Steve Barcia

Steve Barcia is a video game programmer, producer and entrepreneur. He founded Simtex Studios Inc. in 1988, which released several turn-based strategy games for the PC, including the first two Master of Orion games. Following Simtex's closing in 1997, Barcia succeeded Jeff Spangenberg as the president of Retro Studios after a takeover by Nintendo of America. Barcia went on to become the executive producer of Metroid Prime, the quality of which was largely credited to Barcia's involvement. The cancelled Retro game Raven Blade was said to be Barcia's "baby" ; this game was dropped due to its lagging in development and to free up resources for Prime. Barcia had no further involvement with the Prime series and following an owner's meeting in April 2003, was replaced by Michael Kelbaugh. Barcia has since joined EA Canada in Vancouver, and oversees the production of the Def Jam games.