The Community Lounge

Today's guest is Orchid, Community Manager at THOMIC, where she works on the cozy-but-brain-twisting rabbit breeding game Rare Rabbits. Orchid's path into games is one of the most unexpected on the show. She came from a family of journalists, worked in TV news in Ukraine, and only stumbled into the games industry after walking the catwalk at a local anime fashion show and striking up a friendship...

Today’s guest is Ray Willmott, Social Media and Community Lead at Curveball Games and founder of Ready Mix Consult. Ray’s path into games began after a decade working in local government before transitioning into games journalism and eventually community management through volunteer writing and moderation work. We chat about how skills from public sector work shaped Ray’s approach to community man...

Today’s guest is Milissa Maxin, Senior Community Manager at Singularity 6, makers of Palia. Milissa’s path into games is anything but conventional. She began her career studying tuba performance at Berklee College of Music before discovering her passion for community building through online roleplay servers and virtual worlds. We chat about how growing up in early online communities like Toontown,...

Today’s guest is Joshua Callaghan, ex-Community Manager, and now an Account Manager at Raptor PR. Joshua began his journey in the games industry as a teenage Reddit moderator, building hands-on experience in community management before transitioning into PR through a degree apprenticeship. His path highlights how non-traditional routes—like volunteering and community participation—can open doors i...

Today's guest is Greg Cummings, Community and Content Manager at Far From Home, a Polish indie studio behind the survival game Forever Skies. Greg's journey into community management began while working full-time in retail and being a dad; he built experience through unpaid work as a content creator, streamer, and unofficial community moderator for PlayStation Access before landing his first indus...

Welcome to a solo episode of the Community Lounge Podcast! I'm launching the brand new Community Lounge Guides: A series of practical resources designed specifically for community managers: The first one is now available: " Becoming a Community Manager: Real Life Stories " This guide explores the diverse paths people take into community management, organised into four categories: Volunteering, Tra...

Today's guest is Vicki Fieldhouse, Senior Community Manager at Secret Mode. Vicki took an unconventional path into games, entering community management in her mid-30s after years of trying to break into the industry. Her journey involved customer service from running her own business, social media management, and streaming RPGs during COVID—all of which became the perfect foundation for her commun...

Today’s guest is Joshua Mathews, Marketing and Social Media Manager at Doborog. Josh has spent years in community and marketing roles across the indie games scene, working on projects ranging from Calvino Noir to Clone Drone in the Danger Zone and its VR successor Clone Drone in the Hyperdome. Before joining the industry, Josh built a following as a YouTuber spotlighting under-the-radar indie game...

Today’s guest is Charis Reid, founder of Cut Teeth, an ad-hoc community management agency. After unexpectedly being made redundant earlier this year, Charis turned a setback into an opportunity—launching her own business that lets her collaborate with multiple studios and projects at once. We chat about how redundancy pushed her to build something new, the challenges of setting boundaries when run...

Today’s guest is John Lloyd, Community Lead at The Path, a UK-based games marketing agency. John’s journey into community management began long before his first professional role—he spent years building and nurturing player communities in games like Age of Empires II, RuneScape, and Guild Wars 2. His passion for fostering player connection eventually led him to a career at Ubisoft before joining T...

Today’s guests are Dale Stiffell and Kallum Hoy, the dynamic community duo behind Transformers: Earth Wars at Yodo1 Games. The two met while working together at Space Ape Games and have since become inseparable collaborators—often joking that they’re a “package deal.” Between them, they bring years of experience in community management, player engagement, and storytelling through live service game...

Today’s guest is Jarvs Tasker, Head of Communications at Happy Volcano. Jarvs has held several community and communications roles across the games industry, including at Raw Fury, where she worked on Dome Keeper and Blue Prince. She’s also an award-winning accessibility advocate, recently recognised at Game Dev Heroes 2025 for her work championing disabled and neurodiverse representation in games....

Today’s guest is Victoria Tran, Games Communications Director at InnerSloth, the studio behind Among Us . She’s also the creator of the Community Dev Newsletter, an organizer of the Wholesome Games Initiative, and the author of the upcoming book Mastering Community Management . In this episode, Victoria shares how she “accidentally” became a community manager—and ended up one of the most respected...

