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 community-driven strategies that fueled his success.

We're also joined by Shahar Sorek, CMO of Overwolf, the platform at the heart of the in-game creator economy. Shahar breaks down why UGC is no longer optional for game studios, how Overwolf provides a "white glove" service to de-risk the process for developers, and why creators like Sandi represent the future of player engagement and retention. This is a must-listen for any developer, publisher, or community manager looking to understand the power of community-led growth.

Timestamps:

 * (01:47) Sandi's Origin Story: From marketing professional to stay-at-home dad and accidental modder.
 * (09:03) The Creator Economy: Shahar explains Overwolf's mission to turn in-game creation into a legitimate profession.
 * (17:13) Building in Public: How Sandi uses Discord, X, and community feedback to decide what to build next.
 * (22:50) The Tools of the Trade: Sandi and Shahar discuss the essential tools for a UGC creator, from Unreal Engine to analytics.
 * (30:10) Getting Started: Actionable advice from both Sandi and Shahar for anyone who wants to start creating UGC.

Guest Bios:

 * Sandi Fais a self-taught, professional mod creator for games like ARK: Survival Ascended and Hogwarts Legacy. He is one of the top creators on the CurseForge platform, with his mods collectively reaching over 80 million downloads. You can find his work on CurseForge [https://www.google.com/search?q=https://www.curseforge.com/members/sandy_00/projects&authuser=1] and connect with him on X (formerly Twitter) .
 * Shahar Sorek is the Chief Marketing Officer at Overwolf, the all-in-one platform that enables creators to build, distribute, and monetize in-game apps and mods. He is focused on empowering the in-game creator economy and fostering the relationship between studios, creators, and gamers. Connect with him on LinkedIn [https://www.google.com/search?q=https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaharsorek/&authuser=1].

Key Topics:

 * User-Generated Content (UGC) Monetization
 * In-Game Creator Economy
 * Community Building & Engagement
 * Player Retention Strategies
 * LiveOps and Content Pipelining
 * Game Modding and Development
 * Indie Game Discoverability
 * The Future of Game Publishing

Relevant Links:

 * Overwolf [https://www.overwolf.com/]
 * CurseForge [https://www.curseforge.com/]
 * ARK: [https://survivetheark.com/]
 * Unreal Engine [https://www.unrealengine.com/]
 * Tebex [https://www.tebex.io/]

Credits:

Hosted by Greg Posner, founder of Player Driven — a podcast about the business of games and how smart people scale them.

From Stay-at-Home Dad to Six-Figure Modder: Why Your Next Big Hire is Already Playing Your Game

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 that has helped thousands find jobs and opportunities.

Amir shares his incredible journey from finance at Goldman Sachs to gaming in his late 30s, offering a practical playbook for career pivots. He breaks down his disciplined, non-negotiable approach to balancing a high-stakes job with being a present father and husband, and reveals why true networking is a 12-month game of building relationships, not a last-minute job hunt. This conversation is packed with wisdom for anyone looking to build a sustainable and impactful career in games.

Timestamps

 * (01:55) The Pivot: Amir details his unconventional path from banking and healthcare into the games industry.
 * (11:00) The Non-Negotiable Framework: How Amir uses rigorous time-blocking to protect family time and avoid burnout.
 * (25:49) Confronting Ageism: Amir discusses the industry's challenge with retaining and valuing older talent.
 * (32:25) The #1 Networking Mistake: Why you need to build relationships long before you need them.
 * (39:40) The Financial Modeling Trap: How a finance-first mindset can be both a powerful tool and a creativity killer in game development.

Guest Bio

Amir Satvat is a leader in Business Development and Strategy at Tencent and the founder of a professional gaming community that has helped thousands of people. Known as one of the industry's most important connectors, his work is driven by a deep passion for helping others succeed.

