Alex Rubens publishes 8-Bit Apocalypse: The Untold Story of Atari’s Missile Command

IAS alum Alex Rubens is enjoying success as a business strategist and writer in the gaming industry. A gamer since childhood, Rubens began his career as a journalist writing for major gaming outlets. He then moved onto content management and strategy and currently lives in L.A. where he works at Google helping gaming creators thrive on YouTube.

Rubens is also a non-fiction author, and last October he published 8-Bit Apocalypse: The Untold Story of Atari's Missile Command. Rubens’ book chronicles the rise of video game culture through the lenses of the Atari classic, “Missile Command,” and its creator, David Theurer.

Writing 8-Bit Apocalypse is one of his proudest accomplishments. Says Rubens, “It was something I'd been working through for the last five years, and it was challenging to find a way to put that together in a coherent format – and get it out into the world. Most importantly, it was the confirmation from the subject of the book that I told his story well.”

The Media & Communications Studies graduate connects his education to his success as a strategist. Interdisciplinary learning taught Rubens “how important it is to assess the why behind everything. Instead of just accepting things as they are, I learned to break things down into different levels and find opportunities in the middle layers.”

His advice to students? “Take a step back and think about why you're studying the things that you are, how you can apply them to what you're most passionate about, and be intentional with how you work through your studies.”