Today’s guest is… me, Steve McLeod! In this special solo episode, I share why I created The Community Lounge podcast and how it connects to my product, Feature Upvote. I tell the story of how the podcast become a way for me to connect with community managers, learn how they work, and provide a space to share their stories. I talk about how it all started, the lessons learnt on the way, and how fee...

Today’s guest is Sofia Pettersson, Community manager at Apog Labs in Malmö, Sweden. Sofia’s journey into the games industry is both personal and inspiring—after a major life upheaval, she found her way into community management, combining her passion for creativity with a growing interest in games. We chat about her non-linear path to the games industry, what it’s like building community for a gam...

Today’s guest is Henri Bazire, who leads community work as Social Media Editor at ARTE, the French-German TV network with a dedicated video games division. Henri’s path into community management is far from traditional—he started in molecular biology before pivoting into marketing and eventually landing an internship at Ubisoft, where his passion for the games industry took root. We talk about wha...

Today’s guest is Nora Mattsson, a first-time community manager, 2D artist, and CEO at Studio Downstairs, a small indie game studio based in Sweden. Nora and her team are currently developing Find or Be Found , an asymmetric co-op horror game inspired by titles like Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes and Amnesia . In this episode, Nora discusses her multifaceted role within the studio, highlighting t...

Today’s guest is Dennis Abe, a community manager at King in Sweden. Dennis has held various roles in the video game industry, including time in Japan as a game designer and esports commentator. His unconventional journey—from awkward introvert and indie game studio intern in Tokyo to respected community manager—reflects the power of curiosity, persistence, and community-building. We chat about the...

Today’s guest is Nicolas Nottin, a seasoned community developer with over 15 years of experience in the video game industry. Nico is currently the Lead Community Developer at Tribo Games in Germany. His career spans major studios including Square Enix, Creative Assembly, and InnoGames, where he’s cultivated deep expertise in building and managing vibrant gaming communities. We chat about the disti...

Today’s guest is Hichem Taleb, a seasoned community professional experienced in managing communities for notable games like Lego Builder’s Journey, Microsoft Flight Simulator, and Ghost Recon Wildlands. Currently, Hichem provides mentorship and consulting to indie studios and solo developers. In this episode, we define the role of a Community Marketing Manager, a blend of community management, mar...

Today’s guest is Thomas Schramm, Community Manager at Sky E Red in Germany, where he’s helping shape the launch of their debut game, Battle Frontier . Thomas’s path into the games industry is anything but typical—what began as a childhood hobby in online Halo communities eventually turned into a full-time career in community management. We talk about what it’s like to build a community from scratc...

Today’s guest is Erik Jakobsson, a community manager at Paradox Interactive in Sweden, where he leads a team of ambassadors. Erik's journey into the gaming industry is unique—he started by running a fan Discord server that was eventually acquired by Paradox, leading to his first role in community management. We chat about growing and moderating large online communities, the challenges of keeping a...

Today’s guest is Kayla Goullaud, an experienced community manager who has worked on EverQuest 2, Forza Motorsport, and the Forza Horizon franchise. She also spent years with the Xbox Live Policy and Enforcement team, tackling everything from player bans to community safety. We chat about the complexities of game community management, the challenges of player moderation, and the importance of conte...

This is a very short episode to announce that we've reached the end of season one. SEASON TWO IS COMING SOON! Thank you to everybody involved. Thank you to the eight guests who gave very freely and generously of their time to be on the show. Thank you for listening and thank you to anybody who helped share the word about what I'm doing with the Community Lounge. Make sure to SUBSCRIBE in your podc...

Today’s guest is Carolin Wendt, author of The Pocket Mentor for Game Community Management , and currently Lead International Community at CD PROJEKT RED . We chat about why and how Carolin wrote her book on community management. And Carolin gives some great tips for people wanting to break into community management. Games mentioned in this episode : Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher, GWENT, Dragon Age:...