Welcome to Zipper
Background
Based in Redmond, Washington, Zipper Interactive was founded in 1995 by Brian Soderberg and Jim Bosler. Best known for their mega–hit SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALS games released on Sony Playstation, the SOCOM franchise helped define online gaming on the Playstation 2 and Playstation Portable platforms.
With the success of the SOCOM series, it has allowed Zipper to attract and retain top talent from the local as well as international games industry including expert programmers, artists, designers, and producers. Zipper currently has nearly 150 employees located in downtown Redmond, and is still hiring.
Zipper Games
Over 13+ years the Zipper team has developed 12 games in a number of genres including vehicle combat, flight sims, and adventure, but found their forte in the shooter video game genre with the hit SOCOM series. Zipper’s early PC games included Deathdrome, TopGun, Recoil, MechWarrior3, and Crimson Skies.
Sony Publishing & Acquisition – Playstation Games!
In 2002, Sony Computer Entertainment of America and Zipper teamed up to develop and publish the first SOCOM video game. After helping launch the Playstation2 network adapter and establishing SOCOM as one of the premier online titles, Zipper and Sony went on to release 6 installments of SOCOM. Two of which were for the Playstation Portable (PSP). The SOCOM series has sold over 10M copies worldwide and continues to do well on both the PS2 and PSP today. In 2006 Zipper was acquired by Sony and joined a very talented group of studios making games exclusively for the Playstation platforms.
Sony and Zipper recently announced their newest title, MAG for the Playstation 3. With MAG, Zipper once again, pushes the limits in technology and design with a near-future 256 player online first person shooter.
Faces of Zipper
Brian Soderberg — President and Co-founder
Mr. Soderberg co–founded and is currently President of Zipper Interactive. Prior to Zipper, Brian was Division Scientist at Loral Corporation, a multi–billion dollar military defense and aerospace company. Mr. Soderberg managed the design and implementation of real–time graphics and simulation programs running under the SIMNET and other follow–on programs. Prior to Loral, Mr. Soderberg held top engineering development and management positions at Boeing, Delta Graphics, and Bolt, Beranek and Neumann. During all of these military endeavors, Brian spent many off–hours playing and programming games beginning with the first Atari home computer. After developing his first homebrew game with a team of one for the Atari 400, Brian’s game development career had begun. Brian finally made the full–time switch from military to game development in 1995 with the co–founding of Zipper Interactive. Brian grew up in the Northwest on Mercer Island and received his engineering degree at the University of Washington. His favorite hobbies include mountain biking, playing guitar and golf.
Michael Gutmann — Vice President
Mr. Gutmann joined Zipper Interactive as an engineer shortly after Zipper was founded and is currently Vice President. Mr. Gutmann has worked for the past 14 years in various roles on the team, each expanding along with the company itself. Prior to joining Zipper, Michael worked as an engineer at Loral Corporation, a multi–billion dollar military defense and aerospace company. Having spent many hours playing games, programming games, as well as plugging quarters into local arcades, he jumped at the opportunity to become a professional game developer. At Zipper, he was fortunate to join a small team of talented individuals passionate about and devoted to making games. Growing up in the Northwest, Michael attended Washington State University where he earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees in Electrical Engineering. He is a current member of the Washington State University EE/CS Executive Council helping ensure its graduates are well prepared for the workplace. His favorite hobbies include cycling, photography, and woodworking.