer. He is known for creating, designing, and producing many strategy and simulation video games, including the Civilization series. In 1982, Meier co-founded the company MicroProse with Bill Stealey. In 1996, he co-founded Firaxis Games with Jeff Briggs and Brian Reynolds and became the head of creative development for the company. For his work in the video game industry, Meier was added to the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame.
Early life and education
Meier was born in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, to parents with Dutch and Swiss heritage. This gave him Canadian and Swiss citizenship when he was born. When he was about three years old, his family moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he grew up. At the University of Michigan, he studied history and computer science. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in computer science in 1975.
Career
After college, Meier worked on creating cash register systems for department stores. During this time, Meier bought an Atari 800 around 1981. This experience helped him see the possibility of using computer programming to create video games. He met a coworker named Bill Stealey, who also liked making games. They shared the games Meier had created. The two decided to start a new company for computer game development after the software and personal computer industries grew quickly during the early 1980s.
Sid Meier has said many times that he focuses on the "fun parts" of a simulation and removes the rest.
— Computer Gaming World, 1994
Meier started a company called MicroProse with Stealey in 1982. After making a few 2D action games, including Meier’s platformer Floyd of the Jungle, MicroProse began creating flight simulation games. These included Hellcat Ace (1982), Spitfire Ace (1982), Solo Flight (1983), and F-15 Strike Eagle (1985), all designed and programmed by Meier.
The first time Meier’s name appeared on a game box was as the creator of Formula 1 Racing in 1982. In 1984, Stealey began promoting Meier as a main creator to attract other developers. By 1986, MicroProse used Meier’s name and face in advertisements for its games. In 1987, the company released Sid Meier’s Pirates!, the first game with Meier’s name in the title. Meier explained that the inclusion of his name was because Pirates! was very different from earlier games. Stealey believed that using Meier’s name would make people who bought flight simulators more likely to try the game.
The idea worked well. By 1992, an entry in Computer Gaming World’s poetry contest praised Meier’s name as "a guarantee they got it right." Meier did not encourage MicroProse to promote his name, but he insisted on doing all the work on games himself, including sound and art, until an artist named Michael Haire, hired by Stealey for Silent Service (1985), persuaded him otherwise. Meier is not always the main designer on games with his name. For example, Brian Reynolds was the main designer for Sid Meier’s Civilization II, Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, and Sid Meier’s Colonization. Jeff Briggs designed Sid Meier’s Civilization III, Soren Johnson led Sid Meier’s Civilization IV, Jon Shafer led Sid Meier’s Civilization V, and Will Miller and David McDonough designed Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth.
After releasing F-19 Stealth Fighter, Meier focused on strategy games. He later said, "Everything I thought was cool about a flight simulator had gone into that game." Inspired by SimCity and Empire, he created Sid Meier’s Railroad Tycoon and later the game series for which he is most known, Sid Meier’s Civilization, although he only designed the first game.
Around 1990, Stealey wanted to expand MicroProse to make arcade games, but Meier felt this was too risky. One arcade game, an improved version of F-15 Strike Eagle II called F-15 Strike Eagle, was released without Meier’s help. Unable to agree with Stealey, Meier sold his share of the company but stayed in the same role.
MicroProse became a public company and merged with Spectrum HoloByte in 1993 under Spectrum’s name. Spectrum later cut many jobs at MicroProse in 1996 and moved operations. Meier, along with employees Jeff Briggs and Brian Reynolds, was unhappy with these decisions and left to form Firaxis Games in 1997.
Firaxis continued making strategy games similar to those Meier created at MicroProse, including new versions of Civilization and a remake of Sid Meier’s Pirates! (2004). In 1996, Meier received a patent for a system that creates music in real time, used in a game called C.P.U. Bach. Next Generation listed him in their "75 Most Important People in the Games Industry of 1995," calling him "a prolific developer of some of the best games in [MicroProse]’s catalog."
Firaxis employees say Meier has been working on a special game engine since around 1996. He uses this engine to test his game ideas and has not shared it with others. A senior producer, Dennis Shirk, said in 2016 that Meier sometimes arrived at the office with a new game prototype for the company to try. Employees believe the engine is based on the original Civilization code but has been updated over the years.
Meier worked with a team on a dinosaur-themed game starting in early 2000. He announced in an online diary in 2001 that the game was put on hold. After trying different styles of gameplay, he said he could not find a way to make the concept fun enough. In 2005, he said, "We’ve been nonstop busy making other games over the past several years, so the dinosaur game remains on the shelf. However, I do love the idea of a dinosaur game and would like to revisit it when I have some time."
A book called Sid Meier’s Memoir!: A Life in Computer Games was published on September 8, 2020, by W. W. Norton & Company.
Computer Gaming World reported in 1994 that "Sid Meier has stated on numerous occasions that he emphasizes the 'fun parts' of a simulation and throws out the rest." The magazine also noted that year that "Meier insisted that discovering the elusive quality of fun is the toughest part of design." According to PC Gamer, "Though his games are frequently about violent times and places, there is never any blood or gore shown. He designs and creates his games by playing them, over and over, until they are fun."
Personal life
Meier lives in Hunt Valley, Maryland, with his second wife, Susan. He is a deeply religious Christian, and he and his wife attend Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cockeysville. At the church, Meier serves as the music director. Susan was among the first 13 people to work at Firaxis Games, along with Sid Meier. Meier has a son named Ryan Meier, who has worked at Blizzard Entertainment, Firaxis Games, and Google.
Awards
In 1996, GameSpot named Meier as the top person on their list of the "Most Influential People in Computer Gaming of All Time," describing him as "our Hitchcock, our Spielberg, our Ellington." That same year, Computer Gaming World ranked him eighth on their list of the "Most Influential Industry Players of All Time," stating that no other game designer has created as many CGW Hall of Fame games as Sid Meier. In 1997, Computer Gaming World placed him first on their list of the "Most Influential People of All Time in Computer Gaming" for game design. In 1999, he became the second person to be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame.
In 2008, Meier received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 Game Developer's Conference. In 2009, he was fifth in a Develop survey that asked about 9,000 game makers to name their "ultimate development hero." That same year, he was ranked second on IGN's list of "Top Game Creators of All Time" and was described as "the ideal role model for any aspiring game designer." In 2017, he was honored with the Life Achievement Award by the Golden Joystick Awards.
Games
Meier has created, helped create, and produced many games. A full list of his projects, including games he made before they were sold, can be found in the appendix of Sid Meier's Memoir!.