• January 9 –
Alan Emrich, 65, video game writer who coined the term
4X. • January 12 –
Robert Machray, 79, actor with voice roles in
The Dark Eye and
Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader. • January 15 –
David Lynch, 78, surrealist filmmaker whose work influenced numerous video games, including the
Alan Wake series, ''
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, Silent Hill 2, the Persona series, Disco Elysium, and Deadly Premonition''. • January 24 – Tetsuhisa Seko, 54, president of
Nippon Ichi Software. • January 30 – Wayne June, voice actor who was announcer for
Dota 2 and narrator of
Darkest Dungeon. • February 3 –
Stéphane Picq, 59, composer who scored
Dune,
MegaRace,
Lost Eden,
Atlantis: The Lost Tales, and
Riverworld. • February 10 –
Peter Tuiasosopo, 61, actor who played
E. Honda in 1994's
Street Fighter. • February 14 – William Roberts, 80, voice actor who voiced Vesemir in
The Witcher series and Dromarch in
Xenoblade Chronicles 2. • February 16 –
Viktor Antonov, 52, art director of
Half-Life 2 and
Dishonored. • February 21 –
Peter Jason, 80, actor with voice roles in
Fallout 2 and
Gears of War. • March 11 –
Dave Mallow, 76, voice actor who voiced
Akuma in the
Street Fighter and
Marvel vs. Capcom series. • March 12 • Thomas Lee, 59, former
EA employee who worked on games such as
Final Fantasy IX,
Parasite Eve, and
Wing Commander III. •
Takashi Inagaki, 87, voice actor who voiced
Yen Sid in the
Kingdom Hearts series,
Epic Mickey, and
Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two. • March 25 – Abdulaziz "HAX$" Al-Yami, 30, pro
Super Smash Bros. Melee player. • April 3 – Narayana "River Boy" Johnson, audio director and composer for
Cult of the Lamb. • April 5 – Bill Petras, art director for
Blizzard Entertainment on several games, including
StarCraft,
World of Warcraft and
Overwatch. • May 30 –
Renée Victor, 86, actress who voiced female Argonians in
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. • June 2 – Tim LeTourneau, developer with
Maxis including producer on
The Sims. • June 9 –
Pik-Sen Lim, 80, Chinese-born actress, including the voice of the narrator in the
Dark Souls series. • July 3 –
Michael Madsen, 67, film actor with various voice roles in video games including
Grand Theft Auto III,
Driver 3,
Narc and
Dishonored. • July 8 –
James Carter Cathcart, 71, voice actor who portrayed Gary Oak,
James,
Meowth and Professor Oak in
Pokémon, and other appearances in
Kirby: Right Back at Ya!,
Sonic X, and
Shadow the Hedgehog. • July 22 –
Julian LeFay, 59, programmer from
Bethesda Softworks considered the "father of the
Elder Scrolls" for his work on
The Elder Scrolls: Arena and
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall. • July 24 –
Hulk Hogan, 71, pro wrestler who appeared in several
WWE,
WCW, and
TNA video games including serving as the cover athlete of
MicroLeague Wrestling,
WWF WrestleMania, among other titles. • August 17 –
Terence Stamp, 87, actor who appeared in
The Getaway: Black Monday,
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion,
Halo 3 and
Wanted: Weapons of Fate. • September 26 – Andrew Dice, co-founder of
Carpe Fulgur. • October 2 – Kazuki Motoyama, 69, artist and writer of the
Mario manga published by
Kodansha in
Comic BomBom. • October 16 –
Tomonobu Itagaki, 58, game designer, creator of
Dead or Alive series and
Ninja Gaiden series. • November 17 –
Rebecca Heineman, 62, co-founder of
Interplay Entertainment and video game developer for several titles. • November 21 –
Lamarr Wilson, 48,
YouTuber and technology reporter, as well as gaming-industry event host. • November 23 –
Udo Kier, 81, horror actor with multiple video game roles including Yuri from
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2. • November 29 –
Tomomichi Nishimura, 79, Japanese voice actor who voiced
Akuma and
M. Bison in the
Street Fighter series. • December 1 – Nick Thorpe, 38, the Features Editor and primary writer for long-running British gaming magazine
Retro Gamer. • December 4 –
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, 75, actor who portrayed
Shang Tsung in
Mortal Kombat and
Heihachi Mishima in the
Tekken films. • December 10 •
Jeff Garcia, 50, actor and comedian who voiced Sheen Estevez in the
Jimmy Neutron franchise. •
Jim Ward, 66, voice actor who voiced Captain Qwark in the
Ratchet & Clank series, Jack Krauser in
Resident Evil 4 and Doktor in
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. • December 21 -
Vince Zampella, 55, co-founder of
Infinity Ward and
Respawn Entertainment. • December 25 -
David M. Rosen, 95, co-founder of
Sega and founding father of the Japan
arcade scene. ==Hardware releases==