Player Driven

In this episode of Player Driven , Greg Posner sits down with Laura Norwicke Hall , Senior Player Support Specialist at Schell Games , to unpack what modern player experience really looks like when games scale. Laura shares her unconventional journey from managing communications at a zoo to building player support and trust & safety systems for games like Among Us 3D and I Expect You to Die ....

What does it actually take to build a media and events business that survives multiple platform shifts, economic cycles, and industry hype waves? In this episode of Player Driven, Greg sits down with Chris James, CEO of Steel Media and the force behind Pocket Gamer and Pocket Gamer Connects, to break down two decades of hard-earned lessons at the intersection of games, media, business, and live ev...

Episode Summary: In this special encore presentation, we revisit one of our earliest and most popular conversations. Originally recorded two years ago, Greg Posner sits down with Beau Button, the visionary CTO and Co-Founder of Atlas Reality. Beau breaks down how Atlas Reality is merging the digital and physical worlds through a "virtual real estate" metaverse that actually drives foot t...

What does ambition really look like inside modern game development? In this episode, Greg sits down with Jack Burrows to unpack how level designers think, work, and stay motivated across massive franchises and creative constraints. From AAA pipelines to indie dreams, this conversation explores how great games are built through framing, intention, and small wins, not ego or crunch culture. Jack sha...

In this episode, Greg sits down with Jim Welch, a composer turned developer turned studio founder whose creative journey spans Dragon Ball Z trailers to launching a party game in the spirit of Jackbox. We explore Jim’s path from audio to entrepreneurship, the founding of The Devhouse Agency, and why his team is now investing in original IP. From creative leadership to WebGL distribution strategy,...

This episode features host Greg and Lewis Ward discussing the true nature of virtual worlds with Wagner James Au, author of Making a Metaverse That Matters, exploring the core design, economic, and community philosophies of successful platforms. Summary The discussion defines the metaverse as a vast, immersive virtual world with five core features, including highly customizable avatars and a link...

Dive deep into the strategic mindset of level design, the shift from AAA development to indie studio entrepreneurship, and a radical new business model for creating innovative "Cocktail Games." Key Takeaways & Discussion Points The Reality of Level Design Beyond Architecture: Willem, a former level designer at Velan ( Knockout City ) and Zynga ( Star Wars Hunters ) , defines level de...

Episode Summary Forget the old ways of game development. The Roblox platform isn't a sandbox—it's a brutal, high-frequency, algorithmic battleground. In this deep dive, we break down why traditional "AAA" development strategies are being crushed by low-fidelity, quick-to-market viral hits. We analyze the metrics that Roblox’s discovery algorithm actually cares about (it’s not j...

📄 Episode Summary In this episode, Greg sits down with Julie Banta , Director of Engineering for Build & Release at Respawn , to break down what it actually takes to keep a massive live game like Apex Legends running day after day. Julie pulls back the curtain on the real machinery behind live service games: shipping updates across six platforms, reacting to hotfixes in real time, balancing p...

Episode Overview What does it really mean to design a game — and what can that teach us about culture, creativity, and even our daily lives? In this episode, Greg is joined by Lewis Ward and Eric Zimmerman , legendary game designer, professor at NYU’s Game Center, and author of The Rules We Break . Eric’s career spans from pioneering web-based multiplayer with Sissy Fight 2000 to co-founding GameL...

🎧 Episode Description (Hook + Intro) What if the biggest leaps in gaming don’t happen at global mega-conferences, but in regional rooms where developers, vendors, and communities connect in a meaningful way? In this episode of Player Driven , host Greg speaks with Jason Lepine, Founder & CEO of XP Gaming, about the real impact of local events and why they’re foundational to the future of the...

Episode Overview What does it take to build a shooter that can handle millions of players and still keep people coming back for more? In this episode, Greg is joined by Thad Sasser, a veteran designer whose career has touched some of the most iconic shooters ever made, including Battlefield , Call of Duty , PUBG , and Rivals . Together, they dive into the realities of scaling franchises, balancing...

