David Scott Jaffe (born April 13, 1971) is an American

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...

game designer Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...

best known for creating the ''

Twisted Metal ''Twisted Metal'' is a series of vehicular combat video games published by Sony Computer Entertainment, and developed by various companies. The series has appeared on the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3. As o ...

'' and ''God of War'' series.

Biography

Jaffe is originally from

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

and currently resides in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

. He was born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family. Jaffe graduated from Alabama's

Mountain Brook High School Mountain Brook High School (MBHS) is a three-year public high school in the city of Mountain Brook, Alabama USA. It is the only high school in the Mountain Brook City School System. The school's colors are green and gold and the athletic teams a ...

, located in Mountain Brook, AL, a suburb of Birmingham. Jaffe then attended 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 ...

Los Angeles 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' ...

. Jaffe is well known for directing the ''Twisted Metal'' series and ''

God of War A war god in mythology associated with war, combat, or bloodshed. They occur commonly in both monotheistic and polytheistic religions. Unlike most gods and goddesses in polytheistic religions, monotheistic deities have traditionally been po ...

''. Jaffe's '' Twisted Metal: Black'' and ''God of War'' have both ranked into

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

's "Top 25 PS2 Games of All Time", with ''Twisted Metal: Black'' in ninth place and ''God of War'' winning first place as IGN's best

PS2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia o ...

game of all time. In 2007, Jaffe left SCEA to found

Eat Sleep Play Eat Sleep Play, Inc. was an American video game developer, formed in 2007 by Scott Campbell and David Jaffe, director of the ''Twisted Metal'' series and '' God of War''. Eat Sleep Play entered into an exclusive platform deal with Sony requiring ...

. The studio signed a multi-year deal with

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

to create games exclusively for PlayStation platforms. He left Eat Sleep Play in February 2012 due to creative differences. In 2014, he announced his first project on his new studio ''The Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency'' called '' Drawn to Death'' as a

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

exclusive. The game received mixed reviews, and due to the cancellation of an unannounced title, his newfound company shut down a year later. Jaffe heavily expressed disdain for the mixed critical reception and insisted the reception from players who played the game was more positive. Since leaving his previous company, Jaffe now primarily live streams his show, ''Gabbin' + Games'', formerly ''The Jaffe Stream'', via

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle co ...

and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. Here, he openly converses with his audience via live chat and

Discord Discord is a VoIP and instant messaging social platform. Users have the ability to communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called "servers".The developer documenta ...

about the past and current state of the video game industry, world events, pop culture, politics, metaphysics, the paranormal and existentialism, among other topics. He has served as a creative consultant for Polish developer ''Movie Games''.

Works

* ''

Cliffhanger A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhang ...

'' (1993) (

NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in E ...

Mega Drive/Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

, Mega CD/Sega CD) - tester * ''

Skyblazer ''Skyblazer'' is a platform video game published by Sony Imagesoft, released in early 1994 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It involves Sky, the Skyblazer hero (Garuda in the Japanese version) searching for Ashura, the Lord of War, w ...

'' (1993) (

) - tester * ''

Mickey Mania ''Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse'' is a 1994 platform video game developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Sony Imagesoft for the Super NES, Sega Genesis, and Sega CD. In the game, the player controls Mickey Mouse, ...

'' (1994) (Super NES,

, Mega CD/Sega CD)Jaffe's Blog with Project Listing
- designer * ''

'' (1995) ( PC/

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

) - designer * ''

Twisted Metal 2 ''Twisted Metal 2'' (known as ''Twisted Metal: World Tour'' in Europe and ''Twisted Metal EX'' in Japan) is the second game in the vehicular combat series, ''Twisted Metal''. It was developed by the game studio SingleTrac, published by Sony, an ...

'' (1996) (PC/PlayStation) - game director, producer, and designer * '' Twisted Metal: Black'' (2001) (

) - Game Director / Lead Designer * ''

Kinetica ''Kinetica'' is a racing video game developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. It was released in North America only on October 14, 2001. It is the debut game of Santa Monica Studio. It w ...

'' (2001) (PS2) - Designer * ''

'' (2005) (PS2) - Game Director / Lead Designer * ''

God of War II ''God of War II'' is an action-adventure hack and slash video game developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). First released for the PlayStation 2 (PS2) console on March 13, 2007, it is the second inst ...

'' (2007) (PS2) - creative director * ''

Calling All Cars! ''Calling All Cars!'' is a downloadable video game developed by Incognito Entertainment and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for PlayStation 3. It was released in 2007. It was also included for free with a 1-year subscription to Qore. G ...

'' (2007) ( PS3) - game director * ''

'' (2012) (PS3) - game director * '' Drawn to Death'' (2017) (

PS4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in E ...

) - game director

References

External links

David Jaffe's blog
* *
David Jaffe's Twitch.tv
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaffe, David 1971 births American video game designers American video game directors Jewish video game developers Living people People from Mountain Brook, Alabama University of Southern California alumni