Jeff Hilbert, Master of the Game

“Let’s say you have a werewolf, a vampire, and a human, and you all have to battle for survival,” Jeff Hilbert says as he drives to a meeting in Los Angeles. “The human needs armor and weapons. Otherwise, as soon as one of the other characters touches him—boom!—he’s dead. The vampire needs to have speed, agility, and smarts. Otherwise, the werewolf can just rip his head off. You see? Everybody’s powers have to be balanced really carefully or nobody wants to play this game.”

Hilbert knows something about the dynamics of a successful video game. His talent agency, Digital Development Management, represents some of the trade’s leading game creators, such as Slant Six Games, the Vancouver (B.C.) company working on the latest version of Resident Evil, a franchise that has sold 45 million units worldwide and has generated four movies starring actress-model Milla Jovovich as the game’s zombie-slaying heroine.