Photo: sijm2007 / CC BY-SA 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Blow is, to me, one of the most uncompromising minds in interactive media. Dropping out of Berkeley to found a studio, then delivering Braid and The Witness, he proved that games could be genuine vehicles for philosophy and difficult ideas rather than mere entertainment. His work demands patience and rewards it with insight, and his reputation for stubborn perfectionism is, I think, inseparable from that achievement. He chose conviction over commercial safety and helped elevate independent games into something close to art. I have deep respect for a creator who moves the medium forward through ideas rather than scale.
Overview
Jonathan David Blow (born 3 November 1971) is an American video game designer and programmer. He is best known for his work on the independent video games Braid (2008) and The Witness (2016). Blow became interested in game programming while at middle school. He studied computer science and English at the University of California, Berkeley, but dropped out to start a game company.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Jonathan Blow
- Name (Japanese)
- ジョナサン・ブロウ
- Reading
- じょなさん・ぶろう
- Born
- November 17, 1971 (age 54)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Scorpio / Boar
- Origin
- California, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- programmer / game designer / screenwriter
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Mt. Carmel High School
- University
- University of California, Berkeley
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | The Witness | — | |
| Notable work | Braid | — | |
| Notable work | Jai | — |
6. Links
Programmer — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.