David Darling

Darling's father was a contact lens pioneer married to an Australian; they had 7 children. In his early life Darling lived on three continents—in the UK, in the Netherlands, in Australia, in France and in Canada—before finally settling in Crewkerne, Somerset. While in France, the family lived on a boat and travelled through the country, settling for a time in Cap d'Agde.

Darling attended 14 different schools in this time including Wadham School where he took classes in Computer Studies. His teacher, Mr. Evans, once told him to, "Stop programming games – it's a waste of time!" Darling would often stay behind after school to program, as there was only one keyboard available in the classroom. During the day he would have to use punch cards while other children had access to the sole keyboard.

In July 2012, Darling used his personal blog on the Kwalee website to say that video game consoles have become "like dinosaurs heading for extinction." He elaborates by saying he believes that Apple and Google will take over the market which was once established by the likes of Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft.

In 2011, Darling founded Kwalee in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire to develop and publish smartphone applications.

In the Queen's birthday honours in 2008, Darling was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for "services to the computer games industry".

In 2000, Darling won the UK National Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

In 1990 Darling co-developed the Game Genie, a game modification device for the Nintendo Entertainment System and other game consoles; this went on to become the 5th best selling toy in the United States of America in Christmas 1991.

Codemasters was formed in 1986 by Darling with his brother Richard and his father Jim to publish their games themselves. Initially it was housed in an industrial unit in Banbury, Oxfordshire, then moved to offices converted from the stables, barns and other outbuildings at Lower Farm House, outside Southam, Warwickshire.

In 1982, when Darling was 16, they formed the company Galactic Software and supplied a succession of games to be published by Mastertronic, including The Last V8 (published under their MAD brand), one of several titles written by Darling.

David Darling CBE (born 17 June 1966 in London) is a British video game developer and entrepreneur, known for co-founding Codemasters, with his brother Richard Darling, and for being involved in a long succession of top ten games over more than 30 years. He is now founder and CEO of smartphone app developer and publisher Kwalee.