Episode Summary In this episode of Player Driven , Greg talks with Keith Pape , founder of YellowPike Media , about how to build authentic, lasting connections between studios, players, and communities. Keith shares how YellowPike became known as a gaming marketing agency that thrives on creativity, bold experiential campaigns, and a passion for games. From Times Square takeovers for Metal Gear to...

Overview What happens when regulation collides with game design? In this episode, I sit down with industry veteran Oscar Clark to unpack the EU’s proposed changes around virtual currency, the ethics of monetization, and why “finding the fun” is still the core of building sustainable games. From self-regulation to skill-mapping the next generation of developers, this conversation goes deep into the...

Overview Marketing in games isn’t just flashy ads and cool trailers—it’s a battlefield of strategy, alignment, and constant reinvention. In this episode, Christine Dart shares lessons from her career building B2B marketing engines that scale, from scrappy startups to global brands. Her journey—from teaching salsa to leading high-performing teams—shows how creativity and structure meet in the busin...

Description The games industry is moving faster than ever — live service updates, cross-platform launches, and endless content drops. But QA hasn’t kept pace. Bugs slip through, launches stumble, and player trust takes a hit. Enter AI. In this encore episode of Player Driven , Greg sits down with Shaun Laker , founder of Game Guardians and veteran of Respawn, EA, and The Coalition, to explore how...

Description Eric Chou started with a mod for Command and Conquer. Today, he runs Honor Games and works on the front lines of mental health. In this episode, we unpack the evolution of a community-built mod into a full studio, what it takes to shift from modding to indie development, and how mental health became part of Eric’s mission. He shares practical advice for narrative design, community-buil...

What does it take to turn a gaming hobby into a six-figure salary? In this episode, Greg sits down with Sandi, a stay-at-home dad who taught himself to create mods for ARK: Survival Ascended and ended up building a UGC empire with over 80 million downloads. From his first furniture mod made for his daughter to launching blockbuster premium content, Sandi shares his incredible journey and the commu...

Episode Summary How do you break into the games industry later in your career? And once you’re in, how do you build a meaningful life and community without burning out? In this episode, Greg is joined by Amir Satvat, a Business Development leader at Tencent and the winner of the "Game Changers" award. Amir is one of the industry's most important connectors, having built a community...

A deep dive into the evolving landscape of video game publishing, offering invaluable insights for indie developers on how to thrive in a crowded market. This episode of the Player Driven Podcast features an in-depth conversation with Ben Kvalo, founder of Midwest Games, and Alex Joseph, CEO of the revived Acclaim. From the importance of a well-crafted pitch to the nuances of monetization and disc...

In this episode of Player Driven, Greg talks with Joe Pace, VP at ASICS Ventures, about the company’s surprising leap into virtual reality with DISC, a brand-new competitive sport built for Meta Quest. They explore what it means to build community before code, how fitness and gaming are converging, and what studios can learn from a 70-year-old brand embracing LiveOps. If you're thinking about...

Episode Summary: Mark Otero (CEO of Azra Games, creator of Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes ) joins Player Driven to break down the real reason most games fail — they ignore what players actually want. In this raw, philosophical, and brutally honest conversation, Mark introduces the Hierarchy of Fun — a 5-layer model for building long-lasting emotional engagement in games. From escaping poverty through...

Episode Summary: Christina Camilleri leads trust and safety product strategy at Netflix Games — but her journey started as a shy kid finding refuge in online worlds. In this deeply human conversation, Christina shares how her love for hacking, community, and chaos turned into a mission to build safer systems in gaming. We talk about safety by design, the monetization myth, building meaningful cont...

🎮 Episode Summary What can a former QA tester at EA, a punk-rock producer at Midway, and the exec who helped launch No Man’s Sky teach us about today’s game industry? In this episode, Adam Boyes (founder of Vivrato and longtime industry vet) joins Greg to talk about why handcrafted games still matter, how studios can ask for help before it’s too late, and what happens when we actually listen to t...

Guest: Andrew Wagner, Author of Economics of Online Gaming and Founder of Wagner Road Capital CoHost: Lewis Ward, Research Director @ IDC 🎙 Episode Summary What happens when a high schooler treats an MMORPG like a business case study? Andrew Wagner joins Player Driven to share how his time playing Eternal Lands turned into a crash course in economics, strategy, and systems thinking. From building...