Visionary Leader in Game Production and Creative Development
Craig Derrick is an award-winning Executive Producer with more than three decades of experience leading major game development projects across both publishing and production. His creative leadership has helped shape blockbuster, story-driven titles that have generated close to $2 billion in global revenue. Highlights include the critically acclaimed Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, the record-breaking LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, the fan-favorite Return to Monkey Island revival, and the upcoming Star Wars: Eclipse, a bold new story set in an exciting era of the galaxy.
At The Walt Disney Company, Craig leads a team of producers and partners from various disciplines. He ensures the game vision matches audience expectations, franchise strategy, and business goals. He oversees a multi-year portfolio for Lucasfilm Games, managing product development across a range of projects from AAA action-adventure games to live service and mobile titles. His collaborations include top studios such as Bethesda, Epic Games, Quantic Dream, Zynga, and others.
Craig has a reputation for building and mentoring strong teams. He has a keen eye for talent and prioritizes creating collaborative, inclusive, and resilient cultures. With practical experience in every aspect of game development—from design and production to art, audio, and storytelling—he approaches the creative process with empathy, trust, and a clear understanding of each situation. This wide-ranging expertise helps him provide clear leadership, foresee challenges, and foster environments where teams can excel.
He is equally comfortable communicating with a wide range of audiences, from studio executives and filmmakers to showrunners, creative teams, large internal groups, press, and fans. Whether in small writers’ rooms or speaking on international stages, Craig brings a thoughtful and confident presence, always keeping creative goals aligned with business objectives and player expectations.
Craig co-founded Fifth Journey, a startup focused on bridging Hollywood IP with Asian markets. At TinyCo, he led the company’s first story-driven licensed games, including Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff, which was a top-grossing title and contributed to the company’s $100 million valuation and acquisition. His earlier roles included key positions at LucasArts, where he helped reinvigorate legacy franchises and worked on original IPs like Monkey Island and Star Wars 1313. He started his career at Parallax Software, the creators of the classic Descent series.
Craig is a member of the Producers Guild of America and BAFTA. He is passionate about mentoring emerging creators, building teams with purpose, and advancing the art of interactive storytelling for a new generation of players.
EXPERIENCE
- Global, internal, external, co-development, startup, and publishing experience
- 30 years of professional management experience leading, motivating, and driving teams to success
- 25+ years of game production experience creating, directing, and executing multimillion-dollar project plans
- Vast creative development, licensing, and entertainment studio management experience, including collaborations with Disney, Lucasfilm, Marvel, Pixar, LEGO, DreamWorks, DC, Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Miramax, Lionsgate, MGM, LAIKA, and Universal Pictures
- Extensive studio and team operations leadership experience, including product development framework, slate, and strategic planning, editorial and qualitative reviews, talent identification, recruitment, resource management, conflict resolution, facilitation, motivation, and recognition
- Mastery of project management processes, including project life-cycle models, project charters, scope assessment, sprint planning, budgeting, scheduling, task tracking, and risk assessment
- Multi-genre experience including free-to-play (F2P), casual, VR/AR, motion-controlled, simulation, first-person shooters (FPS), third-person action/adventure, platformers, extreme sports, and children’s titles
- Successful development track record contributing to over 50 released titles
SPECIALTIES
- Product vision, creative direction, and franchise development
- Studio, project, and client management expertise
- Proven ability to work under rapid development cycles
- Exceptional organizational, communication, and time management skills
- Collaborative, positive and team-oriented
- Certified ScrumMaster
Beyond his work producing, Craig is an active contributor to the game development and academic communities:
AFFILIATIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS
- Advisory Board Member, IADT | Tampa (2009 – present)
- Advisory Board Member, Full Sail University (2005 – present)
- Advisory Board Member, IGDA Albany, NY Chapter (2005 – present)
- Founder, IGDA Chapter Albany, NY (2002)
- Judge, The Next Game Boss, Season 1 (2012)
- Judge, Independent Games Festival (2006)
- Full Member, BAFTA (2023 – present)
- Member, Producers Guild of America (2015 – present)
- Member, Producers of the Round Table (2007 – 2010)
- Member, IGDA Credit Standards Committee (2005 – 2008)
- Member, Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) (2002 – present)
- Member, IGDA (2002 – present)
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
- Star Wars Celebration, Guest Speaker & Panelist (2022)
- EXPLO at Yale University, Guest Speaker (2018)
- Pocket Gamer Connects Panel, From Indie to Hollywood – Getting the Best from Third-Party IP (2016)
- San Diego Comic-Con Developer Panel, Panelist w/Jorg Neumann and Seth Hawkins (2011)
- International Academy of Design & Technology | Tampa, Guest Speaker (2009)
- Korea Game Industry Agency (KOGIA), Production Processes and Creative Management Techniques (2008)
- Full Sail University, Guest Speaker (January 2005, October 2005, & October 2006)
- IGDA Albany, NY Chapter, Speaker & Chapter Coordinator (2002 – 2005)
- Game Developers Conference, Beyond Fun: Setting Aesthetic Goals and Sticking to Them (2004)
- RPI Game Festival & Symposium, Panelist w/Ernest Adams, Katie Salen, and Karthik Bala (2004)
