![]() Born in 1970 and a lover of music his entire life, Hartmann cites bands like Queen, The Cure, AC/DC, New World Army, and The Smiths as formative, as were hip-hop groups like Run DMC and the Beastie Boys. While attending university at the Munich Business School, Hartmann paid part of his way by working in nightclubs as a professional DJ, and he was in demand enough to earn himself residence gigs. Hartmann’s road to gaming started with music. He didn’t find all the answers, but Hartmann gained valuable experience and learned that he also didn’t want to spend his life sitting on the beach, smoking pot. ![]() At age 21, he took a trip to Costa Rica to try to figure out what to do with his life before attending university. “I was like, ‘Why?’ Who says I have to be a dentist? Do I really want to look into farmers’ mouths for the next 40 years?” he said. His parents were successful dentists, and townspeople wondered if he would follow in their footsteps. He applied for a high school exchange program, got it, and lived in Malone, New York, for one year when he was 18. Thanks in part to having an American basketball coach and other factors, Hartmann became enthralled with American culture. He played basketball growing up, which was one of the first things that set him apart from his contemporaries who gravitated toward Europe’s more popular sport, soccer. “Very Sound of Music country,” Hartmann says. Hartmann was born in Rosenheim, a sleepy town about halfway between Munich and Salzburg. So who is Christoph Hartmann? His story begins in small-town Germany. “Do I Really Want To Look Into Farmers’ Mouths For The Next 40 Years?” While many of Hartmann’s peers have called it quits and pursued careers in other industries following their time in the gaming space, Hartmann is pressing on for what might be his tallest task yet–making Amazon into a household name for video games. He is climbing a mountain that he may never summit, and he seems okay with that. He also rarely believes anything he does is good enough. He shared stories of clashing with BioShock writer-director Ken Levine, the cancellation of Amazon’s Lord of the Rings MMO, snapping up the next game from the heads of Rainbow Six Siege before Electronic Arts could make a deal, how he aims to be the Clive Davis of video games, and lots more. ![]() He asked if I was preparing to psychoanalyze him as a therapist might. Before we even got started, Hartmann joked about the setup of our interview–he was sitting on a long couch, while I was in a small chair nearby. He spoke candidly about his failures and, in equal measure, boasted about what he believes Amazon can achieve in the video game space. I met with Hartmann in his Manhattan apartment on a steamy summer day in June to try to learn more about this man. But he does that sometimes, too, telling me he hopes to help Amazon create “the Disney of the future,” with gaming standing alongside TV, film, music, and retail. He says he aims to underpromise and overdeliver, and generally avoid making the type of flashy, headline-grabbing statements that this industry is so well known for. ![]() Despite having so much experience in the gaming industry, there is surprisingly little sign of him online. He worked on the original Grand Theft Auto, helped create the power-house publishing group 2K Games, and is now heading up Amazon’s relatively new video game division. Who is Christoph Hartmann? You may not know the name, but you have felt his influence. ![]()
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