 * LinkedIn: Amir Satvat [https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirsatvat/]
 * Community Hub: amirsatvat.com [https://www.amirsatvat.com/]

Key Topics

 * Breaking into the games industry mid-career
 * Effective networking strategies for long-term success
 * Balancing a demanding career with fatherhood and family life
 * Transferable skills from other industries (finance, tech, healthcare)
 * Community building and the power of trust
 * Continuing education and staying relevant
 * Industry challenges: ageism, the future of consoles, and business models

Relevant Links

 * Amir's Community Website [https://www.amirsatvat.com/]
 * Tencent [https://www.tencent.com/en-us/]

Balancing Family, Career, and Community in the Games Industry with Amir Satvat

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 discoverability, this fireside chat covers the essential strategies for developers looking to partner with a publisher. Ben and Alex share their unique perspectives on the current state of the gaming industry, the resurgence of AA titles, and the future of interactive entertainment.

Key Discussion Points:

The conversation delves into the operational realities of running a publishing house, the art of negotiation, and the critical factors that can make or break a game in today's competitive environment. Ben and Alex also touch on the significance of their respective companies, Midwest Games and the new Acclaim, in fostering the next generation of games and developers.

This episode provides a rare look behind the curtain of the gaming industry, offering practical advice and strategic insights for anyone passionate about the business of video games.

Podcast Show Notes

This episode of the Player Driven Podcast brings together two titans of the new era of game publishing: Ben Kvalo of Midwest Games and Alex Joseph of the revitalized Play Acclaim. In a candid conversation, they explore the challenges and opportunities facing indie developers today. From securing funding to navigating the treacherous waters of discoverability, this episode is a masterclass for anyone looking to make their mark in the gaming world.

In this episode, you'll learn:

 * The Rebirth of an Era: How Midwest Games and the new Acclaim are channeling the spirit of classic gaming into the modern age.
 * The Publisher's Perspective: What Ben and Alex are currently playing and what excites them about the future of gaming.
 * Monetization & The AA Revival: A nuanced discussion on game pricing, in-game purchases, and the resurgence of the "buy-to-play" model.
 * The UGC Revolution: Is user-generated content a golden opportunity or a distraction for developers?
 * The Discoverability Dilemma: Strategies for standing out in a market flooded with new releases and the potential of web-based games.
 * The Art of the Pitch: What developers need to know before approaching a publisher, from crafting a compelling pitch to understanding the business side of their creative endeavor.
 * Building a Lasting Partnership: The importance of relationships, trust, and finding the right publisher for your game.
 * A Day in the Life: What it's really like to be the CEO of a game publishing company.
 * Conference Survival Guide: Tips for developers on how to make the most of industry events like Gamescom and MDEV.

Navigating the Indie Apocalypse: A Publisher's Playbook for Survival and Success

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 building something new — or building it differently — this episode is for you.

Timestamps:

 * 02:00 – Why ASICS is getting into gaming (and why now)
 * 06:00 – The DISC origin story: air hockey meets VR
 * 16:30 – Why they launched on Discord before they launched the game
 * 21:00 – Surprising lessons from the VR community
 * 38:00 – What’s next: arcade mode, cosmetics, and social scaling

Guest Bio:Joe Pace is the VP at ASICS Ventures, where he leads new product strategy across emerging digital platforms. Previously at Runkeeper, LL Bean, and Legendary Entertainment, Joe’s work spans fitness, technology, and innovation. LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/joepace/]

Key Topics:

 * VR game development
 * Community-first strategy
 * Meta Quest platform
 * Fitness and gamification
 * LiveOps in non-traditional gaming studios
 * Social dynamics in VR
 * ASICS’s innovation model
 * Building new sports for virtual platforms

Relevant Links:

 * disc.asics.com [https://disc.asics.com/]

Credits:Hosted by Greg Posner, founder of Player Driven — a podcast about the business of games and how smart people scale them.

