Widely acknowledged as the founder of the British computer games industry, Croucher turns his attention to the people behind the pixels in this vivid, authoritative account of videogaming’s evolution. “Gamers: Ghosts in the Machine” profiles twenty of the most influential figures in the development of the modern videogame industry, tracing a lineage that begins with Victorian-era pioneers of computer science and logic, and runs through the rise of microcomputers to the golden age of video arcades.
Blending cultural history, technological insight, and personal perspective, the book explores how a disparate group of visionaries, engineers, programmers, and iconoclasts helped shape one of the most powerful creative industries of the modern world. These are the ghosts in the machine: figures whose ideas and innovations continue to resonate through contemporary gaming culture.
Mel Croucher is best known as a pioneering game designer, entrepreneur, and provocateur whose work in the late 1970s and 1980s helped establish Britain as a global force in videogames. With “Gamers: Ghosts in the Machine,” he offers both a tribute to his peers and predecessors, and a compelling insider’s history of a medium that has moved from the margins to the mainstream.
“We are delighted to be involved in bringing this timely and vital history of the world of computer gaming to readers, as it is a truly unique account that only Mel could have conceived,” said Dr Tom Christie, Extremis Publishing’s Director. “Few figures could claim to have contributed more to the British computer industry over the decades than he has. For anyone with even the slightest interest in how videogames have come to play such a significant part in modern popular culture, this will be essential reading.”
“Gamers: Ghosts in the Machine” is published by Extremis Publishing and will be available from all good online retailers and independent booksellers worldwide from Friday 13 February 2026. For more information, please visit the Extremis Publishing website at: https://www.extremispublishing.com/gamers.html
