Video game villains come in all shapes, sizes, and attitudes. There are those who get their hands dirty and deal out damage with their own bare hands, then there are those who let others do their bidding. Above all of these is the corporate villain.
They fall into the latter category, but they go above and beyond by making money and personal greed their sole ambition and motivation. Many of the characters below may not have ever killed a character with their own actions, but they gave the go-ahead and have no remorse. Depending on one's perspective on evil, this might make them the worst villains of all.
8 President Shinra (Final Fantasy 7)
Prior to Final Fantasy VII, the villains in the series had been evil empires or ancient forces bent on destroying the world. One of the several main villains in the seventh numbered entry is the Shinra electric power company. Their mako reactors suck the life out of the planet and slowly make it inhabitable.
The company's founder is President Shinra, who also had a hand in making much of the technology. He is only in the original release of the game for a handful of hours before dying. In Final Fantasy 7 Remake, fans get to see him play a larger role since the game only takes place in Midgar. The Shinra museum also sheds more light on the character's past.
7 Victor Branco (Max Payne 3)
Victor Branco has a complex money-making scheme involving organ trafficking, the police, and rampant political corruption. It is so complex that the titular protagonist of Max Payne 3 is not quite sure that he understands it all himself. Max Payne does understand one very important thing, though: that Victor Branco and everyone working with him must be stopped.
The organ trade business spirals out of control, and the cover-up ends up killing most of Victor Branco's family, but he does not care. For a game that involves so much shooting, it is interesting to see the main villain being a man in a suit who might never have shot a gun in his life.
6 Oswell Spencer (Resident Evil)
More than making money, Oswell Spencer from the Resident Evil series wanted to become a god. This was the main motivation behind his research and the Umbrella corporation. On his quest, he killed countless people and started a viral outbreak that compromised the entire world's safety.
He is killed by a villain arguably more evil than him, Albert Wesker. Whereas Oswell wanted the research to improve himself, Wesker saw the viruses and parasites as a way to bring about the next stage in human evolution.
5 Frank Fontaine & Andrew Ryan (BioShock)
It is hard to say who is more in the wrong here: Andrew Ryan for building a lawless underwater dystopia, or the businessman who tried to topple him when he thought it got out of control.
Whoever is more to blame might not be important since their selfishness and competition led to Rapture becoming a ruin. Frank Fontaine is pretty messed up for making a person for the sole purpose of destroying Andrew Ryan, however.
4 Cave Johnson (Portal)
The Portal games are so comedic, it is easy to forget the dark themes explored throughout them. They are set in the same continuity as Half-Life, after all, and the series similarly deals with the dangers of unregulated scientific advancement.
Aperture Science's founder, Cave Johnson, is pretty funny in his small voice role in Portal 2 where he is played be JK Simmons. However, players should not forget that he forced his secretary to become an AI, who eventually became GLaDOS. It is heavily implied that she was not a willing participant in the operation.
3 Handsome Jack (Borderlands 2)
As the head of the Hyperion Corporation, Handsome Jack does some incredibly dirty business in Borderlands 2. Depending on the player, he can come off as comedically evil or just annoying.
Since he shows up in Borderlands 2, one already knows whether or not they like the series' humor. Even though he is so evil, one of the worst things he does is imprison his own daughter and use her as a power source. There's always something particularly sinister about using one's family for heinous purposes.
2 Nicole Horne (Max Payne)
The first Max Payne game follows the protagonist as he uncovers the conspiracy that led to his wife and daughter's death. The first bit of gameplay has him kill the perps who did the deed, but this was no random act of violence.
Max eventually uncovers a pharmaceutical company conspiracy that goes all the way to the top of corporate America. The final hurdle to justice is Nicole Horne, the head of Acer Pharmaceuticals. Funnily enough, the character's likeness in the game is portrayed by writer Sam Lake's mother.
1 Devin Weston (Grand Theft Auto 5)
Grand Theft Auto is all about committing crimes. The protagonists in the series often know they are bad people doing bad things. Devin Weston, the head of the Meriwether mercenary company and billionaire businessman, clearly thinks he is in the right even as he hires a private military company to do his bidding.
He is also absolutely insufferable as a human being, acting like everybody is a friend in the most shallow way possible. Grand Theft Auto 5 has several endings that boil down to one decision at the end, but really the only right choice is to make sure Devin Weston ends up in his grave.