Ed was born in Yorkshire, England. After a brief period of living in Scotland, the family settled in the northern English town of Bury. From an early age, his imagination was captured by the then-new Star Wars films. He loved anything to do with space and fantasy.
At Bury Grammar School, Ed discovered he had a natural aptitude for maths and science. He continued to develop his love of art, video games and comics, and designed and developed Spectrum games with his friends, becoming particularly good at pixel art. He entertained friends by filling an entire 'rough book' with a comic strip entitled Mr. Insane.
Despite being so creatively minded, Ed decided to study astrophysics at university. He kept up with his art by co-writing a series of space-themed comics with his brother, which they successfully published. After graduating from Newcastle, Ed had serious thoughts about training as an astronaut but chose instead to become an artist in the videogame industry.
His work took him to America for several years where he migrated from art through to design and voice-over production where he got to meet and work with such talents as Mark Hamill, John DiMaggio and Duane 'The Rock’ Johnson. He even had dinner with his hero, concept artist Ralph McQuarrie. He was awarded the Most Innovative Employee award for his prolific creativity.
In 2003, he moved back to England, and in 2005, he started to work at Blitz Games Studios, where he met his future wife. Ed married Anya in 2012 and continued to work at Blitz before moving across to Rebellion Studios in Oxford and then Unit 2 Games in 2019.
In his spare time, Ed enjoyed jamming with his brother on guitar. He also kept up with his art and self-published a spoof fantasy novel - and a book that revealed the fact and fiction behind sketches of dragons he regularly left on the office whiteboard at the end of each day.
Edward Linley was kind, brilliant, witty, and a creative powerhouse. He got on with everyone and would light up the room with his infectious smile and easy manner. Death came for him much too soon. He had so much more to do and so much more to give to this world.
Ed, you are sorely missed. x
