I tried, we have no such player in our database. Seems, you need to rely on luck when new players are created, or need to rename one.

Renaming them feels like cheating, but I will definitely be keeping my eye out for famous game designer names now.

Lets see:
Old School - Steve Russell (1st video game ever - Spacewar), Alan Alcorn (Pong), Ed Logg (Asteroids, Centipede, Gauntlet), Sid Meier (Civilization, Tycoon game genre), Steve Wozniak (Breakout), Gary Gygax (D&D)

Mid generation - Shigeru Miyamoto (Donkey Kong, Mario, Zelda), Will Wright (SimCity, The Sims), Chris Avellone (Baldurs Gate, Neverwinter, Early Fallouts), John Carmack + John Romero (Wolfenstein, Doom, Quake), David Jones (Lemmings, Grand Theft Auto), Brian Reynolds (Later Civs, Alpha Centauri, Rise of Nations)

Modern - Ken Levine (Bioshock, Thief), Tod Howard (Elder Scrolls, Later Fallouts), Michael Morhaime (Diablo, Warcraft), Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear), Markus Persson (Minecraft).

Any other famous designers I've missed? I left off Roberta Willams who's an absolute legend as a designer, she created the graphical adventure genre, and later founded Sierra - but female names (rarely) come up in the engine.

Maybe a few more RPG/card/boardgame designers in there outside Gygax. Steve Jackson comes to mind (GURPs, Car Wars, Munchkin).

Also Germany is known for making awesome board games here in the US, other than Klaus Tuber (Catan) - I don't know many of the designers though ... who should I be looking for there?

quite a list...like it

The list is almost 100 names now.

Haven't had one of them come up yet ... but seen a lot of NFL/NBA/MLB player names, and Jesus Weed. Smoke 'em if ya got 'em.

In order of when they first joined the game industry. Only made it to ~2000 so far.
Also, haven't found any rerolling names, RNG is not on my side.

