Rise and Play Podcast (Sophie Vo)

We often confuse the role of a manager and of a leader. Being a good manager doesn't imply that you are a great leader. Referring back to the episode "How To Lead With A Coaching Mindset" we recorded with Ben and Aaron, a manager's focus is to optimize the outcome of an existing system while maintaining or improving the status quo. A leader's focus is to influence others toward a common goal. A leader sets a direction or changes through influence and extremely good communication.

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Thank you to our sponsor! Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠go.solsten.io⁠⁠⁠⁠ and mention Rise x Play for a demo and receive a free feature, theme, and art style study included with your Navigator purchase, a $20,000 value. Offer valid through 8/31/23.

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In this episode, we walk through Ioana Hreninciuc's journey from being the Head of Product at Game Analytics, to becoming the CEO of the company. What was the skill and mental switch required to fulfill the position? What can help you make the switch from "getting things done" to "influencing others to get things done"? The role and responsibilities of a C-level are not for everyone. Is that challenge the right one for you as you look to grow in your career?

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: ⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog

Follow the second season of my MasterClass on building teams for the long term, what I call: Antifragile teams.

• What is an Antifragile Team? Why does it matter?


• How do you become Antifragile?

Link to the full masterclass video: https://www.riseandplay.io/video/what-is-an-antifragile-team

This is our first episode format with 2 guests, addressing the misunderstood and unspoken topics of motherhood and leadership. Betty and Emily share their personal journey as former Executives in big companies (Google, EA, Glu mobile), and what led them to build their own businesses once they became mothers. You will get insights into what is really happening when your employee goes through the experience of parenting, especially as a mother, and why many workplaces today are not adequate anymore for mothers who want to keep growing in their careers. 

How could we design a better work environment to support parents and mothers to keep thriving? The change starts with more awareness, education, and appropriate reintegration programs for parents. 

Thank you to our sponsors.

• Game Refinery: https://info.gamerefinery.com/riseandplay to get a free product tour. Build better games + live events with leaner teams.


• Appodeal: https://appodeal.com join the all-in-one growth platform for mobile app creators of any size.

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: https://www.riseandplay.io



About our guests: Betty Lapeyre is a certified Integral Development Coach, who supports people live their lives truthfully and fully. You can book a coaching session with Betty here: https://www.bloomingwithbetty.com/

Emily Yim has over 13 years of experience in mobile games and held several product management leadership roles at companies such as EA, Glu, Dots, and Zynga. Emily gained her mobile gaming expertise in casual and lifestyle genres while working on successful franchises such as Covet Fashion, The Sims Mobile, Two Dots, and SongPop, and has led teams of various sizes.

Follow the second season of my MasterClass on building teams for the long term, what I call: Antifragile teams.

In this episode, I share the mindset required as a Lead to build an Antifragile team.

• How do you build long-term trust in a group, and how can you influence it as the Team Lead?


• Show vulnerability as a Leader, and what does it look like to act vulnerable?


• At last, to become Antifragile, you need to face your biggest fears as a Leader. Are you driven by your fears or by the clarity of your thoughts?

Link to the full masterclass video: https://www.riseandplay.io/video/how-to-build-trust-for-the-long-term

We are following up on the previous episode recorded with Miska Katkoff (How To Become A Stoic Leader And Control Your Emotions) to continue our applications of Stoicism to leadership and business. We invited this time, Arseny Lebedev, co-founder and CEO of Original Games and ex-Head of Studio at Machine Zone to talk about applying Stoic principles to business decisions. We all have our internal model to make decisions, but is it always reliable?

Video of the episode: https://youtu.be/j8l9IY5q6ZY

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Thank you to our sponsor! Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠go.solsten.io⁠⁠⁠⁠ and mention Rise x Play for a demo and receive a free feature, theme, and art style study included with your Navigator purchase, a $20,000 value. Offer valid through 8/31/23.

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We will cover the 4 principles of Stoic philosophy: Justice, Bravery, Temperance, and Wisdom, and how you can apply those in the everyday life business. Arseny will share the case that led him to decide to relocate his whole company from Russia to Portugal when the war in Ukraine hit. Those business decisions always have pros and cons in the long term, but how to avoid the worse decisions? That's where a bit of Stoic thinking can help you!

If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend. Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: ⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog

The podcast features Kim Nordström, a gaming industry veteran from Paradox Interactive and King, and the author of 'Up, Down, Up', a book about the life cycle phases of gaming startups.

We delve into Kim's analytical approach exploring startup successes and failures, identifying key patterns across companies. Over two years of research, Kim interviewed over a hundred gaming founders, CEOs, and leaders. Relevant topics ranging from the necessity of creative tension and disciplined decision-making in leadership, the four critical phases of development for startup companies as compared to a human life cycle, and the importance of knowing one's purpose in their role as founders or CEOs, and at the different growth and decline phases. Many practical and philosophical insights from the book are highlighted.

02:00 The Author's Gaming and Entrepreneurial Journey

05:28 The Process of Writing the Book

06:31 The Value of the Book

07:04 The Process of Interviewing Companies

08:43 The Structure and Purpose of the Book

14:48 The Importance of Discipline in Success

25:47 The Role of a CEO in a Gaming Company

29:47 Solutions and Challenges in Leadership

30:40 The Role of a CEO and the Importance of Support

33:40 The Struggles of Leadership and the Need for Self-Care

36:04 The Dynamics of Co-Founders and Team Composition

38:32 The Importance of Conflict and Challenge in Team Building

51:12 The Role of a CEO in Different Phases of a Company

54:48 Understanding Your Purpose As a CEO or Founder

Get your copy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/UP-DOWN-companies-succeed-others-ebook/dp/B0CR4D417V

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

In this episode, Sophie Vo, founder of Rise And Play, and Miska Katkoff, former CEO and co-founder of Savage Games, and founder of Deconstructor Of Fun reflect on their key lessons in starting a new company.

We dive into the importance of self-esteem and self-awareness when throwing yourself out there to build your new business and being 100% behind it. We also cover strategies for dealing with negative feedback and the importance of self-reflection and self-evaluation.

The conversation shifts to the common pitfalls of leadership, specifically misalignment within teams. Sophie emphasizes the need for alignment in vision, values, and purpose within a company and highlights the challenges that can arise when co-founders have different motivations.

At the end, we offer avenues on how to achieve deep alignment in your team, through group mediation and sometimes therapy at an individual level.

🎥 Watch it on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/gREnrlUoG5I

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

Have a great week, don't forget to take care of yourself 💜

Netflix has been in the spotlight since it announced its game platform. How do you approach building a portfolio of games for an entertainment platform? What are the skills required as a Publisher vs a Developer? How do you select the game developers who will be the best partners from the point of view of a publisher?

Leanne Loombe has extensive career developing and publishing games over the past 18 years, working on iconic franchises such as Magic the Gathering, Need for Speed, and League of Legends. She is currently heading up External Games at Netflix and helping to change how we play games through Netflix. In this episode, Leanne shares her learning on Publishing, coming from the lens of a game developer.

Additionally, Leanne is a passionate ambassador for Women In Game and focuses on encouraging women to join the industry and creating diversity in teams through mentorship, panels, and events.

Thank you to our sponsor Game Refinery: https://info.gamerefinery.com/riseandplay to get a free product tour. Build better games + live events with leaner teams.

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: https://www.riseandplay.io

More info on jobs at Netflix Games: https://jobs.netflix.com/team?slug=netflix-games-studio

We interview Derk De Geus, co-CEO and Co-Founder of Paladin Studio to explore leadership lessons learned over two decades in the gaming industry. The episode covers the genesis of Paladin Studio, its transition from a service company to a game development studio, and how it navigated challenges and growth without external investment. Bootstrapping successfully a studio is a rare story we hear of these days!

Derk shares insights on the importance of self-awareness, empathetic communication, and aligning one's core being with their professional roles. The discussion delves into the pitfalls of rapid scaling, the benefits of retreats for personal and leadership development, and the significance of creating a supportive and creative company culture.

01:37 The Genesis of Paladin Studio: A 20-Year Journey

03:50 Navigating the Early Days and the Shift to Entertainment Games

09:20 The Evolution of Leadership and Business Strategy

16:14 The CEO's Dilemma: Balancing Creativity and Business and Finding Balance

23:20 Embracing Creativity Beyond Work

24:11 The Synergy of Creative and Business Minds

26:13 The CEO Role Reimagined: Co-CEO for Creative Freedom

26:25 Navigating Operational and Strategic Challenges

28:33 The Transformative Power of Retreats

35:26 Leadership as a Journey of Self-Discovery

39:59 Cultivating a Culture of Shared Values

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

🇮🇳 SPECIAL INDIA SERIES 🇮🇳

In this episode, we sit down with Ojas Vipat, the CEO and co-founder of Mayhem Studio ($20 million raised in a Series A round led by Sequoia Capital), to uncover the untapped potential and lack of awareness surrounding the Indian gaming scene. Ojas shares his journey and what led him to break away from the norm and start his studio. We discuss the development of the gaming market in India, the shift towards more popular genres, and the rise of esports.

But what makes Mayhem Studio stand out? Ojas reveals their mission to build for India, showcasing the rich stories and heritage of the country through immersive gaming experiences. Their latest creation, "Underworld Gang Wars," is a mobile shooter game set in a meticulously crafted map called Dhantara, which pays homage to various locations in India. With over 6 million pre-registered players and positive feedback from closed alpha testing, the game is set to take the gaming world by storm.

More about the game here: https://underworldgangwars.com/

Topics discussed:

- Development of the gaming market in India

- Rise of esports in India

- Mayhem Studio's aim to build India as a gaming powerhouse

- Emerging community of esports in India and specific trends

- Popularity of mobile gaming in India

- India's competitive nature and the popularity of other sports

- Mayhem Studio's journey and formation

- Mayhem Studio's goal of showcasing Indian culture through gaming

- Challenges and opportunities in the Indian gaming industry

- Mayhem Studio's focus on creating a unique gaming experience

- Talent shortage in the gaming industry in India and opportunity for global experts to help

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

Getting into an emotionally charged conversation at work is one of the most uncomfortable feelings. As a leader, you cannot really get away from it. You start to feel uncomfortable and anxious about the hard conversation you need to have (i.e. dismissal, reassignment, negative feedback, project canceled, conflict resolution...). Your report can feel it too, so everyone feels uncomfortable. It doesn't help to get anywhere.

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Thank you to our sponsor! Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠go.solsten.io⁠⁠⁠⁠ and mention Rise x Play for a demo and receive a free feature, theme, and art style study included with your Navigator purchase, a $20,000 value. Offer valid through 8/31/23.

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So how do you approach those conversations in a more serene way, while showing empathy? The work starts with you getting self-awareness of what the situation is and controlling your feelings, preparing for the talk. Learn from Julie Beaugrand (Head of Studio & VP at Rovio), Benjamin Chevalier (co-founder at Mighty Bear Games), and Sophie Vo (General Manager at Savage Game Studios), who share their experience, their learnings, mistakes, and self-management tools.

Link to Julie's previous episode on Building The Next Casual Hit At Rovio

Link to Ben's previous episode on Building A Western Culture Studio in Asia

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: ⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog

In this new episode, I am talking to Carolin Krenzer, the CEO and co-founder of Trailmix, a London based studio which focuses on combining great storytelling with the best of free-to-play mobile gaming as well as creating a space for people to be the best version of themselves. Their latest title is Love & Pies, taking an innovative twist on the puzzle hybrid genre.

Carolin has an impressive background in gaming. Before founding Trailmix, she worked as VP & Head of Studio for King. She joined the company in 2012 to help set up the London studio and bring the studio’s first title Farm Heroes Saga to life. Carolin also worked at EA/ Playfish as a Director of Product Management.

We address in this episode, how Carolin started her new company Trailmix with her co-founder and ex-King colleague Tristan. As co-founders, they spent 6 months before the company founding to discuss and set up a clear vision, mission and culture for their company. Their studio is backed by Supercell.

Enjoy this new episode!

More about Trailmix: https://www.trailmixgames.com/

With thousands of people being laid off in the gaming industry over the past few months, what does it look like to create your own job rather than waiting for the job market to recover?

Matej Lancaric, known for his prominent role in UA in Games, shares his journey as a solopreneur on the podcast. We cover Matej's transition from a corporate career to UA consultancy, his unique approach to providing value to the audience, the evolution of his content creation, and his definition of success. He emphasizes being true to oneself, maintaining authenticity, and cherishing the flexibility provided by being a solopreneur.

