Matthew Seiji Burns, writer, designer, musician (Call of Duty, Halo, Eliza).
Matthew Seiji Burns, writer, designer, musician (Call of Duty, Halo, Eliza).  
Podcast: My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin
Published On: Tue Oct 27 2026
Description: Matthew Seiji Burns is an American writer, director, composer, and game designer whose career has moved between some of the biggest studios in the industry and much smaller, more personal experiments in interactive storytelling. He worked as a producer at Treyarch, Bungie, and 343 Industries on franchises including Call of Duty and Halo, before spending time at the University of Washington’s Center for Game Science, exploring how games might be used for research and scientific discovery.He later joined Zachtronics, contributing writing and music to games including Opus Magnum and EXAPUNKS, while also creating his own interactive fiction. In 2019, he created Eliza, a visual novel about an AI-assisted counselling service that explored automation and the boundaries between human empathy and technology years before those questions became unavoidable. His latest work has takenthose concerns into a different medium: Process, his debut novel, is a darkly comic and psychologically intense story set inside Seattle’s startup culture.LINKSMatthew Seiji Burns – website & socialsMatthew Seiji Burns – official websiteMatthew Seiji Burns – Bluesky (@matthewseiji.com)Matthew Seiji Burns – itch.io (game experiments and back catalogue)Process – the novelProcess – hardcover edition (Tune & Fairweather)Process – softcover edition (Tune & Fairweather)Process – audiobook (read by the author, Audible)Process – free digital sampler (Tune & Fairweather)Eliza – the visual novel (2019)Eliza – SteamEliza – itch.ioJoseph Weizenbaum – creator of the original ELIZA chatbot, WikipediaELIZA (chatbot, 1966) – WikipediaThe Writer Will Do Something (2015)The Writer Will Do Something – co-written with Tom Bissell, itch.ioTom Bissell – author of Extra Lives, previous My Perfect Console guestMatthew’s Perfect ConsoleOf Monks and Max (HyperCard stack, 1988) – by Brian ThomasHyperCard – WikipediaLoom – LucasArts (1990), WikipediaICO (PS2, 2001) – Fumito Ueda / Team Ico, WikipediaRez (Dreamcast, 2001) – Tetsuya Mizuguchi / United Game Artists, WikipediaRez Infinite – Steam (modern version)Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon – SteamArmored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon – WikipediaOther games and references mentionedOpus Magnum – Zachtronics (Steam)Exapunks – Zachtronics (Steam)Dark Castle – remaster (Steam)Cosmic Osmo – Cyan (HyperCard, 1989), WikipediaMyst – Cyan (1993), WikipediaCall of Duty: United Offensive (expansion, 2004) – WikipediaCall of Duty 3 – WikipediaHalo 3 – WikipediaHalo 3: ODST – WikipediaHalo: Reach – WikipediaStar Trek: Armada II – WikipediaMedieval: Total War – WikipediaUniversity of Washington Center for Game ScienceMark Wynne – graphic designer of Process (Edge magazine)Tune & Fairweather – publisherJason Killingsworth – founder of Tune & FairweatherSupport the showMy Perfect Console – episode archive and dataMy Perfect Console on Patreon – early access, video episodes and monthly bonus episodesEmail the show: myperfectconsole@gmail.comBecome a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of benefits at www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.