22 Best Video Game Books

David Kushner chronicles John Carmack and John Romero's partnership, the creation of Doom and Quake, and their eventual split. Their story connects creative ambition, entrepreneurship, friendship, and the cultural influence of video games.

Jason Schreier investigates the difficult development of games including Stardew Valley, Destiny, and Dragon Age: Inquisition. Interviews and reporting reveal how creative ambitions collide with technical problems, deadlines, corporate decisions, and the personal costs of prolonged production.

Blake Harris follows Sega's challenge to Nintendo's dominance during the 1990s, centered on Tom Kalinske's leadership of Sega of America. Interviews inform a dramatic account of marketing battles, corporate rivalries, and the decisions behind a pivotal period in video games.

Tom Bissell combines memoir, criticism, and reporting to explore the appeal and artistic possibilities of video games. His account examines how games work, what playing them feels like, and his own complicated relationship with the medium.

In 2045, Wade Watts lives for the OASIS, a vast virtual world where a dead creator's hidden contest promises a fortune and total control. When Wade finds the first clue, he becomes a target in a race that turns deadly.

Steven Kent chronicles the growth of video games from arcade novelties into a major entertainment industry. Interviews with industry figures illuminate influential games, the rise and fall of companies, and the competition surrounding home consoles.

Jesse Schell introduces game design through a collection of lenses, each offering questions that reveal a different perspective on a game. He connects principles from board games, sports, and video games with practical guidance on creating, testing, and improving player experiences.

Jordan Mechner’s journals chronicle the creation of the original Prince of Persia computer game. They record technical problems, creative decisions, and personal struggles, offering a firsthand view of independent game development during the expanding industry of the 1980s.

Raph Koster examines why games are enjoyable through ideas about learning, pattern recognition, and human behavior. Illustrated arguments connect game design with broader questions about meaning and creativity, with this second edition updating research and reflecting on the medium's development.

Jason Schreier investigates the people affected by video-game studio shutdowns. Interviews trace the development of familiar titles, corporate decisions, job losses, and the different ways developers rebuild their careers or decide to leave the industry.

Jane McGonigal explores why games motivate people and fulfill needs that everyday life often leaves unmet. She argues that game design can support cooperation and meaningful action, examining examples from business, education, and efforts to address wider social problems.

Tristan Donovan traces video-game history from early research laboratories through arcades, home computers, and consoles. Drawing on extensive interviews, he examines the designers, technological shifts, and business fortunes behind gaming's growth across different countries.

Walt Williams recounts his unexpected career as a video-game writer and narrative designer. His memoir examines creative work inside large gaming companies, the tension between innovation and commercial demands, and the industry's recurring reliance on violence.

Derek Yu tells the story of creating Spelunky and developing its later remake. Using his game as a case study, he discusses random level generation, difficulty, player feedback, collaboration, and the practical challenge of finishing a game.

Harold Goldberg traces video games' rise into a major form of popular entertainment through interviews with their creators. Stories behind titles such as Pong, Tetris, Myst, and Grand Theft Auto reveal the innovations, personalities, and business pressures shaping the industry.

This collection draws together Satoru Iwata's reflections on programming, leadership, and game development, with conversations and recollections from colleagues. It offers a view of the working ideas and personal approach behind Nintendo's former president and CEO.

Katherine Isbister examines how game design creates emotional experiences through choice, characters, movement, and interaction with other players. Examples from commercial, independent, and experimental games explain how playing can foster connection and different kinds of feeling.

Frank Gasking investigates more than 80 unreleased video games from 1975 to 2015. Interviews, development recollections, screenshots, and artwork reconstruct abandoned projects across numerous platforms, exploring the circumstances that prevented players from seeing them as originally intended.

Bernard De Koven explores imagination as a space for play, learning, and shared experience. Observations, techniques, and games move from private imagination to collective possibilities, with contributions from other designers and scholars of play.

Chris Kohler examines how Japanese video games became a global cultural force. Interviews and accounts from developers, including Shigeru Miyamoto and Hideo Kojima, explore creative decisions behind influential games and the industry's impact beyond gaming.

Dan Ackerman recounts the creation of Tetris by Soviet programmer Alexey Pajitnov and its spread beyond the Iron Curtain. The narrative follows the game's growing popularity and the international struggle among companies and officials over its commercial rights.

Michael Clune recounts his childhood in 1980s suburban Illinois through seven computer games. He connects solitary play with school relationships, bullying, and his parents' divorce, examining how virtual worlds shaped his understanding of the world around him.