If you need help marketing your game, you should reach out to Matej: https://lancaric.me/

Follow his podcast on UA: two-and-a-half gamers.

00:35 Guest Introduction: Matej Lancaric

00:59 Matej's Journey in the Gaming Industry

03:35 Transition to Solopreneurship

05:10 The Power of Authenticity

05:50 The Leap into the Unknown

05:59 The Challenges of Going Solo

06:46 The Importance of Being Yourself

08:13 The Journey of Starting a Newsletter

08:41 The Reality of Launching Games

10:54 The Value of Sharing Knowledge

13:13 The Struggles of Being Criticized

19:50 The Evolution of Content Sharing

22:29 The Importance of Feedback in Solo Work

22:55 Building a Unique and Playful Brand

23:51 The Birth of the Dancing Unicorn and Two and a Half Gamers

24:59 The Evolution of Content Creation and Branding

27:05 The Role of Happiness and Authenticity in Personal Branding

32:46 The Challenges and Rewards of Being a Solopreneur

33:32 Defining Success as a Solopreneur

39:43 The Art of Time Management and Content Creation

41:42 Reflections on the Journey and Future Aspirations

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

In this new podcast episode, I am talking to Benjamin Chevalier, one of the co-founders of Mighty Bear Games. With Simon Davis and Fadzuli Said his two other co-founder, they started Mighty Bear Games in Singapore in early 2017 with ex-King colleagues and grew the studio to 50+ team members after two rounds of funding. Mighty Bear Games has been known lately for their successful title 'Butter Royale' on Apple Arcade.

We tackle the vision and company culture the co-founders established from the beginning, focusing on honesty and transparency. How they run their company with integrity and 'walk the talk'. We address the challenges and opportunities they faced by building a studio with the Western mindset in a Southeast Asian hub such as Singapore. 

My discussion with Ben was very inspiring to see how a value-based company can look like. Without compromising on getting things done and achieving financial results.

Enjoy this new episode!

Mighty Bear Games blog: https://medium.com/mighty-bear-games

Shane Parish podcast: https://fs.blog/knowledge-project/

Should the leader of today be a coach? That's what we cover in this episode with Aaron and Ben, ex-leaders at Riot Games. They are now running a consultancy organization called Valarin to grow holistic leaders across companies and our industry because better leaders make better games.  Sharing the same mission as Rise and Play, that's how the three of us met in this episode. We are going back to the basics to remind the mission of a "Leader" vs a "Manager". How a Leader differs from a Manager, and why being a Leader requires different skills such as influencing, setting a vision, managing change, and active listening. What can you learn from being coached or being a coach? Why is it a competitive edge for you to grow your coaching skills now to become the leader of tomorrow?

Thank you to our sponsors.

• Game Refinery: https://info.gamerefinery.com/riseandplay to get a free product tour. Build better games + live events with leaner teams.


• Appodeal: https://appodeal.com join the all-in-one growth platform for mobile app creators of any size.

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: https://www.riseandplay.io

To get in touch with Ben and Aaron, visit Valarin website here: https://valarinconsulting.com/

In this special episode, I share about my personal journey on what led me to a career path as a Leader in games, my life "drivers" and what led me to create Rise and Play early 2021.

The story I am sharing is not something I have shared publicly anywhere before. I feel comfortable to share it in this podcast as the result of my own reflection work, to also give more light of what's behind the curtains of leaders who seem to "have it altogether".

I hope this episode will inspire you to look inwards, and be brave to share the findings with your safe circles.

Enjoy this special episode!

Delphine has a unique story on how she brings her athlete mindset to her practices of leadership and building creative teams at King. Delphine is the Head Of Experimentation on Candy Crush and shares her challenges of bringing novelty to an iconic game such as Candy Crush, while satisfying the most loyal players from over a decade.

In this episode, Delphine shares her leadership tools to lead large creative teams (50+ people):

• Why Energy is one of your most important resources as a Leader, and how to nurture it


• 3P approach: People, Product and Process


• How to run large teams of 50+ people and break the silos


• How to build a solid long term vision for large teams


• Managing upward


• Why it is important to build your personal branding with intention, for your career progression

Here are the links of the resources mentioned in the episode:

• Multipliers book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8310410-multipliers


• Why Great Leaders Take Humour Seriously (TED talk): https://youtu.be/uJKDipbCzdc

Enjoy this new episode!

Laura Taranto has 10+ years of experience in the games industry. She previously worked at Scopely, King and Wooga where she worked on multiple titles including Farm Heroes Saga, Pearl’s Peril, and Diamond Dash! 

While most of her experience is running and growing live titles, she has worked on games in all phases of development. She recently joined Big Fish Games last year and is sharing in this episode her exciting challenges of growing the hit title Evermerge.

In this episode, Laura is sharing:

- The Product Managament challenges switching from Match3 and Hidden Object games to Merge games

- How they operate the Live Ops on the hit title Evermerge at Big Fish Games

- The inherent challenges of growing merge games and specifically a game like Evermerge

- The compound effect of investing in people before the product

I loved Laura's energy and honesty in sharing her experience, with no filter and BS. Enjoy this new episode!

Book referenced from David Rock: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6516173-coaching-with-the-brain-in-mind

Hear Jennifer Lufau's insights on how you can effectively repair racial inequality in your organization, and be part of the change too.

Jennifer shares her journey as a young player, not finding representation of herself in games, and what motivated her to later fund the non-profit organization Afrogameuses. Jennifer experienced racism playing online games. She could have remained a silent victim among many others. Instead, she decided to fight against racism and sexism in games and build a supportive community for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People Of Color) who stream, play, and make games. Additionally, Jennifer works as a social media and content manager at Ubisoft.

Thank you to our sponsors.

• Game Refinery: https://info.gamerefinery.com/riseandplay to get a free product tour. Build better games + live events with leaner teams.


• Appodeal: https://appodeal.com join the all-in-one growth platform for mobile app creators of any size.

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: https://www.riseandplay.io

Join and follow Afrogameuses: https://www.afrogameuses.com/

In this episode, we invite Niek Tuerlings a seasoned F2P mobile game designer and writer for naavik.co, who previously worked at Spil Games, Wooga, Voodoo, and now at Moonlit Games, a mobile studio based in Berlin.

You can read the latest piece from Niek here: https://naavik.co/deep-dives/evolution-of-hybridcasual-deepdive/

We cover Niek's journey in games and the importance of broadening those 7 extra skills as a designer if you want to grow in the industry:

1. Game design core skills: UX/features/core gameplay/system design

2. Player understanding and empathy

3. Prototyping

4. Writing and communication skills

5. Product management, understanding the business of games

6. Narrative / Storytelling

7. Leadership

Niek and I built the first casual studio at Voodoo and launched Plantopia in 2020, as the first internal casual game published at Voodoo. We talk about how we approached game development developing casual games with hypercasual speed. We delve into player retention, monetization, and the value of smaller team sizes in F2P games.

Topics discussed:

- Building casual games in a hyper-casual way

- Career journey as a designer in the gaming industry

- Experiences at Wooga and the development of Plantopia

- F2P business model and player retention

- Writing endeavors and gaining market knowledge

- New venture at Moonlit Games and the influence of blockchain technology. Current game: Rogue Nation (⁠Android⁠/⁠iOS⁠) by ⁠moonlitgames.io⁠

If you want to get in touch with Niek:

Blog: ludocious.com

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

Different teams make different games, for different audiences,

In this episode, we interview the duo Caroline Marchal and Charu Desodt, respectively CEO and Studio Director at Interior Night, to share their journey building an innovative AAA studio from scratch.

Interior Night is an independent game studio formed by Quantic Dream and Sony veterans based in London, dedicated to creating innovative interactive stories for a broad and mature audience. They are the crreators of the original interactive drama As Dusk Falls , a new take on narrative games which received unanimous reviews (9/10 IGN, 9/10 GameSpot, 9/10 Steam).

We cover the evolution of the AAA industry, the growth of representation of women in gaming, the journey of starting a new AAA studio and the significance of having a clear vision and being persistent with it. Caroline had a strong vision of a new kind of AAA narrative games she wanted to make for a mature audience (mothers, non gamers, spouses), and supported by a highly experienced diverse team, she materialized that vision successfully with their first title As Dusk Falls.

01:16 Interior Night Studio: A Female-Led Game Development Studio

02:21 The Journey of the Studio Founders: From Game Designers to Studio Leaders

06:26 The Birth of Interior Night: A Leap of Faith into Entrepreneurship

09:44 The Making of 'As Dust Falls': A Unique Interactive Narrative Experience

18:54 The Impact of 'As Dust Falls' on Players: A New Approach to Gaming

22:01 The Journey of Funding and Building a Game Studio

30:38 Reflections on Leadership and the Future of the Gaming Industry

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

Ksusha Zito is the CTO and Co-Founder of Superbloom, a new studio focused on mobile lifestyle games. Before starting on the journey of a founder she was a Director of Mobile Engineering at Dots, and a Senior Engineering Manager at the NY Times Games. Ksusha has over a decade of experience in shaping highly scalable and efficient systems that power games played by millions of daily users. 

In this episode, Ksusha shares her vision for building the next generation of lifestyle games for the female audience:

• Why product matters before tech, at the founding stage


• What should be your focus as a CTO in the early days of your gaming startup


• How Ksusha juggles between her family life and her role as a CTO. Disclaimer: It is possible! You don't have to choose between being a mother or having a career.


• What is her vision with Emily (her co-founder) on company culture and the opportunities of being a full-remote team

Enjoy this new episode!

More about Superbloom and their open positions.

🇮🇳 SPECIAL INDIA SERIES 🇮🇳

What if AI could be the answer to providing quality education for every child in the world? What if we could leverage tech and entertainment to have a social impact at scale?

That's the world problem Rishi and his Supernova AI team try to crack. In the episode, we go deep inside Supernova's fascinating journey, where the team believes that learning should be fun and interactive instead of just being a passive experience. We live in the age of user-centricity, and like every other product, educational experiences need to be a lot more user-friendly. 

Targeted toward kids aged 4-12, the company started by Anirudh(Previously Co-Founded Myra Medicine & exited to medlife), Nawin & Maharishi in 2021 aims to redefine the current passive forms of learning by providing super fun & engaging Live Quizzes,  “Byte-Sized” lessons & worksheets on CBSE topics. Every time kids come to one of Supernova’s Live Quizzes, they learn & practice a CBSE math skill in innovative 30-minute sessions.

See for yourself about the incredible capabilities of ⁠Supernova⁠: https://youtu.be/J_hVsEdzZz8

Supernova raised pre-seed funding of $1.1 million in 2022. The pre-seed round was led by Lumikai VC, with participation from Kae Capital, All In Capital, Goodwater Capital & strategic angel investors.

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

How did you start your career in games? Did you also think that working hard, hustling, and reaching "success" at work would bring happiness and fulfillment? How do you reflect on those earlier years of sacrifice for work, that you will never get back? Hear the candid and personal story of the successful Game Designer and Executive Producer Ethan Levy (ex-EP at N3twork and Bioware), also known for hosting The Deconstructor Of Fun podcast, who reflects on his career in games. Ethan shares what he wishes he knew before he began his career and the feeling of regret of sacrificing his personal life for work. Is it ever worth it in the end?

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Thank you to our sponsor! Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠go.solsten.io⁠⁠⁠⁠ and mention Rise x Play for a demo and receive a free feature, theme, and art style study included with your Navigator purchase, a $20,000 value. Offer valid through 8/31/23.

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If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend. Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: ⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog

In this new season, I am kicking off a series of episodes in the format of coaching discussions, with experts on leadership and self-development themes. 

Today, I am sitting down with Tamara Rose, the Founder of Berlin Boss Babes, and a High-Potential and Leadership Coach for women.

Berlin Boss Babes' mission is focused on accelerating female advancement across career, business, and money. Prior to becoming a coach, Tamara was a top executive with 10+ years of experience in corporates and start-ups as a talent consultant.

In this episode, we tackle one of the most challenging life questions: What Do I Want In Life? 

Why is this question so hard to address?

A lot of our life scripts come from our childhood, education, and culture. If we never had the chance to examine those, we run on auto-pilot until we hit the wall. 

Tamara will share in this episode some practical tools on how to start to examine those questions for yourself:

- The 5 Whys

- Reconnecting with your inner child's dreams

- Prototype your new life

- Work with a Coach!

Thank you to our sponsors.

• Game Refinery: https://info.gamerefinery.com/riseandplay to get a free product tour. Build better games + live events with leaner teams.


• Appodeal: https://appodeal.com join the all-in-one growth platform for mobile app creators of any size.

