Craig Skistimas: Biography

Craig Skistimas Bio

• Craig Richard Skistimas was born on June 17, 1981, in Dallas, TX.
• He is also known as "Stuttering Craig" or "Evil Craig."
• He is an American actor, voice actor, producer, writer, "comedian", show and podcast co-host, video game entertainer, Let's Player, and Internet and Youtube Personality.
• He is known as the co-founder/former General Manager of ScrewAttack, a division of Rooster Teeth Productions, and is known for his roles in Death Battle, Top 10, DBX, and Sidescrollers.
• He co-founded Game Attack, now privately held, independent Let's Play gaming channel.
• He is known for wearing a baseball cap.
• Alongside Thomas Hanley "Tom", Jr., he started ScrewAttack, one of the fastest gaming businesses in 2006.
• He loves food-eating challenges, old-school hard video games, especially platformers and fighting games.
• He also likes getting others involved in competitions and isn't afraid of calling people out.
• He holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of North Texas.
• He had minor roles as a scientist in Far Cry and a news anchor in the 2013 Sonic short and is a fan of local Dallas hip hop artist Logik the Journeyman.
• In October 2016, he moved from Screw Attack to work on ScrewAttack's video gameplay division Game Attack, known as the "Achievement Hunter" of ScrewAttack.

Early Life and Education

• Craig grew up primarily in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area.
• He attended Edward S. Marcus High School in Flower Mound, Texas, starting in 1995 and graduating in the Class of 1999.
• In 1999, he went to the University of North Texas, studying journalism.
• He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Journalism from the University of North Texas in 2005.
• He originally wanted to be a basketball player.
• He also wanted to pursue sports broadcasting.

Career and Experience

• From 2000 to 2003, he worked for The Coca-Cola Company as a Regional Field Management employee.
• In 2003, he was an athlete superstar and basketball player at Slamball.
• For less than a year, he trained and competed on Spike TV's television show, SlamBall, wearing number 33 for the Bandits.
• His average points per game were around 3, but he once scored 8 to open the game and 15 overall.
• Craig worked as an In-Game Entertainment employee at the sports company NBA Development League for 1 year from 2005 to 2006 in the Dallas/Fort Worth Area/Austin, TX.
• Craig also worked at GameTrailers and played Slamball, and was also the founder/former employee of GamingDrop to get people the best value in video games every month.

ScrewAttack

• The idea for ScrewAttack came in fall 2005, with the original website launching in December 2005.
• ScrewAttack Entertainment LLC was founded in mid-February 2006 in Dallas, Texas, with Craig as General Manager and "Handsome" Thomas "Tom" Hanley, Jr. as co-founder.
• Craig frequently appeared in ScrewAttack content, including DEATH BATTLE, Sidescrollers, and Top 10.
• In early 2006, Craig co-founded the ScrewAttack website with Thomas Hanley, with the first show being the audio podcast SideScrollers.
• Viacom Media Networks acquired rights to some of ScrewAttack's shows, including Top 10's, Video Game Vault, and The Angry Video Game Nerd, adding them to GameTrailers.
• ScrewAttack's content received over 1 billion views through its website and syndication partners.
• He primarily produced digital content that had over 2 billion views from 2006-2014.
• He also oversaw the business growth, expanding ScrewAttack from a one-man operation to a top independent gaming brand.
• He conceptualized and launched the annual ScrewAttack Live event “SGC” which welcomed nearly 5,000 paid attendees in 2015.

