In the 1980's Jones founded the seminal UK developer DMA Design, which created two of the most famous games franchises in the world Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto (GTA). Critically acclaimed upon its release, GTA has became one of the most successful series of games in the world with the original and its sequels selling approximately 20 million copies across multiple platforms. The long-term success of the games has been based, not upon its notoriety or 'shock' value, but upon the solid and compelling gameplay, created in the original title, which allows players to interact with the game any way they wish - and have the game respond to their actions - a feature which is still unique today.
Hetherington founded Psygnosis, one of the UK's first videogames publishers, responsible for games such as Wipeout and Destruction Derby. In May 1993, the company was bought by Sony and Hetherington became the managing director of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe creators of the PlayStation development environment and was responsible for the portfolio of launch titles which helped the console achieve an 80% market share.
Together, Jones and Hetherington were responsible for the 'Lemmings' series of games. Lemmings achieved enormous international success, selling over 20 million copies across more than 20 different formats.
They are joined at Real Time Worlds by Commercial Director, Tony Harman, former director of development and acquisition for Nintendo of America. Harman was the executive producer of 'Donkey Kong Country' franchise for Nintendo, which sold over ten million copies worldwide.
"We are not yet talking specifically about our two titles under development, but I will hint that fans of GTA and next-generation racing games will not be disappointed. Having seen literally thousands of games in the past, I was amazed at the unique and ground breaking ideas that are being brought to life at Real Time Worlds," said Hetherington.
"Bringing Ian and Tony on board follows my philosophy of only working with the best," said Jones. "My goal is to create unique global franchises and maximize the revenue potential from those titles. We have put together a hand picked team of 28 developers with a tremendous portfolio of hit games behind them, and now we have a similar pedigree in our management team.
"The Company has created some unique technologies", said Harman. "The emerging on-line gaming market is an area we will be creating some waves in.