American video game executive, Bob Rice has died of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, best known as COPD, at age 79. His death occurred on Wednesday night, June 7, 2023, at an assisted living facility in Santa Clara, California.
Born in 1944, Bob Rice started his career in the entertainment industry as a concert promoter in Cleveland when he was just 15 years old. At age 16, he was running his own record label and publishing company.
He was a video game music executive and producer who reportedly produced one of the first rock video games Journey Escape, released by Data Age in 1982 for the Atari 26000 console. The production also features several members including Neal Schon, Steve Perry, Jonathan Cain, Steve Smith, and Steve Perry, as primitive digitized avatars.
In 1992, he founded Four Bars, which focused more on video game music as a both creative and commercial art form. His composer clients included several top game composers including Cris Velasco (God of War), Dikiciyan (Borderlands), Ouimette (Guitar Hero), Tom Salta (Ghost Recon), Zur (Fallout), and more.
He moved to California at age 26 to join GRT Corp. as VP of Sales, Marketing, and Promotion. The company owned 30 record labels and had equity in another 80. While there, Rice received more than 30 Gold and Platinum record awards featuring artists such as Three Dog Night, Steppenwolf, and Tower of Power. Rice retired his position from at GRT after 30 years.