The Gaming Founders Podcast

What happens when your game studio scales from 300 to 5,000 people in record time? Mike Seavers, SVP of Technology at Scopely and veteran technical leader from Riot Games and Epic Games, joins hosts Eden Chen (CEO, Pragma) and Kevin Zhang (Partner, Upfront Ventures) for an unfiltered discussion on engineering leadership at scale. Seavers pulls no punches describing Epic's explosive growth from...

What will it take to create gaming's first true "four-quadrant" experience that unites entire families like Pixar films? In Part 2 of this heartfelt Gaming Founders Podcast conversation, hosts Eden Chen (CEO of Pragma) and Kevin Zhang (Partner at Upfront Ventures) continue exploring the thoughtful world of Jenova Chen, founder and Creative Director of thatgamecompany. How did Sky: Ch...

How did a game designer with "terrible English" and no business background convince Sony to sign a three-game deal after 19 rejections? In this episode of Gaming Founders Podcast, hosts Eden Chen (CEO of Pragma) and Kevin Zhang (Partner at Upfront Ventures) interview Jenova Chen, founder and Creative Director of thatgamecompany, creator of acclaimed titles like Cloud, Flow, Flower, Journey, and Sk...

Today Bing Gordon, co-founder of Electronic Arts, joins hosts Eden Chen and Kevin Zhang to share his remarkable journey from a sports-obsessed kid in suburban Detroit to pioneering the modern gaming industry. Gordon details EA's tumultuous early years, including surviving platform shifts, cash shortages, and the breakthrough development of EA Sports and the Madden franchise. His candid account cov...

How did a small indie studio compete with Fortnite for the largest Discord server in gaming? Seth Sivak, former founder and CEO of Proletariat, joins Eden Chen (CEO of Pragma) and Kevin Zhang (Partner at Upfront Ventures) to share the rollercoaster journey of his game studio. From humble beginnings at Zynga to building one of gaming's largest Discord communities with Spellbreak, Seth reveals how p...

What desperate "Hail Mary" move saved Discord when it was about to fail? (Exclusive interview with rarely-interviewed co-founder) Discord almost died at launch. Then a desperate Reddit post changed everything. In this rare conversation (only Stan's second recorded podcast ever), CTO and co-founder Stanislav Vishnevskiy reveals how an immigrant kid's passion for online gaming birthed one of the ind...

What strategic pivots and challenges did Kevin Lin face in transforming Justin.tv into Twitch, a platform that forever changed gaming and live streaming? Eden and Kevin welcome Kevin Lin, the co-founder of Twitch, to delve into his remarkable journey from a gamer in New Orleans to a pivotal figure in the live streaming industry. Kevin shares his early experiences with games like Magic the Gatherin...

Why did NO major Blizzard game ever ship according to plan - and why that's actually the secret to success? Blizzard was nearly broke when Davidson Associates saved them. Co-founder Mike Morhaime borrowed $15,000 from his grandmother, maxed out family credit lines, and was passing around floppy disks with no LAN network when the acquisition happened. In this candid conversation, Mike Morhaime reve...

In this episode, Eden and Kevin speak with Stirling Rank, COO and co-founder of Void Interactive. Stirling had an unconventional journey from high school filmmaking to creating the indie game hit Ready or Not . In the discussion, he recounts how he and friends Ryan and Stuart transformed their passion for art and gaming into a successful game development company. The challenges they faced on their...

The Gaming Founders Podcast Episode 10: From Passion to Palia: Unraveling the Gaming Industry with Aidan Karabaich of Singularity 6 In this episode, Eden and Kevin speak with Aidan Karabaich, co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Singularity 6, as he shares his journey in the gaming industry. From an early passion for video games (playing Pac-Man and never being able to beat his grandmother) an...

The Gaming Founders Podcast Episode 9: The Art of Game Creation: Slim and Trevor of Valorant and Raid Base Live from LA Tech Week Welcome to our first-ever episode with a live audience coming to you from LA Tech Week. Our special guests are the co-founders of Raid Base - Stephen “Slim” Lim, Product Director, and Trevor Romleski, Game Director. Slim was a product designer and VP of R&D at Riot...

The Gaming Founders Podcast Episode 8: 2x Founder Chris Scholz of Free Range Games and Upcoming Blockbuster: Return to Moria Today’s guest is Chris Scholz, CEO of Free Range Games. The company’s mission is to make video games that people find meaningful, memorable, and fun. Established in 2009, and headquartered in Sausalito, California, Free Range Games was founded by veteran game developers and...

The Gaming Founders Podcast Episode 7: SuperJoost - The Entrepreneurial Journey of Professor and Author Joost van Dreunen Today’s guest is Joost van Dreunen, the former CEO & Co-Founder of SuperData Research, a games market research firm that was acquired by Nielsen. Joost is now an academic and entrepreneur, a professor at the NYU Stern School of Business, and author of One Up: Creativity, Co...

The Gaming Founders Podcast Episode 6: The Rise of UGC: Uri Marchand, Founder of Overwolf Today’s guest is Uri Marchand, Co-Founder and CEO of Overwolf, one of the biggest platforms for creators to build, share and monetize mods, user-generated content, and companion apps for their favorite games. After 13 years, 98,000 creators, and 33 million players a month, Overwolf now functions across more t...

The Gaming Founders Podcast Episode 5: From Animation to Zynga to Baobab Studios - Maureen Fan on Building Interactive IP Across Platforms Today’s guest is Maureen Fan, CEO and co-founder of Baobab Studios, the 9x Emmy Award-winning Disney of the metaverse with a track record of creating franchisable IP and virtual worlds. Currently the leaders of IP development in VR, their universes are being tu...

The Gaming Founders Podcast Episode 4: The Storied History of Gaming Veteran Louis Castle, Co-Founder of Westwood Welcome to The Gaming Founders Podcast, where we interview founders that have shaped the gaming industry. You’ll hear origin stories, tactics that helped founders and companies survive and thrive, and key lessons for anyone building the next generation of gaming companies. Your hosts a...

The Gaming Founders Podcast Episode 3: From a Double Exit to Double Loop Games, Serial Gaming Entrepreneur Emily Greer Welcome to The Gaming Founders Podcast, where we interview founders that have shaped the gaming industry. You’ll hear origin stories, tactics that helped founders and companies survive and thrive, and key lessons for anyone building the next generation of gaming companies. Your ho...

The Gaming Founders Podcast Episode 2: The Halo Effect, 3x Gaming Entrepreneur Alex Seropian Welcome to The Gaming Founders Podcast, where we interview founders that have shaped the gaming industry. You’ll hear origin stories, tactics that helped founders and companies survive and thrive, and key lessons for anyone building the next generation of gaming companies. Your hosts are Eden Chen, CEO of...

The Gaming Founders Podcast Episode 1: From Game Designer to Player Advocate: Trent Oster of Beamdog and BioWare Welcome to The Gaming Founders Podcast, where we interview founders that have shaped the gaming industry. You’ll hear origin stories, tactics that helped founders and companies survive and thrive, and key lessons for anyone building the next generation of gaming companies. Your hosts ar...