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: https://www.riseandplay.io

If you liked Tamara, reach out to her for a coaching trial session at tamara@berlinbossbabes.co

More info on her website!

From building your vision to the methods to find, screen and select the best candidates for you - I will share my full hiring framework with you. Hiring makes up 50% of the success of your studio, so it is important to get it right! It is worth investing heavily upfront to build a sustainable studio for the long term.

Start with Why - Your Why is your North Star for every single decision you make. It shapes your behaviour and communication towards others, including new hires. Invest the time to define and crystallise your Why, before building a new studio

Link to the class video: https://www.riseandplay.io/video/start-with-why

Your Personal Values:  After you defined your Why, define your own personal values. Your personal values influence everything you do, who you hire, how you make decisions. Make it intentional, not accidental.

Link to the class video: https://www.riseandplay.io/video/define-your-personal-values

Gallup Strengths Test: https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/252137/home.aspx

Enneagram Test: https://www.truity.com/test/enneagram-personality-test

Big 5 Personality Traits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits

In 2023, there were 11.89% female CEOs and 8.95% co-founders (reported from 7 different funds) from approximately 400 companies and 1000 founders. It is progress but there is still a long way to go before we see more women accessing positions of CEOs, especially when they are not founding their own company.

In this episode, we interview Veronica Rojas, who climbed the ranks in her career from product marketing at Gameloft to Head of Studio, ultimately becoming the co-CEO at Uken Games. How does someone become a co-CEO/CEO? What does this role imply, and what should one consider before taking on those responsibilities?

The role of co-CEO has emerged more and more in the gaming industry as we recognize that the demands of a CEO role might become overwhelming as the company scales.

04:01 Veronica's Journey into the Gaming Industry

07:34 The Challenges of Starting a Gaming Startup With No Funding and Experience

15:32 Transitioning from Startup to Corporate

24:03 The Role of Product Marketing in Gaming

25:46 Joining UKEN and Rising to Co-CEO

37:05 The Challenges of Being a Co-CEO

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

DEI has been a buzzword over the past few years. It has been overused as an employer branding strategy or an attempt to correct inequality in the workplace. But implementing a DEI department, DEI initiatives or training won't resolve the root of the inequality gap. Durable changes start at the company's core (and top): Why do you exist? What is your mission and why caring about DEI will support your mission and values? Only then, you can identify where DEI must be implemented as part of your processes, to reflect the culture and mission you support. 

We will cover in this episode with Laura the concrete steps to incorporate DEI in your company: to be part of your hiring process, career development process, and feedback culture.

Laura is an organizational researcher and the former Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Bolt and the current founder of VALIDEI, a research agency specializing in assessments of DEI and scalability. Laura applies a data-informed approach to supporting viable businesses and ways of working.

Thank you to our sponsor Game Refinery: https://info.gamerefinery.com/riseandplay to get a free product tour. Build better games + live events with leaner teams.

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: https://www.riseandplay.io

Today is a special episode as we're witnessing an intimate leadership conversation between Maria Sayans and Daniel Gray, respectively CEO and Chief Creative Officer at Ustwo Games. What is it to be a leader at Ustwo Games?

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Thank you to our sponsor! Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠go.solsten.io⁠⁠⁠⁠ and mention Rise x Play for a demo and receive a free feature, theme, and art style study included with your Navigator purchase, a $20,000 value. Offer valid through 8/31/23.

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Maria will share her leadership evolution from the McKinsey days to CCP Games to later becoming the CEO at Ustwo Games. The key transformation for her was to find her authentic style of leadership beyond the motherly expected leadership style.

We previously recorded this single episode with Maria, if you want to hear more about the company culture at Ustwo Games: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/riseandplay/episodes/42--Making-Games-With-Impact-At-Ustwo-Games---with-Maria-Sayans-e1nn9cs/a-a8h028l

We will also hear from Daniel and how he grew from being a QA manager at Kuju, to being a producer at Lionhead, to later becoming the Chief Creative Officer at Ustwo Games. Daniel contributed to the success of iconic titles such as Monument Valley.

If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend. Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog

UX design is still a misunderstood field in games. Therefore, it is hard to hire great UX designers who understand games or game designers who deeply understand UX. How do we solve this human and skills puzzle?

In this episode, Olga Marushchak, UX Director at King, will deconstruct what makes a great UX designer. Olga will share practical tools on how to hire and identify great UX designers, when you don't have internally the knowledge yourself. She will also prove that it is possible to hire UX designers without a prior experience in games if they demonstrate certain key skills. Last, how do you train your UX designers in games, once you found the One?

Olga has been working in Game Dev for almost 14 years and has worked in various gaming companies: AAA, small indie startups, and medium-sized organizations such as Playgendary and Wargaming.

To learn more about UX, check out episode #32 What You Did Not Know About UX

Thank you to our sponsor! Identify your ideal audience with today's sponsor Solsten to streamline development decisions and get to market faster. Visit ⁠solsten.io/contact-us⁠ and mention Rise x Play for a demo and receive 30% off your first Solsten engagement crafted to your studio’s needs.

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: ⁠https://www.riseandplay.io

"There's a whole bunch of leaders out there who wake up every morning and put on a mask. They transform into their work selves, playing a role they think they're supposed to play. It's like they're living a double life. But let me tell you, it's not easy to keep up this charade.

Behind that mask, these leaders face some serious challenges. They can't catch a decent night's sleep, and anxiety weighs them down day in and day out. Their energy levels go up and down like a yo-yo, and they feel exhausted most of the time..." Steve Cuss.

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Thank you to our sponsor! Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠go.solsten.io⁠⁠⁠⁠ and mention Rise x Play for a demo and receive a free feature, theme, and art style study included with your Navigator purchase, a $20,000 value. Offer valid through 8/31/23.

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In this episode, I am talking to Steve Cuss, who has an extensive background in the video games industry, starting his journey in 1994 as a programmer at Intelligent Games and quickly rose through the ranks, eventually becoming the Development Director and co-owner after a successful management buyout. Steve later spent 20 years in leadership roles at EA and then Criterion, leading the development of notable titles including Black, the Burnout series, Star Wars Battlefront, and latterly focusing on the Need for Speed series.

In 2023, Steve decided to take his learnings outside of EA by founding The GamePlan Consultancy to help other leaders be their authentic selves with what he calls Liberated Leadership. Steve has also authored a book titled “Liberated Leadership: Lessons Learned from 20 Years Producing Video Games at EA,” which is scheduled to be published in the summer of 2023. Stay tuned!

If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend. Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog

In this latest episode, we welcome Kalle Kaivola, co-founder of Lightheart Entertainment, known for their hit game Mr. Auto Fire (over 16 million downloads). Together, we discuss the company culture and the challenges of building a holacratic culture, inspired by the Teal organization described in the book "Reinventing Organisations" by Frederic Laloux.

Holacracy is a system of self-management where leadership roles are not subject to a traditional hierarchy of command. Instead of having a static job description, individuals in a holacracy assume multiple roles, each associated with a purpose, domain, and accountabilities. It distributes authority and decision-making through a holarchy of self-organizing teams rather than being vested in a management hierarchy.

While it looks great on paper, how does that work in practice? This approach impacts all the layers of what makes a company culture and strategy:

• Who joins the company?


• Who makes the decisions and on what?


• How decisions are being made (not by the CEO or leaders).


• Which games are greenlighted?

Four years since its founding, the team has been growing with this core holacratic culture and delivering proven success with Mr. Autofire. Maybe there are aspects that you can take away from a holacratic culture for your own company. How ready are you to let go of control?

🎥 Watch it on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/O4NOnciptDg

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

🇮🇳 SPECIAL INDIA SERIES 🇮🇳

In this episode, we follow the journey of Ram Reddy, CEO and co-founder at QuriousBit, and former product leader at Play Simple, which was acquired by MTG in 2021 for $510M.

QuriousBit was founded end of 2022 and raised its funding of $2 million from gaming-focused venture capital firm Lumikai and early-stage investor General Catalyst.

The studio is taking a fresh and innovative approach, both in game design and distribution, to achieve category-leading success in the highly competitive global casual gaming market, given current market conditions. Think of it as a mix of Tetris and Sudoku, with a lot of unique puzzle elements.

But the main reason why we're excited to talk to QuriousBit is the approach of how they built the company, focusing on the culture first. Like Netflix or Valve, they started with a culture handbook of 75 pages, that we will share in this episode!

QuriousBit marks the rise of a new generation of Indian gaming studios that want to leave a sustainable trace with their company, and we're excited to be part of it!

Read more at:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/funding/gaming-startup-quriousbit-raises-2-million-in-funding-from-lumikai-general-catalyst/articleshow/103993791

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

Take away from this episode how to think differently about money as an instrument to fulfill your life vision. Do you work for money or is money working for you?

I am debunking the key misconceptions about money and personal finances with Marcela Barrera, the founder of Investors Abroad and financial coach. Are you diversifying your portfolio of assets? Have you started to invest? Do you know the difference between a liability and an asset? Why is there a knowledge gap in finances for women, and what can we do about it? That's what we will bring to you in this episode.

Thank you to our sponsors.

• Game Refinery: https://info.gamerefinery.com/riseandplay to get a free product tour. Build better games + live events with leaner teams.


• Appodeal: https://appodeal.com join the all-in-one growth platform for mobile app creators of any size.

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: https://www.riseandplay.io

Join and follow Afrogameuses: https://www.afrogameuses.com/

In this episode, we deconstruct the success of Beatstar, from the lens of design and company culture at Space Ape Games, with our special guest Charmie Kim, Game lead at Space Ape Games.

We explore the evolution of game development from first-mover advantages beginnings to the complex, research-driven approach necessary in today's competitive market.

Through Charmie's journey from working on Samurai Siege Live Ops to leading the highly successful music game Beatstar, we uncover insights on how to innovate within various game genres, and the importance of research, marketing, and adapting to the market. Beatstar has grossed over $125m and has attracted over 60m players since its launch in September 2021.

Key takeaways: the significance of direct player engagement, the strategic necessity of market research before genre selection, and the pivotal role of diverse team adaptability in meeting contemporary gaming demands.

01:35 Charmie Kim: A Trailblazer in Game Design and Leadership

06:00 Tracing Charmie Kim's Journey from Fashion to Game Design

15:47 The Strategic Shift at Space Ape Games: Exploring New Genres

20:32 Innovating in the Music Game Genre with BeatStar

32:06 The Importance of Market Research in Modern Game Development

37:13 Concluding Thoughts and the Future of Game Development

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

We say it is essential to build diverse teams for innovation, creativity, and performance. Diversity of individuals sounds great on paper, but how do we make it work as a team in practice? How do you make people who avoid confrontation collaborate with confrontational people? How do you lead a team in an egalitarian way while most of what they've known is hierarchical leadership?

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Thank you to our sponsor! Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠go.solsten.io⁠⁠⁠⁠ and mention Rise x Play for a demo and receive a free feature, theme, and art style study included with your Navigator purchase, a $20,000 value. Offer valid through 8/31/23!

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In this episode, we deconstruct with Jen Donahoe (Game Marketing and Growth Leader, co-host for Deconstructor Of Fun) The Culture Map book by Erin Meyer, and how we applied the 8 cultural dimensions with teams in our career:

Communicating: Low vs High Context

Evaluating: Direct negative feedback vs Indirect negative feedback

Persuading: Principles- first or Applications-first

Leading: Egalitarian or Hierarchical

Deciding: Consensual or Top-Down

Trusting: Task-based or Relationship-based

Disagreeing: confrontational or non-confrontational

Scheduling: Linear or Flexible Time

No matter where you live or grew up, you need to be intentional about where you stand on the cultural spectrum as a leader and communicate it well to your team. It is not about cultural differences only, but also personality and cognitive differences where the same frameworks apply!

We are taking a break with the podcast and will come back in September with a new series on Change Management! Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠

If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend. 

Perfect timing for this episode, ending the year with reflection thoughts and taking a step back on your life vision! In this episode, we discuss with Tom Hammond (serial entrepreneur in games) a few exercises to help you gain clarity on your life vision: Why do you work, what do you live for? What are your priorities in life (when you are not working)? How are you building a company that will outlive you? 

Here are a few tools we are sharing in this episode: value and life vision examination every 6 months, priorities and plans in the 5 core areas of your life (the 5F), envisioning your Ideal Day, life reflection from the deathbed, create accountability in your life change, timeline and moodograph...