From Sneakers to Startups: ASICS Ventures’ Joe Pace on Building a VR Sport from Scratch

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 fantasy as a child in South Korea, to scaling a yogurt shop to fund his first game studio, to building billion-dollar RPGs at EA, Mark’s story is a masterclass in design thinking, human behavior, and creative conviction. He also shares why AI will either multiply your creativity or expose your culture — and how his new title Ungodly aims to reset the bar for 4th-gen RPGs.

This episode is for game devs, LiveOps leaders, publishing execs, and anyone asking: Why do some games stick... and others don’t?

📌 Key Takeaways

1. The Hierarchy of Fun
Mark breaks down his 5-layer framework for sustainable game engagement:

 * First impression
 * Core loop
 * Progression
 * Meta mastery
 * Emotional connection
   Each layer must make the player feel something — and if you flip it, it becomes your funnel for long-term retention.

2. Design for Primal Desires, Not Personas
Mark argues that all player motivation maps back to love, power, or wealth. Most games try to broaden appeal and end up designing for no one. Pick one fantasy — and serve it ruthlessly.

3. 4th-Gen RPGs and the 9-Second Rule
With mobile phones now as powerful as last-gen consoles, we’ve entered a new generation of RPGs. Ungodly is designed to immerse players in 9 seconds, not 9 minutes — a 60x improvement over the old model.

⏱️ Timestamps

01:00 — Mark’s origin story: poverty, fantasy, and Dungeons & Dragons as a lifeline
14:00 — The Hierarchy of Fun: a new model for player experience
31:00 — Why most games fail when they abandon their core fantasy
44:00 — What makes a 4th-gen RPG, and how Ungodly is redefining immersion
58:00 — AI, culture, and the edge small studios have (if they move fast)

🧠 SEO Keywords (for search + episode description)

 * game design philosophy
 * hierarchy of fun
 * player motivation design
 * RPG design frameworks
 * mobile RPG engagement
 * Azra Games Ungodly
 * retention in game design
 * AI in game development
 * game publishing strategy
 * Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes insights

🎙️ Guest

Mark Otero
CEO & Founder of Azra Games. Former GM at EA Capital Games, creator of Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes. Veteran in collectible RPGs and systems design.
🔗 Azra Games [https://www.azragames.com/]
🔗 Mark on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/markotero/]

Love, Power, Wealth: The True Drivers of Player Behavior

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 controls, and why your systems are only as strong as the people behind them.

If you care about retention, LiveOps, or what makes a game feel safe (but still intense), this episode is for you.

Timestamps:
00:03:00 — Christina’s hacker origin story and gaming as escape
00:12:00 — Why safety in games is getting harder (and why it matters more)
00:19:00 — League of Legends, low-trust users, and the culture of competitive games
00:33:00 — Safety is a retention strategy: what the data actually says
00:45:00 — Feedback loops, reputation systems, and when reports fail players

Guest Bio:
Christina Camilleri leads trust and safety product strategy at Netflix Games. She’s a former ethical hacker and security engineer, with experience spanning BAE Systems, Riot Games, and now Netflix. Christina is passionate about building safe, inclusive player experiences — and believes good design can create both tension and trust.
🔗 LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/0xkitty/]

Key Topics:

 * Safety by design in game development
 * Player behavior and trust systems
 * Reputation scoring and false reporting
 * Game moderation tooling
 * Accessibility through player control
 * Real-time safety vs. reactive systems
 * Why toxic behavior kills retention
 * Community-led systems that scale

Credits Line:
Hosted by Greg Posner, founder of Player Driven — a podcast about the business of games and how smart people scale them.

From Chaos to Control: Christina Camilleri on Building Safer Games by Design

🎮 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 the people who’ve shipped the games we love.

🧠 What We Cover

– From Floppy Disks to LiveOps:
How QA used to be “log bugs by hand and pray,” and what that taught Adam about modern workflows and AI.

– Midway Was Punk Rock:
Inside stories from Blitz, Slugfest, and the golden era of arcade innovation — where game feel was religion.

