Luke Smith

Luke Michael Smith (born 1980) is an American writer. He was a staff member at the video game development company Bungie, and is a former video games journalist. Smith wrote for a college newspaper and weekly papers in Michigan before being hired as one of the first new freelance writers for Kotaku. At Kotaku, Smith developed his writing style but soon left the site for a staff position as 1Up.com's news editor. Smith made a name for himself at 1Up, particularly through an article he wrote focusing on problems with the game Halo 2.

Smith was known for his direct approach to game journalism and scathing criticism of the video game industry. During his time at 1Up the site developed a greater profile and stepped out of its sister publication's shadow, but Smith grew frustrated with the contemporary state of gaming news and what he considered manipulation of journalists and readers into accepting promotional material as news. In April 2007 he left 1Up to become a Bungie writer and co-host of the developer's podcast.

Early career Smith gradually entered into game journalism while working on an English Literature degree at the University of Michigan, writing about media in the college newspaper. After graduation, he worked for weekly papers in Dearborn and Detroit, Michigan, including Real Detroit Weekly.

1UP.com journalism

Play.d magazine credited Smith with inspiring gamers to learn more about the game industry and not accept company promotion, as well as turning 1UP from "the bastard child of EGM" to an important part of the Ziff Davis Internet company's gaming network. His style has been described as a "robust, direct approach" to journalism and is known for his scathing attacks on the industry.

While he was becoming more frustrated with the field at 1UP, game developer Bungie contacted Smith about employment. After sending the company his resume, Smith stopped writing about Bungie and Microsoft to avoid a conflict of interest. Smith accepted a job offer a month later. Reaction to Smith's announcement varied; some were happy or sad to see him leave, while others felt he had "sold out." Smith officially began work on May 7, 2007, as content editor, Smith believed that there was a special opportunity for game developers, "for someone to come in and tell the stories that people want to know [...] Right now you have four bridges between developer and reader: Developer to PR, to journalist to reader. [This position] could get rid of those middle two bridges."

Smith also hosted Bungie's podcast show along with co-host Brian Jarrard; in an interview with his former coworkers at 1UP, Smith said of the Bungie podcast, "we [Bungie] are focusing on getting our listeners and fans familiar with a bunch of the different faces at Bungie studios." Brought back after close to a year-long hiatus, the podcast featured Bungie news and interviews with staff members about their jobs and working at the studio. Smith had the title of "Bungie Community Manager" at Bungie, and has given interviews with the press about the company's recent products, including Halo 3: ODST. Smith was among other writers-turned-game developers who held a discussion on the topic at the 2009 Game Developers Conference. Smith worked on player investment for Halo: Reach.

He worked as design lead on Bungie's 2014 video game Destiny and was director on the Taken King expansion. When development on Destiny 2 was rebooted and the game delayed to 2017, Smith was brought on as game director. when he was moved to an executive position to oversee the Destiny IP. Smith was let go by Bungie in July 2024, amidst layoffs that affected 17% of the company's workforce. Smith had been working on a Destiny spinoff game, codenamed "Payback", before it was cancelled.