More about Tom Hammond: Tom has been an active contributor to the Live Ops community with his podcast Mastering Retention and recently the UserWise Academy. Tom is sharing his entrepreneurial journey in creating his two companies TheoremReach and UserWise, his company culture and values, and what led him to create the Mastering Retention podcast. To "give back" to the community.

Thank you to our sponsors.

• Game Refinery: https://info.gamerefinery.com/riseandplay to get a free product tour. Build better games + live events with leaner teams.


• Appodeal: https://appodeal.com join the all-in-one growth platform for mobile app creators of any size.

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: https://www.riseandplay.io

We continue our short series on fundraising in games in 2024, following the journey of Sophie Vo, founder of Rise and Play and CEO of Kylan, a new studio created in 2024.

In this episode hosted by Clair Rozain, Sophie shares what she wishes she had known before fundraising and how she would approach it a second time with all she has learned: start by bootstrapping instead of relying solely on VC/fundraising, have a founding team who can build the product, and be critical about your business like an investor.

A hard self-reflection question: If you had to invest your own money in your business, would you do it? If the answer is no, then how can you expect other investors to invest in you too? What do you need to change or pivot to make it investable for yourself?

This episode will provide insights on mistakes to avoid before fundraising with VCs.

00:19 Launching a New Game Company: Insights and Challenges

01:16 Deep Dive into Pitching and Fundraising in 2024

10:06 Understanding the Venture Capital Landscape

22:32 Empowering Women in Gaming and Entrepreneurship

27:41 Reflecting on the Pitching Experience and Looking Ahead

30:21 Closing Thoughts and Future Directions

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

We interview Taehoon Kim, the co-founder and CEO of nWay, the successful multiplayer fighting games company behind Chrono Blades and Power Rangers: Legacy Wars, acquired by Animoca Brands in 2020. TK shares his journey into the gaming industry as a serial entrepreneur, including his experience at Samsung, Real Time Worlds, and founding Nurian Software which was later acquired by Netmarble.

TK shares the journey of nWay, a gaming company focused on delivering the best fighting multiplayer games with various IPs across multiple platforms. We delve into the 10-year evolution of the company, from initially creating games for Facebook, then expanding to mobile, console, and PC, all the way to collaborating with renowned IPs like Power Rangers and WWE.

For the funny anecdote, find out how Street Fighter characters made it into the Power Rangers universe! Disclaimer: The fans were very upset at first! Luckily it has been deescalated with humour!

Key points:

- Key business insights on the challenges and rewards of building and selling companies such as Nway and Nurian Software.

- Discussion on the significance of teamwork, passion, and pioneering new game experiences.

- TK's take on the importance of an idea-driven company culture and avoiding the hiring of people with big egos.

- Exploration of the ideal team size for innovative game development and the critical evaluation of culture fit during hiring process.

- Insights into the funding and success milestones of Nway's popular games like Power Rangers and WWE.

- Discussion about strategic partnerships with IP holders resulting from Nway's success.

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

Anette Staloy is CMO at the Norwegian games studio Dirtybit. The studio focuses on social multiplayer games, and have grown organically to close to 140 million downloads for their games in the Fun Run series. Dirtybit was founded almost 11 years ago, and Anette has been part of the team for the last 7 years. Anette is also the co-founder and chair of Women in Games Norway.

In this episode, Anette shares her journey growing a small independent studio in Norway, building on top of their Fun Run series success:

• How Anette's role has evolved as the CMO of the company over the past 7 years


• The challenges of maintaining a big IP versus launching new successful games


• The perks and challenges of remaining as an independent studio: ownership vs growth?


• How Dirtybit managed to bring their leadership team to full parity and 40% of employees being women. It is possible!


• How the work-life balance is at the heart of the culture at Dirtybit, without compromising on execution and delivery

Enjoy this new episode!

Isabelle Henriques has an impressive track record in games: 15 years of experience in management, operations, strategy, and production in the gaming industry. She is Brazilian and has a diverse background in gaming, previously acting as Studio Director and Lead Producer at Maxis and Electronic Arts, and has worked on multiple AAA blockbuster franchises including The Sims, Call of Duty, and Madden.

With solid experience in large AAA companies, Isabelle took a new journey as the co-CEO and COO of Klang Games, one of the best-funded gaming start-ups in Europe and is also acting as the Executive Producer for SEED, an MMO society simulator being developed at Klang.

In this episode, we cover the exciting challenges of joining a startup in a growing phase. How to integrate a leadership team that has history before you and build trust in a sustainable way? What is the pace of change when you come in to improve the culture, organization and process? I can relate a lot to Isabelle's challenges as I joined Savage Games and faced similar challenges. That's what we cover and debate about in this episode!

Thank you to our sponsors.

• Game Refinery: https://info.gamerefinery.com/riseandplay to get a free product tour. Build better games + live events with leaner teams.


• Appodeal: https://appodeal.com join the all-in-one growth platform for mobile app creators of any size.

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: https://www.riseandplay.io

Mari Aizawa Burns is a multi-media Producer currently working as the Development Director for Tetris® on mobile.  She started with live-action television Production, but really built her foundation through 15 years of Production in CG film at Pixar Animation Studios. She moved to games in 2014, first at Telltale Games as Studio Production Manager for IP projects ranging from Game of Thrones, Minecraft and The Walking Dead.

In this episode, Mari is sharing her journey transitioning from animations studio to games production:

• What did she learn at Pixar Animation studios and could translate into her work making games?


• What is the role of a Development Director, and the fundamental skills you need to thrive in this position?


• How her experience as being a first-class waitress has shaped her producer skills in her career?


• How to refresh an iconic franchise such as Tetris on mobile?


• How to build an effective working and remote culture at N3twork?

Enjoy this new episode!

Maverick Games is a brand-new AAA studio formed by the ex-Forza Horizon Directors. We interview today Harinder Sangha, their COO who shares the foundational journey of the company. Harinder has worked 20 years in tech, and 16 years in the games industry, including building successful studios with a great culture. Sangha is an award-winning studio leader who previously helped form SEGA HARDlight and Sumo Leamington.

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Thank you to our sponsor! Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠go.solsten.io⁠⁠⁠⁠ and mention Rise x Play for a demo and receive a free feature, theme, and art style study included with your Navigator purchase, a $20,000 value. Offer valid through 8/31/23.

-------------------------------

If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend. Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: ⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog

The third season of the podcast is in the making!!!

I would love to get your feedback and suggestions (2-min survey): https://www.surveylegend.com/s/47al

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Devon has always been drawn to building heartfelt experiences that captivate everyday people and result in long-term value. During her 15-year career including working at Big Fish Games and GSN games, she’s explored the capabilities of UX research and UX design methods within free-to-play mobile game development, resulting in engagement-boosting gameplay optimizations while supercharging her team’s efficiency by aligning the team around the needs of their target audience. 

Devon is committed to the well-being of players, which is what drew her to Solsten where she’s leading the design of services that empower companies to craft solutions that fully resonate with people.

In this episode, Devon debunks all the myths and misconceptions about UX:

- What is actually UX Design

- The limits of designing game experiences based on demographic and group generalizations

- Why having a deep understanding of human behavior and psychology is fundamental in UX design

- What is the difference between UX Design, UI art, and a UI designer, and why the overused acronym UX/UI is misleading.

- When do you need to think about UX? at the very start or at the very end of the design process?

- Can we calculate the ROI of UX?

I hope you'll have more light on what UX is and how to make better UX-related decisions, after listening to this episode.

Find more about Solsten

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Maya Hofree is the VP of New Games at Product Madness. She counts 10 years of industry experience, starting as a Product Manager at Jelly Button Games and later became the Product director on big titles such as Pirate Kings, Board Kings and World Series of Poker, when Jelly Button was later acquired by Playtika.

In this episode, Maya shares her new challenges in building the New Games Strategy and Teams at Product Madness. We are covering in our discussion:

• How to build a strategy for new games from scratch?


• What should be the focus and priorities as the VP of New Games?


• Maya's experience leading small teams in a family-friendly environment at Jelly Button to leading a 400-people team at Playtika


• How does Maya approach building her long-term vision and career?

Enjoy this new episode!

More about the job openings at Product Madness: https://www.productmadness.com/join-us/

or contact directly Maya if you would like to join her team: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maya-hofree-416a3b2/

In this episode, I am talking to Audrey Leprince who has an impressive background in gaming. Audrey started in the industry as a game designer and producer for Ubisoft and Quantic Dream on AAA games. She is now the co-founder of the indie studio The Game Bakers, behind games like Haven or Furi. Audrey is advocating for diversity in the games industry: she co-founded WINGS in 2019, an international mini-fund only focusing on funding games by women and marginalised genders developers and founded Women in Games France. She’s also on the board of the French Video Game Trade Association.

Through the episode, we talk about the culture of freedom and flexibility they created at The Game Bakers, a self-funded studio. We also talk openly about how being a mother led Audrey to take a leap into funding WIG France and WINGS. 

You can apply your game at WINGS: https://wingsfund.me/

How to combine games and education, and is there a case for it?

We interview Melissa Cash, co-founder and CEO of PokPok, a company creating educational and engaging digital content for children. They discuss the challenges and strategies of developing non-addictive, educational content for young children, focusing on the importance of designing tools that integrate seamlessly with a parent’s daily life.

Melissa shares insights into her entrepreneurial journey, balancing professional and personal life, and highlights the critical role of networking as a CEO. We also touch on PokPok’s unique approach to early childhood education and the importance of community and collaboration in achieving success.

Pok Pok, raised $3 million in seed funding in 2022. The company was founded in 2019 after it spun out of Snowman, the small studio behind award-winning iOS games Alto’s Adventure, Alto’s Odyssey, Skate City and others.

Pok Pok is a great example of how games can be taken beyond the gaming industry to consumer and educational apps. Learn more about Pok Pok: https://playpokpok.com/

03:02 Melissa's Journey to Pok Pok

12:08 Building the Product

16:09 Marketing and Business Model

19:15 Challenges and Parental Concerns

23:20 Balancing Toddler Activities and Screen Time

24:03 The Healthy Screen Time Debate

24:40 Understanding Pok Pok's Unique Value

26:15 Challenges and Differentiation in the Market

30:36 Team Composition and Educational Approach

33:18 Reflections on Entrepreneurship

39:02 Balancing Family and Business

41:34 Future Plans and Excitement

43:27 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

In this episode, we follow the journey of Laura Carter, CEO and co-founder of TreesPlease Games, with the mission to bring a positive impact on the planet, through games. After a stellar career at companies such as Natural Motion, Square Enix, The Walt Disney Company and PlayStation Studios, Laura decided in 2019 to take a leap and bring her passion for the planet and business together and found TreesPlease Games.

TreesPlease Games raised $8M in seed funding in 2023: https://mobilegamer.biz/treesplease-games-gets-8m-in-seed-funding-reveals-debut-game-longleaf-valley/

Laura shares about the process of navigating the challenges of starting a company as an initial solo founder, raising funds, assembling a team, making a game that aligns with the company's environmental mission, and managing the operational demands of achieving the company's goals. The team at Trees Please is proud to have planted nearly a million trees through their gaming activity and first casual puzzle title Longleaf Valley. Despite various challenges, TreesPlease aims to continue creating environmentally-themed casual puzzle games, with plans to launch more in 2024.

Learn more about TreesPlease reforestation project:

https://www.treespleasegames.com/real-tree-planting

https://www.edenprojects.org/

01:03 Laura's Journey into Entrepreneurship

03:34 The Birth of TreesPlease Games

05:23 Challenges and Triumphs of Starting a Company

06:57 The Importance of a Supportive Network

07:32 Balancing Motherhood and Entrepreneurship

10:01 Building the Founding Team

10:26 Securing Initial Funding

12:23 The Journey of Building Longleaf Valley

17:35 The Impact of Longleaf Valley, planting 1,000,000 trees

36:51 The Future of TreesPlease Studio

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

In this last episode of the Season 1 of Rise and Play Podcast, I am thrilled to have the one and only Mishka as a guest. Mishka is the CEO and founder of Savage Game Studios and the founder of Deconstructor of Fun. 

We are addressing several topics in this episode:

- How Deconstructor of Fun started from an accident and a discovery process

- Why and how should you start to create your own content to elevate the industry

- What's behind the name and culture of Savage Game Studios

- Tips on how to handle exit interviews, keeper test, probation periods

- Mishka's vision on the importance of the diversity of mind over ethnical diversity only

- The challenges and responsibility to be a CEO and step away from day-to-day operations

Enjoy this last episode! Stay tuned for the Season 2 we are preparing for winter 2021!

