Christophe Balestra

As a teenager, Christophe Balestra discovered computing with a Atari 520 STbut he soon tired of games and took up programming, in particular through a friend who introduced him to the world of demomakers.

A zealous student, Christophe started out in Assembler, learning to program quickly for coding parties and working with graphic designers and musicians. To reassure his father, he obtained a DUT in Computer Science in Montreuil and founded his own company. Rayland InteractiveHe has set up a studio in his flat. He is developing a number of games there, including Mad Trax or BANG! Gunship Elite.

The adventure came to an end in the early 2000s when it became difficult to create video games in France. He was offered the chance to set up his own team in the UK, but he didn't like the experience and, even if he had to leave, he preferred to apply to Naughty Dog. He was recruited on the spot as the studio began work on Jak II: Outlawed. He moved to the United States with his family and became co-chairman of the company after just three years, following the departure of founders Jason Rubin and Andy Gavin in 2004 and 2005.

After two other episodes of Jakwhich confirmed the team's technical skills, the team went on to work on the trilogy Uncharted which is rapidly establishing itself as the new benchmark for what can be done on PlayStation 3 in the field of spectacular action. After the second episode, the studio split into two teams to start work on another project.

If a new episode of Jak is initially considered, it will ultimately be the ambitious The Last Of Usthe console's swansong and one of the best-selling games of 2013, an impressive success for an exclusive and a new franchise.