Fullscreen Acquisition

• As General Manager of ScrewAttack-owned Fullscreen from March 1, 2014, to December 31, 2015, ScrewAttack was bought by Fullscreen.
• On March 28, 2014, ScrewAttack was acquired by Fullscreen, which rebranded its gaming-focused hub, Fullscreen Arcade, to ScrewAttack Network.
• He provided expertise to YouTube's largest MCN (Fullscreen) in its largest vertical (gaming).
• He exponentially grew the ScrewAttack YouTube channel from 8 million to 33 million views per month.
• He also managed a team of over 25 employees, served as a liaison, managed advertisers, lead a product team, oversaw the growth, development, expansion, evolution of ScrewAttack social media, represented ScrewAttack and Fullscreen at events, extended the DEATH BATTLE! series, and oversaw the video game publishing arm to three successful game launches.
• On November 4, 2015, ScrewAttack partnered with and became part of Rooster Teeth, with SGC merging at RTX.
• Craig and ScrewAttack employees appeared in multiple Let's Play videos, ran ScrewAttack, collaborations with Achievement Hunter, Rooster Teeth, and more, including crossovers between Death Battle and Top 10 with RWBY and Red vs Blue.
• ScrewAttack attended the second rendition of the Let's Play Live concert in Los Angeles with the website updated/modified.

Game Attack Launch and ScrewAttack Roles

• Game Attack started as a Let's Play show on ScrewAttack, beginning on October 10, 2016, where Craig stepped down from ScrewAttack to work on Game Attack with Shaun Bolen.
• He was the general manager of ScrewAttack's video gameplay division, Rooster Teeth's newest video gaming brand Game Attack, known as the "Achievement Hunter" of ScrewAttack.
• In 2020, Craig left Gameattack and started a podcast.
• As the founder/owner of ScrewAttack, Craig starred in many of its shows and wrote/starred in Sidescrollers, Video Game Vaults and Top 10's.
• He appeared in the Clip of the Weeks and hosted Screwin' Around and ScrewAttack Live.

ScrewAttack Shows and Family Life

• ScrewAttack shows: Top 10's, Video Game Vaults, Screwin' Around, The Best Ever, Evil Craig, Hey! Let's Play, ScrewAttack Live, Metal Gear Ben, Sidescrollers, Clip of the Week, The #1 Show, and GameAttack.
• Craig was born/raised in Dallas, Texas, residing with his mother and spouse Kristen Skistimas (née E. Ranker).
• He has two daughters, Mackenzie and Madelyn, and is of Polish descent with a nephew, Dylan James Skistimas.

Personality and Trivia

• Craig has two fictional alter egos: Evil Craig, an evil version of Craig, is usually seen without his hat and hates everything, and Jimmy Jimmy Woods, a wrestling commentator.
• Evil Craig is a character portrayed by Craig Skistimas for comedic effect, hosting Reasons We Hate and is a foul-mouthed, hateful, diabolical, sadistic, loud, petty, and angry character.
• He used to play Slamball and wore number 33 for the Bandits.
• Top skills include broadcast, entertainment, radio, television, video games, journalism, film, social networking, event management, and public relations.

ScrewAttack History and Overview

• ScrewAttack was founded in 2006 by Craig Skistimas and Thomas Hanley.
• The first show was an audio podcast called SideScrollers.
• Viacom Media Networks acquired rights to Top 10, Video Game Vault and The Angry Video Game Nerd.
• ScrewAttack's content has been viewed over 1 billion times through its website and syndication partners.
• In September 2011, ScrewAttack.com launched "The New ScrewAttack" with overhauled interfaces and designs.
• In May 2012, "Phase 2" launched, adding profile customization, subscriptions, and the ability to upload videos.
• On March 28, 2014, Fullscreen acquired ScrewAttack and rebranded Fullscreen Arcade to ScrewAttack Network.
• On November 4, 2015, ScrewAttack became a division of Rooster Teeth and had its website updated to match Rooster Teeth's branding.
• On September 26, 2016, ScrewAttack released a video titled "EVERYTHING CHANGES," with the video itself just stating the date October 10, 2016.
• On that day, Craig and other employees left the company to make Game Attack.
• On February 4, 2019, the ScrewAttack YouTube channel was re-branded to Death Battle.