More about Savage Game Culture at: https://www.savagegamestudios.com/culture

In this new episode, I am talking to Tatiana Kondratyeva, CEO & co-founder at Playpack, a new company formed in early 2021 focused on making games for an underserved audience with meaningful social interactions. Tatiana started her career in games more than 13 years ago. Games were always her biggest passion and she made it all the way up from being in QA to her current role of CEO and co-founder at Playpack. Tatiana has an amazing track record in the industry. She has worked at Wooga and Etermax, and beforehand she’s been working at Glu Mobile at the times where mobile Free-to-pay games were just on a rising trend.

We tackle in this episode how Tatiana formed her new company, how she found her co-founders, and how they defined together their company mission and values.

Enjoy this new episode!

Open positions at Playpack: https://www.playpack.games/

Bakyt Aidaralieva is a product management and player experience executive with 9+ years of experience supporting players, leading teams and building tools in companies like Supercell, EA, PlayRaven and Rovio in the Finnish Games Industry. Among the hit mobile games Bakyt has worked with are Hay Day, Clash of Clans, Boom Beach and Simcity Build It. She has built player support and community functions in two startups, the latest company being PlayRaven which was acquired by Rovio Entertainment, the creator of the Angry Birds brand. 

Bakyt is driven by learning new things, taking risks, and learning from failures. She shares in this episode her journey starting from Kyrgyzstan to international politics to working in games, to becoming a business coach. Among the highlights of our conversation:

-  What makes a great empathic leader?

- About the importance of finding a balance between personal and professional life. How developing your personal relationships makes you a better leader.

- Bakyt's approach to building automated tools for player support, saving the precious full-time of 5 backend developers.

- Bakyt's learnings failing a startup, and why the most life important life lessons happen with failure.

- What led Bakyt to the path of becoming a life and business coach, helping leaders to be more "whole" in workplaces.

Thank you to our sponsors.

• Game Refinery: https://info.gamerefinery.com/riseandplay to get a free product tour. Build better games + live events with leaner teams.


• Appodeal: https://appodeal.com join the all-in-one growth platform for mobile app creators of any size.

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: https://www.riseandplay.io

In this episode, we continue on the topic of boundaries⁠ with Maria Maunula Senior Producer at Rovio Entertainment Corporation, and Sophie Vo GM at Savage Game Studios, and how to apply those in the role of Producer.

Everyone comes to you for every day's requests and problems when you are the Producer. How do you master "Saying no" more often? Learn the communication tools on how to set clear producer boundaries at work. The best producers keep focus and push back distractions to get things done!

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Thank you to our sponsor! Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠go.solsten.io⁠⁠⁠⁠ and mention Rise x Play for a demo and receive a free feature, theme, and art style study included with your Navigator purchase, a $20,000 value. Offer valid through 8/31/23."

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Maria Maunula is currently a Senior Producer at Rovio. She has been a producer with years of experience in the games industry, working on businesses of all sizes, from small startups to big corporations such as Seriously, DoDreams, and Nitro Games.

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: ⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog

Highly recommended reads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/944267.Boundaries

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53359440-boundary-boss

Article on boundaries at work from Ioana Hreninciuc

https://www.riseandplay.io/blogs/how-to-set-boundaries-at-work

Ivanna Pogrebniak is the Executive Director at AB Games (who released the successful title: Hidden City). Ivanna has an impressive career of 12 years working in IT, plus 3 years in the gaming industry. After working as a corporate lawyer just for half a year at AB games, Ivanna got offered the position of CEO of the company. 

She shares her career debut as a female CEO in an industry where she had little experience, the challenges she faced, and how she overcame them. Ivanna shares her mental models and routines to handle her busy life between the family (married, with 3 children), her CEO responsibilities, and her own needs. One thing she will never compromise on is to continue to learn and develop herself.

Additionally, Ivanna is an active member of the Ukrainian IT and Gamedev community and a driver of the Ukrainian Gamedev Association with initiatives such as the AB library that she is leading.

More about AB games: https://ab-games.com/en/

More about AB library: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKj2OS1lj8lwMTmdaf9roPQ

Welcome to the second season of Rise and Play podcast, where we are focusing on Portraits of Women in Games. In this first episode, I am talking to An Vu, Chief Marketing Officer at Small Giant Games.

In this episode, we will cover the following questions:

- What does a CMO do?

- How did An build a small and effective UA team of 11 people at Small Giant Games?

- How does she lead her team? What is her strategy with UA and creatives, and how do these two parts are collaborating together?

- What was her career journey from a UA associate to a CMO position? How did she create these opportunities for herself?

Enjoy this new episode!

More about Small Giant Games: https://www.smallgiantgames.com/

More about the UA Society: https://uasociety.com/

What is the most fundamental human need: to be seen and recognized for who we are? When holding a management position, how is being yourself a realistic expectation?

We discuss in this new episode with Miska the limitations of being truly yourself as a leader. It is easier and even recommended to be yourself when you're part of a game team (i.e. Product Manager, Producer), to build trust and connection with your team. When you are in a management role (i.e. CEO/C-level/VP, Game Director), your title precedes you, and being too much "yourself" can have damaging consequences for people and create an environment of anxiety.

Here are some pitfalls: revealing strategic information in the wrong timing or context, saying something that will be misinterpreted, or saying a bad joke.

------------------------------

Thank you to our sponsor! Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠go.solsten.io⁠⁠⁠⁠ and mention Rise x Play for a demo and receive a free feature, theme, and art style study included with your Navigator purchase, a $20,000 value. Offer valid through 8/31/23.

-------------------------------

We will share in this episode several frameworks of communication: Layer your communication with different groups and audiences. Be close and yourself with the people you need to be close to (your core team), not everyone in the company. Accept being disliked for your image, not for who you truly are. You are not a Lead to be liked. You are a Lead to make the right (and unpopular) decisions for the long-term benefit of the company and team.

Link to the video of the episode: https://youtu.be/FdrnkMVqe6Q

If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend. Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: ⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog

Join us for a special and meta episode on... how to make podcasts! Have you ever considered starting your own podcast, and why should you consider a podcast to create content? That's what we are deconstructing with Lauren Kaye, the founder and host of the podcast She Plays Games. I was so happy to connect with another female podcaster in games, as we are very rare! Learn what you should consider before you create content (on youtube, on a podcast, or any media platform). Learn about our processes on how we design our content, source our guests, and edit our podcast episodes. Even if you're not planning to have your own podcast, this is still a young and untapped media platform you can experiment with! 

SHE PLAYS GAMES is a podcast dedicated to celebrating women who work in the games industry. We want to make the various roles in games visible to anyone looking to join the games industry whether through programming, QA, producing, streaming, content creation, and so on.

Thank you to our sponsors.

• Game Refinery: https://info.gamerefinery.com/riseandplay to get a free product tour. Build better games + live events with leaner teams.


• Appodeal: https://appodeal.com join the all-in-one growth platform for mobile app creators of any size.

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: https://www.riseandplay.io

Julie Beaugrand, former VP North Americas Studios at Gameloft and Head of Studio of Toronto, shares her journey building a new game studio at Rovio on a mission to crack the next casual hit game. From her 6 years running a successful large studio in Toronto, operating the hit game Disney Magic Kingdom, she took those learnings to build her new dream team. Take away from this episode how to start your new studio when you are embedded in a company, who to hire as new talents, who to bring with you from previous teams, how to build your network of mentors, and how to approach the current casual market. 

Thank you to our sponsors.

• Game Refinery: https://info.gamerefinery.com/riseandplay to get a free product tour. Build better games + live events with leaner teams.


• Appodeal: https://appodeal.com join the all-in-one growth platform for mobile app creators of any size.

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: https://www.riseandplay.io

Check the open positions in Rovio Toronto.

🇮🇳 SPECIAL INDIA SERIES 🇮🇳

In this episode, we go on a captivating journey into the world of gaming and e-sports in India. Joined by Roby John, the CEO of SuperGaming and former co-founder of June Gaming, we discuss the rise of India's gaming industry and the unique player-centric and cultural approach SuperGaming has taken in building its innovative Indo-Futuristic Battle Royale title: Indus.

More about Supergaming: https://www.youtube.com/@supergaming6686

More about Indus: https://www.youtube.com/@IndusGame

Topics Discussed:

- Super Gaming's mission to build India's gaming revolution

- The development of cross-platform games and SuperPlatform

- Roby's background as a teacher and its influence on community-building through gaming

- The journey of building June Gaming (Roby's first company) and the lessons learned

- The success of Mask Gun and the importance of ground insights

- The integration of Indian culture and festivals in their game Indus

- The creation of Indus, an Indo-futuristic battle royale game

- Super Gaming's focus on data, iterative improvements, and community building

- The accessibility of the internet and a young demographic driving the growth of mobile gaming in India

- Super Gaming's approach to creating Indian-specific games and storytelling

- The significance of representation and empowerment in their games

- The incorporation of traditional Indian music and instruments

- The upcoming closed beta release and the excitement of player feedback

- The talent and collective effort behind Super Gaming's games

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

From building your vision to the methods to find, screen and select the best candidates for you - I will share my full hiring framework with you. Hiring makes up 50% of the success of your studio, so it is important to get it right! It is worth investing heavily upfront to build a sustainable studio for the long term.

Crystallise your Team Vision - Who do you need, how many people, which skills for which phase, what team composition should you aim for? Why Diversity matters so much when hiring?

Link to the Masterclass video: https://www.riseandplay.io/video/team-vision

Lauren Clinnick is the CEO and co-founder at Lumi Interactive, an Australian, female-founded mobile game studio focused on games that make the world a kinder place. With a focus on social connection and well-being, their latest plant-focused title Kinder World is in development for iOS and Android for a global release in late 2022. Lauren shares her journey, failures, and learning building the game company. She shares how she approaches game development as a marketer exploring platforms like Tik Tok, leveraging the community of the game, getting a deep understanding of the audience, and understanding subculture trends. She shares their fundraising journey, their hurdles as a fully female-founded team, and how they iterated their pitch to finally find the best partner to support their mission and purpose. 

Thank you to our sponsors.

• Game Refinery: https://info.gamerefinery.com/riseandplay to get a free product tour. Build better games + live events with leaner teams.


• Appodeal: https://appodeal.com join the all-in-one growth platform for mobile app creators of any size.

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: https://www.riseandplay.io

Read more about Kinder World and open positions at Lumi Interactive: https://jobs.polymer.co/lumiinteractive

Noemie has been working in international digital marketing and mobile gaming for the past 10 years.

She has led performance marketing teams for startups like PlayQ and also has experience with bigger companies like Jam City where she led the user acquisition strategy for the launch of the top mobile game Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery. 

She is now the CMO of Air Console, an online video game console for friends and family to play together from TV and their mobile devices.

Topics we discuss:

• Why Noémie joined Air Console, moving her marketing focus from the product to the player experience


• Noémie's vision of leading lean UA and creative teams in different organization sizes


• How Noémie innovated in the marketing launch of Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery, at Jam City

Enjoy this new episode!

More about Air Console here

From building your vision to the methods to find, screen and select the best candidates for you - I will share my full hiring framework with you. Hiring makes up 50% of the success of your studio, so it is important to get it right! It is worth investing heavily upfront to build a sustainable studio for the long term.

My best practices on running phone screening interviews from 100+ interviews.

- Phone Screening Interview 

- Team and Cross interviews 

- Identify the Red flags early  

Link to the Masterclass video: https://www.riseandplay.io/video/screening-interview

Follow the second season of my MasterClass on building teams for the long term, what I call: Antifragile teams.

• What is your main responsibility as the Team Lead?


• The 4 steps to build a great environment in a team


• How do you create a strong culture with certain values in your team? Where do you start? 

Link to the full masterclass video: https://www.riseandplay.io/video/how-to-create-your-studio-culture

Who hasn't played The Sims when they were young? The Sims has been part of our lives over the past 20 years and has evolved with our times as we evolved as a society. Join my conversation with Catharina Lavers-Mallet, VP/GM of The Sims & Maxis at EA. We talk about team culture, distributed teams at scale, and the evolution of The Sims franchise. 

Prior to EA, Catharina also acted as General Manager and Head of Studio at King. She built and scaled their London games studios and played a key operational and product leadership role in the growth of the company.

Thank you to our sponsors.

• Game Refinery: https://info.gamerefinery.com/riseandplay to get a free product tour. Build better games + live events with leaner teams.


• Appodeal: https://appodeal.com join the all-in-one growth platform for mobile app creators of any size.

