Michael Wesley Stratton

Due to being born with severe hemophilia, Michael Wesley Stratton was unable to participate in many of the usual activities that other kids growing up could. Because of this he had a very strong interest in video games from a young age. By the time Wes reached high school he was fairly certain that he wanted to pursue a career in the video game industry but it wasn’t until he started playing Ultima Online in 1996 that he was absolutely certain that was what he wanted to do with the rest of his life.

After high school he attended Full Sail University and received an Associate’s Degree of Science in Digital Media in order to pursue a more “realistic” goal of being a Graphic Designer / Web Developer. Shortly after returning to Indiana from college he started doing freelance billboard design for a local advertising agency while continually playing and studying copious amounts of video games.

Then, in the spring of 2004 Wesley flew out to Los Angeles, California to attend E3 with some college friends and quickly realized he would have to relocate to California if he ever wanted a chance to pursue his real dreams.

Three months later he started working at Activision in Santa Monica, California as a Game Tester on many Marvel franchises as well as the popular Call of Duty series. Shortly after working as a Floor Lead on Marvel Ultimate Alliance he accepted a job as a Flash Developer in Irvine, California at the now defunct VPI.Net. He spent the next two and a half years programming various adver-games until he was unfortunately sidelined and had to return to Indiana for medical reasons.

Wes has since returned to Southern California and is now employed at Blizzard Entertainment where he is currently working on the World of Warcraft franchise.