Matt Lee Johnston

Matthew Lee Johnston is an eighteen-year veteran of the video game industry and in that time has contributed to over 50 shipped titles.  His first project was Microsoft Golf 2.0, and his most recent was Plants Vs. Zombies 2. He is currently Co-founder and Director of a new startup that aims to revolutionize the world of independent game development. 

He spent six years at PopCap, where he began as a contributing producer on Peggle, and has since served as Senior Producer on Peggle Nights (PC/Mac), Peggle Dual Shot (DS), Peggle (iOS), Plants Vs. Zombies (XBLA), Plants Vs. Zombies 2, as well as many other shipped projects and prototypes. He also co-conspired and launched 4th & Battery, PopCap's experimental imprint label and organizational development program that has been acknowledged and emulated across the industry. Not afraid to innovate, MLJ also led the charge on the company's first foray into cross-platform play between mobile devices and browsers: 2008's Bejeweled 2 + Blitz for iOS. 

Previously, as Audio Director for Microsoft Game Studios, he worked on some legendary games and franchises including the award winning Flight and Train Simulators, Counter Strike, Project Gotham Racing, and Forza. While working on the Xbox mega-hit ‘Fable’, Matthew landed a deal with Danny Elfman, signifying the first time in history that a composer of that caliber has composed the theme to a video game.  

In January 2004, Matthewbroke out on his own to form a new company: Soni-Fi. This new venture took creative sound design into the realm of product development and space design. Soni-Fi produced civic audio installations, commercial audio environments, hardware device interfaces, and specialized consumer products. The cross pollination of ideas from the virtual world to the real world - and back - is what made Soni-Fi a truly unique force in the world of design.