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: https://www.riseandplay.io

In this episode, we interview Olya Caliujnaia, the CEO and co-founder at Sanlo.io, on a mission to help game businesses thrive revenues. Olya shares her entrepreneurial journey, from growing up in a family of resilient entrepreneurs, to eventually founding her own company in the gaming industry. Before Sanlo, Olya managed product and growth at Playfish, EA, Getty Images, SigFig, Wells Fargo and worked with early-stage companies as an entrepreneur-in-residence at XYZ Venture Capital.

Olya shares her process, trial and error of finding the right co-founder, the early stages of customer discovery, and the importance of building a committed and complementary co-founder team. Olya also talks about the products Sanlo offers, including web shops and capital financing for gaming companies, and emphasizes the importance of financial health and sustainable monetization, as vital components of a game business.

More on Sanlo.io: https://www.sanlo.io/

01:33 CEO Olya Caliujnaia's Journey: From Product Leader to Gaming Entrepreneur

02:12 The Entrepreneurial Path: Olya's Journey to Founding Sanlo.io

09:41 The Co-Founder Search: Lessons Learned and Finding the Right Match

12:40 Customer Discovery and Product Development Insights, Pivoting to PMF

18:01 Building a Team and Overcoming Challenges in the Gaming Startup World

24:36 SanloToday: Products, Vision, and the Future

29:08 Closing Thoughts and Future Directions

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

In this episode, Joakim and I cover how Elite Game Developers started: how the platform grew up to 3,000+ subscribers in 2 years, what was the reasoning behind the content creation, and what is the ambition with the platform going forward.

Joakim shares few pieces of wisdom about his life values and priorities, why he decided to not start another company to create Elite Game Developers instead, a great platform of content for founders to not repeat the common mistakes and pitfalls in the industry. We also touch on the topic of angel investing, and why it is important to continue to support the ecosystem of founders.

Joakim Achrén is a gaming entrepreneur, with fifteen years of experience from two venture-backed gaming startups, including Next Games, which IPO-ed in 2107. Joakim is now running Elite Game Developers, a company that helps entrepreneurs start their first games company. He's also an angel investor in Skunkworks Games, Lightheart Entertainment, Savage Game Studios, and more. Joakim recently took on the role of Venture Partner at Play Ventures.

More about Elite Game Developers: https://elitegamedevelopers.com/

1 - YEAR ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EPISODE

I often ask other leaders in my podcast interviews: “What keeps you up at night?”When I ask myself this question, I cannot think of anything but “How do I keep my team together on our mission to create something bigger than ourselves?”

This question keeps me busy all the time.

I previously wrote why if you’re looking to achieve in life and business, you first need a great team. Without a team, you’ve got no product — and without a product, no business. (Re-)building a great team takes time, lots of energy, and financial backing. Naturally, I often think about the threats that can endanger the most precious thing I have built over the years: a high-performing, well-functioning, and fun team to work with.

So, what can we do about it?

In this special episode, I reflect my key learnings from the past 3 years building a casual studio from scratch at Voodoo.

Enjoy this new episode!

You can read the full article here

What would happen if someone leaked their company's full compensation information to the entire company? That's how you can evaluate your readiness to move your company toward an open salaries policy, or not. In the future of work, where more and more employees will prioritize transparency and equality, open salaries are poised to become a standard for Gen Z in Western cultures. If you want to remain competitive in the long term and hiring talents, you may want to consider embracing open salaries.

In this episode, Matt Schembari, CEO at Lightforge Games, shares the research on open salaries and the current state of the open salary movement and provides concrete benefits and challenges from Lightforge's experience practicing open salaries over the past three years.

You can find additional resources from Matt's GDC 2023 talk here.

As a recognition for their effort in pioneering a better culture for the game industry, Lightforge Games received the 2024 Game Changers Awards by Lightspeed and Gamesbeat.

Topics covered:

• Why open salaries make sense in specific contexts and how to determine if it applies to your situation.


• Steps to initiate open salary practices if you haven't already.


• Establishing a company with open salaries from the ground up.


• Exploring the pros and cons of open salaries, including potential pitfalls.


• Embracing a coaching culture for leaders and employees.

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

Julia Palatovska is the co-founder and CEO of Dorian, a new creator platform that enables anyone to turn fiction into games and make money out of them! With Dorian, Julia's team is democratizing how digital stories are created (no-code platform), empowering storytellers from all around the world to tell the stories that deserve to be told. Julia shares her journey as an entrepreneur, from Ukraine to the Silicon Valley, leveraging her prior experience as a venture partner at LVP. Julia also gives advice on how to fundraise and pitch, who to hire for an early-stage startup, and why it is important to have more female-founded companies make an exit to bridge the gap in the number of VC funds led by women as well. 

Thank you to our sponsors.

• Game Refinery: https://info.gamerefinery.com/riseandplay to get a free product tour. Build better games + live events with leaner teams.


• Appodeal: https://appodeal.com join the all-in-one growth platform for mobile app creators of any size.

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: https://www.riseandplay.io

Read more about Dorian at: https://home.dorian.live/

In this episode, I am debunking with Steph all the misconceptions about narrative design, and why this field remains so misunderstood in the gaming industry.

- What is narrative design, and why it is not just "writing" for games?

- Why narrative design is essential from the concept phase to build long lasting IPs

- Why and how diversity enables to create impactful and meaningful stories for players

- What is the ROI of narrative design? (bring those insights to your stakeholders)

- Fun fact: Steph shares why Chess is a great example of what conceptual narrative design is

Steph is a Canadian working as the Global Narrative Director at Gameloft. Steph started her career in games at Stardoll, a metaverse style sandbox game with tens of millions players, mostly women and girls. Then she joined King in 2014 and worked as the first narrative designer there and eventually global narrative lead there, before she eventually joined Gameloft to lead the Narrative Design team.

I enjoyed so much Steph's passion on narrative design through our conversation. I hope you will learn as much as I did about narrative design.

Enjoy this new episode!

Don't miss out on more leadership content by subscribing to the monthly newsletter at https://www.riseandplay.io/

In this episode, we interview Jamie Smith, a principal game designer at People Can Fly, about the challenges and insights into design leadership for AAA development. While agile development with quick feedback loop is common for mobile games, it is not for AAA! So how do you combine the mindset of agility and traditionally long and siloed AAA game development?

Jamie Smith, with over 13 years of experience working on AAA titles like Tom Clancy's The Division, FIFA, and Call of Duty, discusses his career journey, the transition from production roles to a leadership position, and the importance of team autonomy, cross-discipline collaboration, and decision-making structures in delivering successful game projects. The conversation sheds light on the balance between creative direction and the multitude of factors influencing game design, including technical limitations, publisher expectations, and market comparison, aiming to provide valuable insights for improving management skills and understanding the complexity and legacy of AAA game development.

More about Jamie's work and open AAA design learnings: https://youtu.be/q250xvbn9hg?si=kOEbYofqAGMJzVeH

02:42 The Evolution of a Game Designer, from IC to Leader

12:01 Leading Teams and Defining Quality in AAA Game Design

17:00 Navigating Conflicts and Priorities in Game Development

23:35 Adopting a Holistic Approach to Game Design

29:57 Reflecting on 13 Years in AAA Game Development

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

“Neurodiversity” explains the unique ways people's brains work. While everyone's brain develops similarly, no two brains function just alike. Being neurodivergent means having a brain that works differently from the average or “neurotypical” person. ADHD, Autism, Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, and Tourette's syndrome are all examples of neurodiverse conditions. They're diagnostic labels used to explain the diverse ways of thinking, learning, processing, and behaving.

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Thank you to our sponsor! Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠go.solsten.io⁠⁠⁠⁠ and mention Rise x Play for a demo and receive a free feature, theme, and art style study included with your Navigator purchase, a $20,000 value. Offer valid through 8/31/23."

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As the leader of your organisation, how inclusive are you of neurodiversity at work? Your employees won't tell you that they're neurodiverse if they don't feel part of an inclusive workplace, or trust that it won't be used against their career progression and performance. How can you be proactive and supportive about it as an employer? What talent opportunities are you missing out on by excluding neurodiverse people?

Learn more about ADHD and mental health conditions from Alice Bowman's testimonial, Product Lead at MAG Interactive. Alice is offering insights into the challenges of some of those mental health conditions, and how it could be a virtue at work and for leaders. Hear ideas of what you can implement in your workplace to be more inclusive for people with mental health challenges. Alice has previously worked for companies such as Trailmix, Netspeak Games, and Outplay Entertainment.

Shout outs:
Safe In Our World  as a great wealth of resources and support for mental health in the games industry ✨
Adam Clewes-Boyne whose new community Playing Attention is dedicated to supporting folks with ADHD in the industry 🌟
Dominic Shaw who is constantly advocating for neurodiverse individuals through his work with Ukie - The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment, Autistica and #RaisetheGame 💪

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: ⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog

"What if I build my own company? What if I have more money? Then, I will be happier!"

In this episode, Sophie interviews Miska Katkoff, founder of Deconstructor of Fun and former CEO of Savage Games, to reflect on the journey post-acquisition from PlayStation Studios in 2022.

We discuss the definition of success and the common pressures individuals face in attaining it. Miska shares his personal experience navigating his sense of achievement, dealing with external validation, and the value he places on self-reliance. He discusses the importance of understanding personal values and setting personal goals instead of adopting those prescribed by others. He also encourages listeners to seek therapy as a tool for understanding oneself and promoting mental health. We also touch on the role money plays in their definitions of success.

Link to the MindJournal mentioned in the episode.

00:47 Discussing the Concept of Success

01:38 External Success vs Internal Success

06:24 The Role of Comparison in Success

07:47 The Importance of Setting Personal Goals

11:05 The Role of Money in Defining Success

21:18 The Impact of Material Possessions on Happiness

24:27 The Importance of Therapy in Stressful Times

24:55 The Role of Therapy in Personal Growth

25:54 The Impact of Stress on Personal Relationships

27:13 The Struggles of Startup Life

28:17 The Power of Normalizing Therapy

28:38 Overcoming Prejudices and Resistance to Therapy

29:31 The Importance of Mental Training

30:56 The Journey of Self-Discovery through Therapy

31:24 The Role of Coaching in Personal Development

34:48 The Impact of Upbringing on Success Drive

37:34 The Importance of Self-Realization and Serving Others

44:18 The Power of Journaling and Self-Reflection

45:33 The Persistence of Internal Issues Despite Success

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

Marie Mejerwall has an extensive career in gaming and design. She started in esports in 2001 and in game development in 2008 and has been involved in both ever since. During her career, she worked at studios such as Ubisoft, Warner  Bros, Eidos, and Capcom and climbed to become a game director.

Today, she is an advisor to game studios, publishers, and esports companies, and a popular host and event speaker. Marie shares her journey of building her own path in gaming, from engineering, to game design, to game direction, leading teams to building her own business. We talk about women (or the lack of them) in E-sport, what skills are expected of a Game Director, why game design is still such a young and evolving field and how to stay on top of it.

Thank you to our sponsors.

• Game Refinery: https://info.gamerefinery.com/riseandplay to get a free product tour. Build better games + live events with leaner teams.


• Appodeal: https://appodeal.com join the all-in-one growth platform for mobile app creators of any size.

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: https://www.riseandplay.io

In this new episode, I have the pleasure to talk to Taina Myöhänen, the president of We In Games Finland (formerly named Women in Games Finland). We tackle with Taina the sensible topics of diversity, inclusivity, women in games... and what it means concretely for We in Games, and how these important topics are handled in the community. I love the Finnish gaming community for their progressive thinking and thoughtfulness on diversity and equality. Not being afraid to tackle the hard things. I believe many could benefit from the practices from We In Games, whether you are running your own community or are in a position of leadership. 

Enjoy this new episode!

More about We In Games Finland: https://weingames.fi/

In this episode, we deconstruct with Marina Barthélémy how to make sound financial decisions for your company when things are going well, instead of making those decisions when things are going wrong. Marina has an impressive track record in gaming and finance. She previously worked as the CFO at Amplitude Studios, which SEGA later acquired in 2016. Marina and her co-founder Arthur, recently launched their own gaming fund PixCapital, to support premium studios.

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Thank you to our sponsor! Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠go.solsten.io⁠⁠⁠⁠ and mention Rise x Play for a demo and receive a free feature, theme, and art style study included with your Navigator purchase, a $20,000 value. Offer valid through 8/31/23.

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We will cover in this episode how to prepare your company for an exit or funding, how to evaluate the right funding partner, and how to get your team ready for funding with a strong vision, culture, playable, and scope. Those principles apply to any business model in gaming (F2P, premium, web3) when money is less available.