William Higinbotham (1958) - Tennis for Two
Steve Russell (1961) - Spacewar!
Ralph Baer (1966) - Magnavox Odyssey, Table Tennis
Nolan Bushnell (1969) - Pong, Computer Space
Al Alcorn (1971) - Pong
Gary Gygax (1971) - Dungeons and Dragons
Tomohiro Nishikado (1972)- Speed Race, Space Invaders
Gunpei Yokoi (1974) - Game Boy, Metroid, Kid Icarus
Jerry Lawson (1975) - Demolition Derby, Fairchild Channel F
Steve Wozniak (1976) - Breakout, Apple 1+2
Toru Iwatani (1977) - Pac-Man, Pole Position
Shigeru Miyamoto (1977) - Donkey Kong, Mario, Zelda, Star Fox
Ed Logg (1978) - Asteroids, Centipede, Gauntlet
David Crane (1978) - Pitfall!, Decathalon, Ghostbusters
Mark Blank (1978) - Zork, Syphon Filter
Richard Garriott (1979) - Ultima, Lineage 2
Nasir Gebelli (1980) - Rad Racer, Final Fantasy, Secret of Mana
Roberta Williams (1980) - King's Quest, Phantasmagoria, Sierra
Eugene Jarvis (1980) - Defender, Robotron 2084, Smash TV, Cruis'n USA
Roe Adams (1981) - Wizardry, The Bard's Tale
Brian Fargo (1981) - The Bard's Tale, Wasteland, Castles, Out of This World, MDK, Descent, The Lost Vikings, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Fallout
Sid Meier (1982) - F-15 Strike Eagle, Pirates!, Railroad Tycoon, Civilization
Tokuro Fujiwara (1982) - Ghosts 'n Goblins, Commando, Mega Man, Strider
Katsunori Yoshimura (1982) - Thunder Force, Star Cruiser
Satoru Iwata (1982) - Earthbound, Kirby, Brain Age
Takashi Nishiyama (1982) - Moon Patrol, Kung-Fu, Street Fighter
Yoshiki Okamoto (1982) - Time Pilot, Gun Smoke, Final Fight
Kou Shibusawa (1982) - Romance of the 3 Kingdoms
Yuri Horii (1982) - Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger
Yoshihisa Kishimoto (1982) - Road Blaster, Renegade, Double Dragon
John Romero (1982) - Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake
Mike Hally (1983) - Star Wars, APB, Blasteroids
Yu Suzuki (1983) - Hang On, Space Harrier, Outrun, After Burner, Virtua Fighter
Mark Cerny (1983) - Marble Madness, Sonic, Crash Bandicoot, Jak, Ratchet
Rieko Kodama (1984) - Alex Kidd, Phantasy Star, Altered Beast, Sonic
Hironobu Sakaguchi (1984) - Final Fantasy, XenoGears, Chrono Trigger
Will Wright (1984) - SimCity, The Sims, Spore
Nick Gallop (1984) - Rebel Star, X-COM
Julian Gallop (1984) - Rebel Star, X-COM
Alexey Pajitnov (1984) - Tetris
Takashi Tezuka (1984) - Super Mario Bros, Zelda, Star Fox, Super Smash Bros, Animal Crossing
Koji Kondo (1984) - *music composition* Super Mario Bros, Zelda, Star Fox
Jordan Mechner (1984) - Karateka, Prince of Persia
Peter Molyneux (1984) - Populous, Dungeon Keeper, Theme Park, Black & White, Fable
Lawrence Holland (1985) - Strike Fleet, Star Wars: X-Wing, Star Wars: Tie Fighter
Louis Castle (1985) - California Games, Command & Conquer
Akira Yasuda (1985) - Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, Final Fight, Red Dead Revolver
Richard Garfield (1985) - Magic: The Gathering, King of Tokyo
Hideo Kojima (1986) - Metal Gear
Yuji Naka (1987) - Phantasy Star, Sonic
Chris Taylor (1988) - HardBall, Test Drive, Total Annihilation, Dungeon Siege, Demigod, Supreme Commander
Makoto Uchida (1988) - Altered Beast, Golden Axe
Kazushige Nojima (1988) - Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts
David Jones (1988) - Lemmings, Grand Theft Auto
Richard Hilleman (1988) - Madden Football, NHL Hockey, PGA Tour Golf
Bruce Shelley (1988) - Railroad Tycoon, Age of Empires, Halo Wars
Chris Roberts (1988) - Wing Commander, Freelancer, Star Citizen
Tim Schafer (1989) - Maniac Mansion, Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, Psychonauts
Scott Orr (1989) - Madden Football, Tony La Russa Baseball, NCAA Football
Satoshi Tajiri (1989) - Yoshi, Pokemon
Sandy Petersen (1989) - Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, Age of Empires
John Carmack (1989) - Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake
Brad McQuaid (1989) - EverQuest, Vanguard
John Smedley (1989) - EverQuest, Vanguard, Star Wars: Galaxies, Planetside
Shinji Mikami (1990) - Biohazard, Resident Evil, Devil May Cry
Warren Spector (1990) - Wing Commander, Ultima, System Shock, Thief, Deus Ex
John Tobias (1990) - Mortal Kombat, Smash TV, Total Carnage
Ed Boon (1990) - Mortal Kombat, High Impact Football, Total Carnage
Brian Reynolds (1991) - Colonization, Civilization 2+, Alpha Centauri, Rise of Nations
Tim Sweeney (1991) - Unreal Championship, Deus Ex, Gears of War
Cliff Bleszinski (1991) - Unreal, Unreal Tournament, Gears of War
David Perry (1991) - Aladdin, Earthworm Jim
Tomonobu Itagaki (1991) - Tecmo Super Bowl, Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden 2
Tetsuya Nomura (1991) - Final Fantasy 6+, Kingdom Hearts
Jordan Weisman (1992) - MechWarrior, Crimson Skies, BattleTech, Shadowrun, Heroclix
Chris Sawyer (1992) - Transport Tycoon, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Locomotion
Kazunori Yamauchi (1992) - Gran Turismo
Stephen Barcia (1993) - Master of Orion, Master of Magic, Metroid Prime, Need for Speed: Undercover
Jason Jones (1993) - Marathon, Myth, Halo
Jason Rubin (1993) - Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Dexter
Todd Howard (1994) - Elder Scrolls 2+, Fallout 3
David Jaffe (1994) - Twisted Metal, God of War
Bill Roper (1994) - Warcraft 2+, Diablo, StarCraft
Martin Hollis (1994) - Killer Instinct, GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark
Hideki Kamiya (1994) - Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Bayonetta
Chris Avellone (1995) - Fallout 2+NV, Planescape: Torment, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: KotR2, Pillars of Eternity, Tyranny, FTL: Advanced
Greg Zeschuk (1995) - Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: KotR, Dragon Age, Mass Effect
Ray Muzyka (1995) - Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: KotR, Dragon Age, Mass Effect
Doug Church (1995) - Flight Unlimited, System Shock, Thief, Deus Ex, Tomb Raider: Legend
Michel Ancel (1995) - Rayman, Beyond Good and Evil
Alex Rigopulous (1995) - Amplitude, Guitar Hero, Rock Band
Koji Igarashi (1995) - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night+
Tim Cain (1995) - Fallout 1+2, Arcanum, D&D: Temple of Elemental Evil, Vampire: The Masquerade
Gabe Newell (1996) - Valve, Half-Life, Counterstrike, Portal, Left 4 Dead
Rob Prado (1997) - StarCraft, Diablo 2, Warcraft 3, World of Warcraft
Ken Levine (1997) - Thief, System Shock 2, BioShock
Cevat Yerli (1997) - Far Cry, Crysis
Eiji Aonuma (1997) - Legend of Zelda: Ocarina+
Sam Houser (1997) - Grand Theft Auto, Midnight Club, Mafia, Max Payne, Red Dead
Dan Houser (1997) - Grand Theft Auto, Midnight Club, Mafia, Max Payne, Red Dead
Chris Esaki (1998) - Kill Switch, Gears of War, Mass Effect
Jason West (1999) - Medal of Honor, Call of Duty
Jess Cliffe (2000) - Counterstrike
Minh Le (2000) - Counterstrike
Alex Ward (2000) - Burnout
Jason Kapalka (2000) - Bejeweled
Mathieu Ferland (2001) - Tom Clancy series, Assassin's Creed

If anyone's favorite game is missing let me know, I want to continue growing the list.

Just played against this Hot Dog Vendor

Dan Brown writes books and play as FB in his spare time...

Seems like Bart Starr is alive and well.

He's one of my ex-players and it was the renaming feature that came up with the name.

I got Michael Douglas today in the youth pull.

Pro tip: Don't hire actors as football players.