JVC

Jon Van CaneghemJon Van Caneghem - series founder and spiritual father. Currently developing mobile games, for his company VC Mobile Entertainment and his game Creature Quest

In 1983 he founded New World Computing, where he developed Might & Magic, King's Bounty and from it later become Heroes of Might & Magic series.  In addition to these games, there are other similar games, along with console (NES) and Apple ports. (Check mobygames.com to see an exhaustive list.)

The first title was Might & Magic: Secret of the Inner Sanctum (First releasd for Apple II. in 1986, single-handedly coded only by JVC), one of the first RPG games. And corner stone of the genre, which make it famous.

As time passed, he sold NWC to 3DO (1996), to focus on creating new MMO game, which was however never realised. As 3DO, due to some bad financial resolution, went bankrupt. The last games he worked on with NWC were Heroes of Might & Magic IV and Heroes of Might & Magic V (not released).

After 3DO bankrupcy, the franchise was split in two. King's Bounty was aquired by 1C Entertainment and Might & Magic (including Heroes) by Ubisoft.

Apart from programming and doing CEO stuff, he's also avid race care driver, winning several awards. ;) (Take a look here. There's he is in his Mazda MZR-Powered DP-02 where he just won Super Unlimited Championships 2013)

At CH we have several interviews with him.


Trivia:

  • Do you know that Sheltem was named after his dog, he was calling him like that when he was a bad boy.
  • "Crag Hack was one of my most played paper AD&D characters. He was a LVL 16 Human Neutral Fighter, 18/00 strength, used 2 one handed swords, acquired Psionics and among other things one of his hands was replaced with the "Hand of Vecna"... it’s a long story. : )" (Hand of Vecna - +20 Strength, this is quoted from RPG Codex Interview)
  • As it was several times mentioned, Jon is also known for being perfectionist.
  • His wife Michaela Van Caneghem stays behind King's Bounty and Heroes I - III, as map maker and wise adviser. Without her, Heroes would never come about.


  • JVC Signed Print for Auction

    On eBay is a limited edition Heroes of Might and Magic IV print signed by Jon Van Caneghem. I don't know the seller and I can't be held responsible for his actions (although a 100% feedback 12 star seller has to be trustworthy), but I thought some fans might be interested in such an item. The starting bid is $100 and the seller ships to the United States only.
  • Jon Van Caneghem Returns

    Gamasutra and Red Herring report that Jon Van Caneghem has teamed up with a former Electronic Arts executive (Lars Buttler) to create a new game development and publishing company, Trion...
  • JVC: Confirmation from NCSoft

    TR Stratics, a Tabula Rasa fan site, told Celestial Heavens they received a confirmation from NCSoft about Jon Van Caneghem's departure. "He has left the company to pursue other interests and we wish him all the best," said a spokeperson of the MMORPG developer.

    Tabula Rasa is Richard Garriott's (also known as Lord British, of Ultima fame) upcoming massively multiplayer role-playing game. It was announced earlier this week that the game underwent a...
  • Jon Van Caneghem Unemployed?

    Former New World Computing employee David Mullich posted in our forums that NCSoft might have cancelled Jon Van Caneghem's project and will be laying off the designers this Friday. According to him, the artists had previously been assigned to other projects.

    Expect to see a follow-up to this story soon. Perhaps there is a...
  • Jon Van Caneghem Interview

    Celestial Heavens' GhostWriter was at the E3 this year, and brought back some exciting new information about 3DO's upcoming games. The first interview is with the creator of the Might and Magic series himself,

    Jon Van Caneghem. Click on the speaker icon and be patient while the appropriate Mpeg file loads. The Expo is a very noisy place, so crank up the volume and listen carefully. Coming during the next few days is a

    ...