Related episode on Why We Need More Women As Investors: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/riseandplay/episodes/39--Why-We-Need-More-Women-As-Investors---with-Salone-Sehgal-e1lv318/a-a8c2lb2

If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend. Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog

How often do we look back and share openly what led to a studio's closing? While we can learn from success, we can learn as much from failures. And we should, especially given how many studios are unfortunately closing these days.

In this episode, we go back to the story of Skunkworks Games, the makers of Merge Friends, a notable successful merge game released in 2019 during the rise of other new merge games.

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Thank you to our sponsor! Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠go.solsten.io⁠⁠⁠⁠ and mention Rise x Play for a demo and receive a free feature, theme, and art style study included with your Navigator purchase, a $20,000 value. Offer valid through 8/31/23.

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A few years later in 2022, we hear the company is shutting down and filing for bankruptcy. The game is no longer running, the whole team has to go and find a new job. What happened? What can we learn from this story to not repeat similar stories? 

Learn from Collin Foss, ex-CPO at Skunkworks Games on the key lessons and postmortem of the studio. As the management, how do you close a company when you know this is the end? How do you communicate it to the team, when and how?

If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend. Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: ⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog

Carol Miu is the CEO of PeopleFun known for the casual hit game Wordscapes. The company has seen tremendous growth from $100MM in annual revenue in 2018 to over $300MM currently. Carol shares her whole journey from joining the company in 2018 as the product leader on Wordscapes to becoming the CEO. Learn how Carol approached scaling an organization of 17 people to a mature organization of 100+ employees, and how to grow the team leaders in a sustainable way. After all, the leaders of an organization are the most influential people to steer the culture and company results.

How do you give the best chances of success and training for your new leaders in the company? Use the EDGE Technique to lead: Explain, Demonstrate, Guide, Enable. How do you ensure that leaders have a manageable number of reports? For a new leader, it should be one report. For an experienced leader, it should be six-seven reports maximum. How are you following those principles?

Thank you to our sponsor! Identify your ideal audience with today's sponsor Solsten to streamline development decisions and get to market faster. Visit solsten.io/contact-us and mention Rise x Play for a demo and receive 30% off your first Solsten engagement crafted to your studio’s needs.

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: https://www.riseandplay.io

In this episode, we are tackling with Kegan all the burning questions you could have about the history and development of the Diablo Franchise:

• What is the Product Management approach to Diablo IV, and why is this is a new approach in AAA development?


• The important differences in Product Management between F2P mobile and AAA development


• What can we learn from the advanced Player Research methods at Blizzard?


• The challenges of aligning between PM and Development teams on Diablo, and how Kegan is adding the PM mindset to the creative development process


• Learn how Kegan tackled with professionalism and wisdom the situations of "being the only woman in the room" at companies like Blizzard and Riot Games

I deeply enjoyed the authentic and genuine conversation with Kegan, sharing her passion working on Diablo franchise and her personal journey in gaming.

Kegan Clark is the current Director of Product on Diablo IV at Blizzard Entertainment, former head of Business Intelligence on League of Legends Franchise at Riot Games. 

Enjoy this new episode!

🇮🇳 SPECIAL INDIA SERIES 🇮🇳

In this episode, we are joined by Oliver Jones, CEO and co-founder of Bombay Play, one of the leading gaming studios in Bengaluru, India. Oliver shares his journey in the gaming industry before founding Bombay Play, from working at Zynga and Glu to founding his first company Moonfrog Labs (acquired for USD 90 million by Stillfront in 2021).

Oliver talks about the booming gaming ecosystem in India and how companies like Zynga and EA established their studios in the country to leverage local talent. He shares how Moonfrog Labs, his first startup, focused on creating content for the Indian market and eventually gained traction leading to the acquisition by Stillfront.

We dive into the challenges and successes of building a gaming company in India, including the importance of bootstrapping, building a strong team, and focusing on a specific genre. Oliver shares insights on their strategy of creating card games with a social casino twist, targeting a gap in the market. Oliver emphasizes the importance of quick iterations, adapting to the market, and taking bold bets in game development.

Check Bombay Play's latest title ⁠Block Heads⁠ (a Duel Puzzle Game) in Soft Launch.

Topics Discussed:

- The gaming ecosystem in India

- Building Moonfrog Labs and Bombay Play

- Bootstrapping and generating revenue

- Focusing on specific genres

- Cultural differences and working culture in India

- Creating a purpose-driven culture

- Quick iterations and adapting to the market

- The future of the Indian gaming market

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

In this episode, Mika Tammenkoski, the CEO and co-founder of Metacore shared the evolution of his gaming company since its inception in 2020. From a small team prototyping smartwatch games to novel merge mechanics, the company has grown to 190+ members.

The studio’s first global hit game Merge Mansion already has over 50 million players. Metacore is one of the fastest growing game companies in Europe, with EUR 129 million in revenue in 2022 and a team of 190 professionals. The company has raised EUR 180 million in funding from Supercell and is one of their portfolio companies.

Mika talks about the company's early meetings and experiences, his personal journey into the gaming industry, and the decision to shift focus from new technologies to more established gaming markets.

He also sheds light on the company's culture and the vital importance of a robust talent acquisition strategy. Furthermore, Mika provides insights on Metacore's expansion plans, with a new studio in Berlin and operations extending to other games.

00:00 Introduction and Background of Metacore

00:31 Interview with Mika, CEO and Co-founder of Metacore

01:48 Mika's Journey into the Gaming Industry

04:47 Mika's Experience at Digital Chocolate

08:08 Founding of Everywear Games and Transition to Metacore

10:28 Challenges and Learnings from Previous Ventures

17:06 The Birth of Merge Mansion

18:49 The Testing and Iteration Process of Merge Mansion

23:55 Reflections on the Development Process

27:10 The Journey of Game Development and Company Growth

28:06 Challenges and Learnings from Global Launch

28:43 Understanding the Role of Story and Advertising in Gaming

29:37 The Evolution of Company Culture

30:37 Influence of Other Cultures and the Importance of Adaptability

32:40 The Importance of Talent Acquisition and Internal Growth

34:33 Reflections on Company Growth and Expansion

34:59 The Importance of Defining and Evolving Company Culture

43:18 Looking Forward: Future Aspirations and Expansion Plans for Metacore

47:33 Challenges and Strategies in Scaling Skills and Leadership

48:03 The Role of Community in the Gaming Industry

53:50 Closing Thoughts: The Importance of Inspiration and Continuous Learning

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

From building your vision to the methods to find, screen and select the best candidates for you - I will share my full hiring framework with you. Hiring makes up 50% of the success of your studio, so it is important to get it right! It is worth investing heavily upfront to build a sustainable studio for the long term.

Define your Studio Mission and Vision - Before you hire, get clarity about your studio mission and vision so you attract the right people for your mission.

Link to the Masterclass video: https://www.riseandplay.io/video/studio-vision-mission

A proven way to build a strong company culture starts from the top, with the leadership. Is this the only way? 

Today, we discuss with Jussi Tähtinen, CEO and co-founder of Nitro Games, a Finnish mobile mid-core games studio, on how to build a culture bottom-up. How do you start the process when you want to involve your people in reevaluating your culture? How do you define company values bottom-up, and at which stage of the company should you do it? How often should you update you values and culture? Values are not just pretty words on the wall, so how do you turn them into everyday habits of the company life?

Identify your ideal audience with today's sponsor Solsten to streamline development decisions and get to market faster. Visit solsten.io/contact-us and mention Rise x Play for a demo and receive 30% off your first Solsten engagement crafted to your studio’s needs. 

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: https://www.riseandplay.io

I am kicking off a new season for Rise and Play with our special guest Maria Sayans, the CEO at Ustwo Games.

Maria has been helping games companies succeed in the digital space, build great brands, launch games and engage players for nearly two decades. She spent 14 years at EA building online functions and on marketing leadership roles for franchises like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Dead Space, Star Wars, Mirror’s Edge and Battlefield. In 2015 she joined CCP Games, the Icelandic developer of EVE Online, as their Chief Customer Officer. Since she joined Ustwo games, she has been helping the company evolve beyond their Monument Valley heritage and expand into new platforms and business models.

Among the notable success of Ustwo games: Monument Valley and Alba: A Wildlife Adventure.

In this episode, we are discussing what it takes to build a purpose-driven company culture and create games with meaning.

- What are the core values at Ustwo games, and how do they translate those values into team culture and game development?

- What is Ustwo's magic recipe for creating meaningful IPs such as Monument Valley and Alba?

- How Ustwo made a real impact in the world planting 1M+ trees with the success of Alba

Maria sets the example for a new generation of CEOs who are people and culture-focused. She enables the teams to create at their best, and she walks the talk!

More info about their B-corp certification and Alba's initiatives to plant trees.

Thank you to our sponsors.

• Game Refinery: https://info.gamerefinery.com/riseandplay to get a free product tour. Build better games + live events with leaner teams.


• Appodeal: https://appodeal.com join the all-in-one growth platform for mobile app creators of any size.

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: https://www.riseandplay.io

This episode is all about how to build a culture attractive for A-players dedicated to achieving big goals. You don’t want to miss it!

I am talking to Valerie Alfimova who is the CRO at Appodeal Stack, a mobile AdTech and gaming group of companies. Appodeal Stacks’s mission is to enable creators to start and scale successful mobile app businesses. 

Valerie is a global sales and marketing executive with more than ten years of experience leading media, mobile AdTech, and gaming ventures. Over the last five years, Valerie has been instrumental in driving the company’s transition from a single product startup to a multi-subsidiary company serving 100K+ mobile app developers worldwide.

Valerie shares her perspective on the role of a strong culture in a company’s success and on what it takes to scale a company from a few employees to a team of around 150 people.

In this episode we will also talk about:

- A sports team mindset vs we-are-a-family-here

- The role of cultural alignment in a long-term company’s strategy

- Skin in the game and how to get your team genuinely invested

- How to keep it lean by promoting business units’ mobility

Thank you to our sponsors.

• Game Refinery: https://info.gamerefinery.com/riseandplay to get a free product tour. Build better games + live events with leaner teams.


• Appodeal: https://appodeal.com join the all-in-one growth platform for mobile app creators of any size.

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: https://www.riseandplay.io

Where To Connect with Valerie Alfimova: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valerie-alfimova

This episode is about the inspiring journey of a resilient young entrepreneur, who is committed to cracking the puzzle of fitness to mobile games for GenZ.

In this episode, we interview Jenny Xu, the CEO of Talofa Games, to discuss her journey in the gaming industry and the creation of their unique fitness RPG game, Run Legends.

Jenny shares her background in the industry, including her previous solo-founded company, JC Soft Inc., and being part of the Niantic Kickstarter Program leading to the creation of Talofa Games.

We dive into the details of Run Legends, a co-op fitness RPG game that combines modern gaming with fitness, aiming to surpass existing fitness gaming options. Learn more about the fitness habits and preferences of Gen Z, and what it takes to create a game experience for GenZ.

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

We meet again in this episode with Joakim Achrén, founder of Elite Game Developers, to break the myth of the stressful busy entrepreneur, and that it is actually not good for you. Why is this so hard to talk openly about mental burnout among entrepreneurs and leaders? Why are we holding on that image of control? What's happening under the surface, and what are the long-term consequences in the long run of suppressing negative emotions?  

We'll address in this episode:

- The definition of burnout. What are the signs? Joakim and I will share our personal experiences.

- What can you do once you know you are in a burnout or depressive state? How can therapy help? 

- What are still the blockers for leaders to seek help and therapy?

Thank you to our sponsor Game Refinery: https://info.gamerefinery.com/riseandplay to get a free product tour. Build better games + live events with leaner teams.

Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: https://www.riseandplay.io

In this second episode, I am speaking with Maryna Iaremenko, a Lead Game Designer specialised in system design with 10 years of experience in F2P. She is currently the Lead Designer (and the one only) at GameHouse and has an amazing career track record. She previously worked at King, Social Point and Gameloft.

In this episode, we tackle:

• How to build design processes when you are the only designer in house?


• How to approach the design of new concepts?


• What are the current game design trends to watch?


• What are the challenges of working abroad and in a very different culture from yours?


• Why are there so few women in Senior Design positions, and what can we do about it?

Enjoy this new episode!