SGC, Video Games and Former Shows

• SGC, a live event produced for fans annually, held in 2009, 2010, and 2013-2015, was merged into Rooster Teeth's RTX expo.
• Video Games is part of Rooster Teeth Games.
• ScrewAttack Games is a separate brand within ScrewAttack that focuses on digital titles.
• Former shows: SideScrollers, Video Game Vault, Unaware Steve, Metal Gear Ben, The Scoop!, Jose's Puntos, Hard News, How-to with Chad, Life in a Game, Nametags, The Digital Forecast, Reboot or Retro, The Armory, Totally SCREWED, The Clip of the Week, Newsroom, Great Moments in Video Game History!, Out of the Box, ScrewAttack Live, Real Trailers, The Industry, Reasons We Love, Reasons We Hate, Is It Good?, The Best/Worst EVER!, Five Fun Facts, and Available Now.

Founding and Early Years

• ScrewAttack was founded in 2006 by Craig Skistimas and Ben "The Southern Gentleman" Singer in Texas, USA.
• The platform began as a passionate gaming community.
• Early shows included ScrewAttack's Top 10, Hard News, and Video Game Vault.

Video Game Vault and NAG Partnership

• Video Game Vault launched in the late 2000s and explored iconic franchises, developers, and gaming culture.
• ScrewAttack partnered with South Africa's New Age Gaming (NAG) in the late 2000s/early 2010s, featuring curated gaming content and introducing ScrewAttack to South African audiences.

Expansion and Acquisitions

• ScrewAttack gained traction with events like Gaming Death Week (2007), where fans voted to "kill" poorly received games.
• In 2010, ScrewAttack debuted Death Battle.

Acquisition by Fullscreen and Rooster Teeth Merger

• In 2014, ScrewAttack was bought by Fullscreen Media.
• After Fullscreen acquired Rooster Teeth, ScrewAttack merged with the Austin-based studio, with Craig Skistimas becoming Head of Production at Rooster Teeth.

Decline and Rebranding

• In October 2019, Rooster Teeth discontinued the ScrewAttack brand, rebranding the YouTube channel as Death Battle Channel.

Current Status

• ScrewAttack no longer exists as an independent entity.
• Legacy content: pre-2019 archives were moved to Rooster Teeth's website, though some videos became inaccessible.
• Alumni like Chad James continue shaping gaming culture.
• While NAG magazine ceased print in 2018, its DVDs remain a nostalgic artifact for South African gamers.

Events and Conventions: SGC and Evolution into RTX

• ScrewAttack Gaming Convention (SGC) was launched in 2008 in Dallas, Texas, After the Rooster Teeth merger, SGC was phased out and replaced by RTX (Rooster Teeth Expo).
• Post-2015, ScrewAttack alumni like Chad James became regulars at RTX panels.

Community Engagement and User-Generated Content

• ScrewAttack's forums (pre-2010) were a hub for debates, fan theories, and collaborative projects.
• Shows like Hard News included viewer mail segments, fostering a sense of community.

NAG

• NAG Magazine Partnership: South African Impact
• From ~2008-2012, NAG DVDs included Video Game Vault episodes focused on franchises like Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, and Sonic the Hedgehog.

Alumni and Post-ScrewAttack Careers

• Craig Skistimas: Post-Shutdown, Craig became a Rooster Teeth executive producer until 2021, later founding Facerocker Media to mentor content creators.
• Ben Singer: Pursued filmmaking and indie game development.
• Chad James: Continues as Death Battle's showrunner, expanding the series into podcasts and comic conventions.
• Torrian Crawford: Rose to prominence as Death Battle's lead animator and later directed Rooster Teeth's gen:LOCK and Red vs. Blue seasons.

Controversies and Challenges

• Toxicity Allegations: Former staffers cited a “boys' club” culture in early years, though post-Rooster Teeth mergers emphasized inclusivity.
• Rebranding Backlash: Fans criticized the 2019 shutdown.

How to Pronounce Craig Skistimas

• Craig: Pronounced like “Crayg”
• Skistimas: Pronounced "Skis-tih-mus."