Today we’d like to introduce you to John Hardie.
Hi John, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
The National Videogame Museum was founded by John Hardie, Sean Kelly and Joe Santulli, 3 friends who had been collecting videogames and memorabilia since the early 1980’s. Their quest went beyond just having games – they wanted to know who wrote them, what secrets were in the code, what was going on at the companies that made them, etc. In 1999, they founded Classic Gaming Expo, the first ever videogame convention held in Las Vegas, NV. The show grew each year with the museum portion occupying more and more space. In 2004 they approached the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the largest industry trade show, and offered to put together a historical exhibit. The exhibit was a huge success and the museum became a traveling museum doing up to 5 shows a year including events such as Game Developer Conference, PAX East, PAX South, SXSW and various Comic-Cons. In 2012 they attended the DICE Summit and met Randy Pitchford, the CEO of Gearbox Software, who at the time was moving his company’s offices to Frisco. Randy loved what we were doing and decided to help us set up a permanent exhibition; a place where people could go every day to see and play videogame history. Randy was already dealing with the city and asked them to consider helping to open this unique museum concept. The museum opened in 2016 and is highly ranked as a star attraction in Frisco. Last year over 110,000 people visited the museum.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Definitely not smooth. The original plans for the museum had to be changed multiple times due to size constraints, change of venue, financial costs, museum fabrication delays and the general timeline of such an undertaking to make sure that everything was just perfect. Our original opening date was pushed back several times until we finally opened the doors on April 2, 2016.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Until opening the museum, I worked for Verizon for 26 years. My teams built the FiOS network in New York. I managed groups of 25 – 30 employess at a time and I tend to be a very hands-on person which can be good and bad. I usually have a vision that I try to bring to life. As is the case with the museum, our vision was to create an interactive space where you not only learn about the history of videogames, but you can actually play those games. I consider us one of the most interactive museums in the U.S. and it’s mainly because of the vision my partners and I had. Obviously knowing how to properly manage and engage your employees is a big help in keeping things running.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
The videogame industry is definitely changing and not necessarily for the better. Publishers are pushing hard to make the industry a digital domain where they sell you software that you download but you don’t actually own a physical copy. Unfortunately, even though the publisher saves on manufacturing and distribution costs, they don’t pass that savings on to the consumer. In addition, at any time, they can disable that software and you’ll lose something you’ve purchased. We’ve seen it with movies and cable companies let you “buy” a movie and keep it in your library, but the truth is that if they lose the rights to that movie, you will lose it also. Another big trend is the advent of AI. While AI should be used strictly as a tool to help programmers and artists, we’re seeing situations where AI is actually replacing them. The videogame industry is in turmoil as we speak with massive layoffs going on and we don’t need to see more of that due to AI.
Pricing:
- $12 per person
- $10 for seniors (55 & over), military and educators
- $10 for children 10 and under
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.nvmusa.org
- Instagram: @nvmusa
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nvmusa
- Twitter: @nvmusa
Image Credits
National Videogame Museum
