Mike Goslin

Mike Goslin is an American experience designer, game developer, and technologist working in the areas of video games, immersive experiences, and consumer products. He is best known for creating Toontown Online and Star Wars: Jedi Challenges while an executive at The Walt Disney Company.^[1][2] In 2020, Goslin founded New Peak Interactive and is its CEO.

Mike Goslin
Alma mater	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (MA) Duke University (BA)
Occupation(s)	designer, game developer, technologist
Known for	former Vice President of Advanced Development at The Walt Disney Company
Website	newpeakinteractive.com

Education

Goslin holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Duke University and a master's degree in Computer Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

During his computer science education, Goslin worked as a researcher at The Institute for Simulation and Training where he collaborated with Jacquelyn Ford Morie on the VR artwork Virtopia.^[3] At UNC-Chapel Hill, Goslin led the Walkthrough Project under VR pioneer Fred Brooks.^[4] Goslin later interned at Silicon Graphics and helped develop the Nintendo 64 video game console.^[5]

Career

Goslin joined Walt Disney Imagineering in 1996, working in various roles before becoming Director and Vice President of the VR Studio where he led the development of several interactive attractions for DisneyQuest and Walt Disney World, including the THEA Award-winning Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold.^[6][7]

Goslin founded Disney's Massively Multiplayer Online Game and Virtual Worlds business, overseeing the launch of a portfolio of award-winning games,^[8] Toontown Online^[9][10] Pirates of the Caribbean Online,^[5][11] Pixie Hollow, and The World of Cars Online.^[12]

In 2009, Goslin left Disney to join a startup game company, Hangout Industries, as Vice President of Product Development. He oversaw the development, design and operations of the company's online entertainment product.^[6][12] In 2010, Goslin was recruited by IAC to found Rebel Entertainment, where he was General Manager.^[13] During his tenure at Rebel Entertainment, Goslin developed several online and social games including the award-winning Dungeon Rampage.^[13][14]

In 2013, Goslin returned to Disney to lead the development of the connected play system Playmation.^[15][16] He later launched the wearable AR experience Star Wars: Jedi Challenges in 2017, which was presented live on Good Morning America.^[17][18] In 2019, Goslin's team partnered with Audi and Holoride to create Rocket's Rescue Run, a VR experience for backseat passengers.^[19][20]

In 2021, Goslin founded New Peak Interactive and led the development of the connected smart wand product Harry Potter: Magic Caster Wand, which launched in 2022 for Warner Bros.,^[21] and helped Niantic design an AR headset for outdoor gaming in 2022.^[22][23]

Selected publications

• Zyda, Michael; Gehorsam, Robert; Rosedale, Philip; Mine, Mark; Goslin, Mike; Herz, Jc (2003). "Does the metaverse start now?". Proceedings of the 2003 symposium on Interactive 3D graphics - SI3D '03. ACM Press. p. 215. doi:10.1145/641519.641521. ISBN 978-1-58113-645-6.
• Goslin, M.; Mine, M.R. (2004). "The Panda3D graphics engine". Computer. 37 (10): 112–114. doi:10.1109/MC.2004.180. ISSN 0018-9162.