Corey May is an American

video game writer Video game writing is the art and craft of writing scripts and narratives for video games. Similar to screenwriting, it is typically a freelance profession. It includes many differences from writing for film, due to the non-linear and interactiv ...

. He is currently the Narrative Director for Austin video game developer

Certain Affinity Certain Affinity is an American video game development studio based in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 2006 by Max Hoberman and a small number of other ex-Bungie employees and other industry veterans. History Certain Affinity's creation was a ...

. May is also the co-founder and President of

Sekretagent Productions Sekretagent is a production company based in Los Angeles, California, focused on providing content creation, screenwriting, development and production for both films and video games. Founded in 2001, the company has provided writing services for ga ...

, a production company based in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

working in the film, video game, and internet industries. May is the main writer of the ''Assassin's Creed'' series. May worked as the lead writer on ''

Assassin's Creed ''Assassin's Creed'' is an open-world, action-adventure, and stealth game franchise published by Ubisoft and developed mainly by its studio Ubisoft Montreal using the game engine Anvil and its more advanced derivatives. Created by Patrice D ...

'', '' Assassin's Creed II'', and '' Assassin's Creed III''. Corey May also helped Jeffrey Yohalem as a writer on '' Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood'', and

Darby McDevitt Darby Christopher McDevitt is an Irish-American game developer and writer, best known for his work on the ''Assassin's Creed'' series. With a diverse professional profile spanning more than a decade, he has worked as a writer, film maker, musici ...

on '' Assassin's Creed: Revelations''. May helped Jeffrey Yohalem once again on '' Assassin's Creed Syndicate'', making it the last game he worked on before departing from

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...

. May also helps in the production of most other entries into the ''Assassin's Creed'' franchise to make sure everything flows together into one coherent narrative. May graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1999 and founded Sekretagent with Dooma Wendschuh upon their graduation from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

's Peter Stark Producing Program in 2001. Along with Dooma Wendschuh, May has co-written for video games such as '' Prince of Persia: Warrior Within'', '' Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones'', '' Army of Two'' and ''

Terminator Salvation ''Terminator Salvation'' is a 2009 American military science fiction action film directed by McG and written by John Brancato and Michael Ferris. It is the fourth installment of the ''Terminator'' franchise and serves as a sequel to '' Termin ...

''. He also was an executive producer on the 2006 horror film ''

The Plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pe ...

'', was a producer on the 2002 film ''Yo, Tyrone''. He and Wendschuh wrote the ''

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

'' video game developed by

WB Games Montréal WB Games Montréal Inc. is a Canadian video game developer based in Montreal, Quebec. It is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and is best known for developing '' Batman: Arkham Origins'' and '' Gotham Knights''. History WB ...

, '' Batman: Arkham Origins'', a prequel to Rocksteady Studios Batman video games: '' Batman: Arkham Asylum'', '' Batman: Arkham City'' and '' Batman: Arkham Knight''.

Biography

Early life

Corey May was raised near

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

. May's interest in

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ...

and

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

came from a young age. However, his family wanted him to initially attend

to become a doctor. May failed in Chem 5 and realized that medicine wasn't his future. May then decided to take BA and several English courses, including literature courses and creative writing courses. He took a class on

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

an science fiction and read many books, but still intended to be an investment banker or a trader. In the summers, May took jobs at a variety of banks in New York City, but was rejected several times due to his appearance. However, he did receive a job to copy edit reports and journal articles.

Career

Sekretagent Productions

After college in early 2000s, May decided to apply to the Peter Stark Producing program at

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

. At USC, May met his business partner, Dooma Wendschuh, and after graduation they made their production company official. They printed business cards and letterhead. Thanks to some contacts made during a

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

internship, the duo sold its first project to Disney: a re-envisioned live-action ''

The Wind in the Willows ''The Wind in the Willows'' is a children's novel by the British novelist Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. It details the story of Mole, Ratty, and Badger as they try to help Mr. Toad, after he becomes obsessed with motorcars and gets ...

''. Many writers and directors including

Guillermo del Toro Guillermo del Toro Gómez (; born October 9, 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and actor. He directed the Academy Award–winning fantasy films ''Pan's Labyrinth'' (2006) and ''The Shape of Water'' (2017), winning the Academy Awards for Be ...

have been attached.

Ubisoft (2004-2011)

Off the success of the first project, the duo signed with a film agency. The agency received many requests for writing on video games. Having loved the medium since childhood, May decided they should at least take the meetings, where he first met Ubisoft. May and Wendschuh pitched Ubisoft an animated television show based on ''

Rayman ''Rayman'' is a franchise of platform video games, created by video game designer Michel Ancel for Ubisoft. Since the release of the original ''Rayman'' game in 1995, the series has produced a total of 45 games across multiple platforms. The s ...

''. Despite rejecting the pitch, the executives did like May, and invited him to visit

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. After the critical success of '' Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time'' and ''Beyond Good & Evil'', the publisher wanted May to help with the next ''

Prince of Persia ''Prince of Persia'' is a video game franchise created by Jordan Mechner. It is built around a series of action-adventure games focused on various incarnations of the eponymous Prince, set in ancient and medieval Persia. The first two games i ...

'' game, ''Prince of Persia: Warrior Within.'' May then started working on ''Assassin's Creed'' for four years. "It was this big crazy weird super ambitious monstrosity. How are we going to go from what's in the creative director's head to what's on a disc? ..As time went on I was more and more involved with the franchise, charting some of the aspects of its future. Not just writing on the games but overseeing the narrative elements of the brand as a whole," said May.

Alice (2011-Present)

Alice was originally formed in 2011 by Yves Jacquier, Ubisoft's director of production services. Alice's main goal was to improve stories in Ubisoft games. "It is a resource composed of talent scouts,

motion capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or mocap, for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robo ...

masters, research and development engineers, sound mixers and narrative guides," reads a report from Alice. The first game to see significant support from Alice was '' Watch Dogs.'' Michael Mando, who played Vaas in '' Far Cry 3'', was also motion captured in Alice.

Video games

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:May, Corey American film producers American video game designers Video game writers Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Harvard University alumni USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni Ubisoft people