More about GameHouse and open positions: https://talent.gamehouse.com/

Georgina is the COO & Co-founder of Talewind, a studio with a mission to create incredibly fun and engaging gaming experiences for the metaverse, starting with Roblox! At Talewind she is responsible for the operational running of the business and is typically known as the Head of Happiness! The health and wellbeing of the team are always a top priority and she has her finger constantly on the pulse of ways in which she can innovate best working practices. She has proven passion and success in building diverse, high functioning, emotionally intelligent teams and operations for the Games industry.

In this episode, we cover how she started the company Talewind with her co-founder and partner Mike Allender. We will also cover the company culture they consciously built, valuing kindness, positive impact, sustainability and education. For example, they applied the model of a 4-day workweek.

Enjoy this new episode!

What is managing up? While there are plenty of books about how to be a good Leader, there are few to none about how to be a good follower. Why is that?

Wherever you are in this world, you will always report to someone, your boss, a stakeholder, or an investor. Making those relationships work is as important as the relationships you build in your team. How can you apply your empathetic superpowers to your manager? Managing up is good for you, good for your boss, and good for the organization as a whole.

In this episode, we cover how to "Manage Up" with Michail Katkoff (Managing Director at Savage Games Studios and Founder of Deconstructor of Fun) 

- How to be a good subordinate?

- How do you identify the "type" of your manager, and how do you adapt your leadership style for each?

- What are the upsides of managing up well?

Full video of the episode here: https://youtu.be/jlXkU0N2UKc

Check out the book Manage Up

More resources from HBR: https://hbr.org/2015/01/what-everyone-should-know-about-managing-up

If you've enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: https://www.riseandplay.io

In this episode focused on fundraising, we hear the stories of three powerful women and founders who raised with VCs in seed and round A between 2015 and 2023. All you need to know while you are fundraising with VCs in 2024, and asking yourself, is this the right path for you?

• Julia Palatovska, Dorian Games, $19M raised.


• Aurora Klæboe Berg, Megacool and Medal TV, $60M raised.


• Ioana Hreninciuc, Runware (PicFinder), $3M raised.

Host, Sophie Vo alongside founders Julia Palatovska, Aurora Klæboe Berg, and Ioanna Hreninciuc, share their firsthand experiences and lessons learned from fundraising with VCs, including the importance of iteration on the pitch, building a strong team of co-founders, and the journey from concept to securing investments, as a major responsibility of a CEO role.

We cover the different fundraising rounds, the impact of investors' feedback, and strategies for creating a compelling pitch. Additionally, the episode covers the dynamics of working with co-founders, the realities versus expectations of fundraising, and practical advice for other founders navigating their fundraising efforts in 2024 and beyond.

01:37 The Realities of VC Fundraising: Stories from the Front Lines

07:32 Hope vs. Reality: The Fundraising Experience

21:38 Navigating Feedback and holding Vision in Fundraising

30:10 FOMO, Fundraising Matchmaking

38:05 Advice for Future Fundraisers in 2024

Episode available on Youtube: https://youtu.be/Sig-w3_2aYo

Learn more about Aurora's journey: Our Roller Coaster $1.6m Seed Fundraise

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

In this captivating episode, we dive into the revolutionary game publishing model of Kepler Interactive. Join our conversation with Catherine Chew, Senior Director of Investments and Business at Kepler, to uncover the secrets behind their unique co-ownership model.

In 2021, Kepler has raised $120 million from NetEase in a financing round as part of its launch.

At Kepler, studio founders become co-owners with a say in the decision-making process of the collective and are able to utilize the benefits that a model like this can provide. Marketing, operations, finance, publishing, technology and even team expertise: the combination of resources enables each studio to achieve their goals, all while maintaining creative freedom.

Among the founding studios at Kepler: A44, Alpha Channel, Awaceb, Ebb Software, Shapefarm, Sloclap and Timberline. The company's executive team is led by the founders of independent video game fund Kowloon Nights.

A co-ownership model sounds great on paper, but how does it work in practice?

Join us for an insightful conversation that will change the way you think about game development and publishing!

Topics Discussed:

- Kepler Interactive's co-ownership model and its impact on game publishing

- Cat's journey from consulting to joining Kepler Interactive

- The origins of the disruptive publishing model created by the founders of Kepler

- How Kepler strives for alignment and collaboration among studios

- The criteria Kepler looks for when considering new studios to join the collective

- The power of collaboration and synergy among studios within Kepler

- Kepler's commitment to sustainable growth and organic expansion

- The trade-off between rapid scaling and long-term sustainability in the gaming industry

- Kepler's vision for the future and their commitment to unique gaming experiences

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

In this latest episode, we welcome Martial Valery, co-founder of Oh Bi Bi, a French mobile video game studio known for their latest hit, Frag Pro Shooter (over 150 million downloads).

We are reflecting on over a decade of founding, building, and growing the studio, navigating the ups and downs of the company, including scaling up and down, company and game pivots. Martial opens up about the failures and lessons learned, such as the painful experience of a game flop, disappointment, and losing people. I appreciate how open and humble Martial is in sharing these entrepreneurial mistakes because there is as much to learn from the mistakes (if not more) as there is from the wins.

We will also delve into OBB's unique approach to game development, emphasizing its aim to create fresh, fun, and original games that leave a positive impact on gaming culture. The main lesson learned over a decade is the continued focus on hiring amazing talent and the importance of working with kind-hearted individuals is the foundation of a sustainable business in the gaming industry.

Topics discussed in this episode:

- Martial's journey from Gameloft to starting OBB

- Challenges faced as a young creative director

- Lessons learned from game failures

- Importance of company culture and direction, in hindsight

- OBB's creative-driven approach to game development

- Balancing creativity and business

- Hiring practices and company values at OBB

- Embracing growth as conscious leaders in the industry

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

Have a great week, don't forget to take care of yourself 💜

Sarah has over 20 years of experience making games. For the past 12 years she has been focusing exclusively on mobile. Most recently she was the VP and GM of the #1 Fashion game, Covet Fashion. Prior to that Sarah worked on The Sims Mobile, various mobile titles at Ngmoco and DeNA as well as Spore, X men- the official game, The Sims 2, The Godfather and James Bond Everything or Nothing. 

Sarah could have continued her career path at big companies. But instead, she decided to start her own initiatives and work on projects that give her meaning and allow her to make a bigger impact on the industry.

In this episode, Sarah is sharing with us:

• How she led her team on Covet Fashion and built her Leadership team with 90% women


• How the Covet Fashion team addressed the sensitive topic of racial diversity in the game


• How she made the switch from Glu Mobile to invest her time on  meaningful and impactful projects such as WINGS mobile


• Why is it hard(er) for women and marginalised communities to get funding, and what we can do about it

Enjoy this new episode.

If you want to support WINGS interactive mobile and join the initiative of supporting more diverse games and teams in the market, reach out to us: https://wingsfund.me/

As the gaming industry is maturing, we become aware of the importance of diversity in audience, teams, and leadership. But what about the investment side?

In this episode, we interview Kelly Wallick, the former founder of Indie Megabooth and now a partner at 1Up Ventures, founded in 2019 by Ed Fries (Former Microsoft Vice President). Their mission is to build a diverse and inclusive community of the most talented, experienced, and creative independent game developers in the world. Their portfolio includes noteworthy emerging studios such as Lightforge Games, Superbloom, and Gardens.

We discuss the importance of diversity in the gaming industry, how a team that reflects its audience increases the potential for success, and the role of founders' community building in nurturing success.

Wallick shares her gaming journey leading her to the investment side, the vision for 1Up Venture, and the unique community-centered approach they bring to venture capitalism.

02:19 Kelly's Journey into the Gaming Industry

04:37 The Birth and Growth of Indie Megabooth

06:42 Transitioning to 1Up Venture

10:30 Investment Decision-Making at 1Up

20:45 Betting on Diverse Teams

21:27 Investment Structure and Strategy

22:14 Building a Founders Community within the Gaming Industry

27:16 Challenges and Successes in Community Building from a Venture Side

39:31 How to connect with 1Up

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

In this episode of the podcast, we interview Antti Hattara, CEO and Co-Founder at Starberry Games. We discuss Antti's journey in the mobile gaming industry, from the Digital Chocolate Alumni days to working on popular games like Jelly Splash (Wooga) to starting his own company in 2017. Antti shares his experiences bootstrapping, pivoting the company, securing funding, and navigating the challenges of the industry. We also talk about the growing gaming ecosystem in Berlin.

Starberry is known for its successful title Merge Mayor, released in 2019. We delve into market topics like platforms, merge games, social features, and the importance of making tough decisions as a founder. Antti emphasizes the value of persistence and adaptability in a volatile market.

Topics Discussed:

- Antti's journey in the mobile gaming industry

- Working on Jelly Splash and other games

- Antti's decision to start his own company

- Pivoting and securing funding

- Challenges in the gaming industry

- Merge games and social engagement

- Making tough decisions as a founder: how to do the hard things the right way?

- Why Berlin is the place to be to open a new studio?

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

How do you build the perfect teams based on psychological and motivational traits? How do you create those magical teams at different stages of growth of a company? The people who brought you from 0 to 1 may not be the same ones who help you bring the company from 1 to 10. How do you update your human systems while scaling your company?

We will deconstruct in this episode those questions with Bastian Bergmann, co-founder at Solsten, using the human psychological lens on teams, processes, and culture.

You can find additional resources on the topic with this HBR article written by Bastian and Joe, his co-founder: https://hbr.org/2016/07/a-data-driven-approach-to-group-creativity

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Thank you to our sponsor! Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠go.solsten.io⁠⁠⁠⁠ and mention Rise x Play for a demo and receive a free feature, theme, and art style study included with your Navigator purchase, a $20,000 value. Offer valid through 8/31/23.

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If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend. Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog

In this special episode, Sophie Vo shares a heartfelt thank you to the community for their loyalty and support over the past three years, and reveals a major personal update: the start of her new game company, Kylan. This new venture will lead to a short break in podcast content, but we assure listeners that this is just a brief hiatus!

• We are onboarding new co-hosts so if you're interested in giving it a try, contact us at sophie@riseandplay.io


• Workshop and 1-1 coaching inquiry at sophie@riseandplay.io


• Next networking event in Berlin on April 25th: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rise-and-play-x-starberry-x-metacore-networking-brunch-tickets-861332878827?aff=oddtdtcreator

We're back in May! In the meantime, enjoy the evergreen top content from the previous episodes:

91. Founder Jens Begemann's⁠ Retrospective on Running Wooga For Over A Decade

90. Solving the Team Culture Map Puzzle  with Jen Donahoe

77. Master Emotionally Charged Conversation

59. How to Plan and Nurture Your Career in Games with Miska Katkoff and Sophie Vo

52. Running your 1:1 in a modern workplace (remote) - with Marko Kecman

43. Coaching episode: Tamara Rose Morales, On Examining Your Life Script 

32. What You Did Not Know About UX- with Devon Wyland, Head of UX at Solsten

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

In this episode, Sophie Vo is joined by Anton Gorodetsky, the Head of Industry Relations at MyGames. Anton discusses the shift to hybrid work and MyGames' transition to fully distributed teams. They talk about the benefits of remote work, such as finding talent globally and working with international teams.

They also dive into the challenges and considerations of establishing offices and hubs in different locations, including legal and tax implications. Anton emphasizes the importance of analyzing market development and talent concentration when choosing office locations.

Sophie and Anton discuss the success of MyGames' game Rush Royale (over $230M lifetime revenues) and how it was made fully remote with a small, talented team. They emphasize the need for trust and collaboration among team members.

The conversation concludes with a discussion on the impact of different cultures on remote work and the importance of cultural awareness and education.

Topics discussed:

- Shift to hybrid work and fully distributed teams

- Benefits of remote work

- Establishing offices and hubs in different locations

- Legal and tax implications

- Success of Rush Royale (over 230MM lifetime revenues)

- Trust and collaboration in remote teams

- Impact of different cultures on remote work

💌 Don't forget to subscribe to Rise and Play for further news: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.riseandplay.io/blog⁠⁠

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you enjoyed today's episode make sure to rate it on Spotify, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or simply share it with a friend.

In this new episode, I have the pleasure to have Tom Hammond as my guest. Tom has been an active contributor to the Live Ops community with his podcast Mastering Retention and recently the UserWise Academy. Tom is sharing his entrepreneurial journey creating his two companies TheoremReach and UserWise, his company culture and values, and what led him to create the Mastering Retention podcast. To "give back" to the community.

I recommend his podcast as there is a lot of valuable and tangible content about Live Ops.

Enjoy this new episode!

Mastering Retention Podcast: https://userwise.io/podcast/mastering-retention-podcast-presented-by-userwise/

UserWise Academy: https://userwise.io/academy/