Charles Cecil MBE has been a key figure in the video games industry for 40 years. Founder & CEO of Revolution Software, today one of the world’s leading adventure game companies, Charles has created numerous narrative-driven games including the multi-million selling Broken Sword series and Beneath a Steel Sky: the sequel, Beyond a Steel Sky, released as a lead title for Apple Arcade in 2020. Charles has worked on titles as diverse as The Da Vinci Code for Sony Pictures and Doctor Who for the BBC for which he won a BAFTA.
In 2024 Revolution launched a Kickstarter campaign for a 4K, enhanced version of the first Broken Sword game. Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: Reforged raised £650K. The game was widely praised, earning a Metacritic average review score of 89% on PlayStation5, and went on to be a huge commercial success.
Charles, awarded the status of ‘Industry Legend’ by Develop (Europe’s leading development magazine). In 2019 Charles was awarded an honorary Doctorate by the University of York, and in 2024 an honorary Masters by the Leeds Arts University.
Charles has a particular interest in the narrative and aesthetic aspects of Interactive Narrative and how this medium will develop with advancing technology. Charles regularly talks at national and international conferences and to mainstream press about creative and commercial aspects of the video games industry.