– The No Man’s Sky Redemption Arc:
What went wrong, what went right, and why Hello Games stuck the landing where others didn’t.

– The Quiet Crisis in Game Dev:
Discoverability. Burnout. Studios not knowing when to ask for help. Why Vivrato was built to change that.

– Why Every Studio Needs a “What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?” Moment
Real talk on vision, identity, and how to build games that last longer than the launch window.

🔥 Pull Quotes

“There’s an art to talking to people who’ve made games before. Those are the stories we need to share and learn from.”“They’d sneak into arcades and swap out boards just to watch how players reacted. That’s how they tuned gameplay.”“We logged bugs on paper and stored them on floppy disks. Now we have AI. But the craft still matters.”“No one knows what they’re doing. Game development is improv. The secret is doing it together.”

📌 Episode Timestamps

 * [00:00] Intro and 90s QA stories
 * [05:00] AI tools vs. handcrafted game design
 * [10:30] Midway memories: Blitz, Jam, and chaos
 * [17:00] Game feel and the obsession with precision
 * [24:00] Nostalgia meets the digital era at Capcom
 * [33:00] Vivrato: Helping studios find their path
 * [40:00] No Man’s Sky and the power of second chances
 * [47:00] What we’re playing now + retro game pain
 * [51:00] Why the future of gaming is built on collaboration

🎧 Listen & Follow

🎙️ Listen now on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube
🌐 More episodes and insights at playerdriven.io
📩 Want to share your story? Reach out to Greg on LinkedIn or Twitter

🔍 SEO Tags

Adam Boyes interview Vivrato consulting Midway game design game studio struggles No Man’s Sky story game feel arcade era game discoverability

The Devs Who Came Before Us: And Why We Need Their Stories Now

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 a ruthless guild to influencing the game’s developer roadmap, Andrew didn’t just play — he disrupted.

We talk about market incentives, reputation management, and the blurry line between capitalism and corruption, both in games and in the real world. If you’re building economies, managing communities, or just love a good player-driven story, this one’s for you.

🧠 Highlights with Timestamps

2:34 — Learning economics through RuneScape-style gameplay
Andrew shares how Eternal Lands introduced him to core economic principles like supply and demand, specialization, and market incentives — all before he took a single college class.

7:59 — Embracing the villain role to change the game
Instead of rebuilding his guild’s reputation, Andrew leaned into their “bad guy” image, creating a strategy that ignored perception and focused purely on market disruption.

14:16 — How gaming shaped his real-world investment career
From managing a guild to managing portfolios, Andrew explains how the lessons from in-game economies now guide how he evaluates companies and competition in the financial world.

30:10 — Building an in-game advisory board of real experts
With rocket engineers and bankers in his guild, Andrew leveraged real-world insights to refine his strategy — proving that the best guilds function like startups.

49:50 — When players capture the dev team
Andrew recounts how a former guild member joined the dev team and created a secret mine just for them, triggering a real example of regulatory capture inside the game.

 * Check out Andrews Book: https://www.amazon.com/Economics-Online-Gaming-Introduction-Economic-ebook/dp/B084Z77PSW
 * Andrews Website: https://www.wagnerroadcm.com/
 * Andrews Substack: https://wagnerroadcm.substack.com/
 * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/atwagner/

🎧 CTA
If you’ve ever seen the real world reflected in your favorite game, this episode will stick with you. Subscribe to Player Driven and share your favorite lesson learned from gaming.

The Economics of Gaming: How One Player Broke an MMO  and Launched a Career

What if you only had one digital life across all games... would you still cheat?
In this episode, we dig into the world of online cheating, digital accountability, and the business of fair play with Andrew Wailes from PlaySafe ID.

What started as a casual gaming session with friends led to a bold idea  one that could reshape how studios deal with cheaters and protect their communities.

🔍 Here's what we get into:

The cheating economy is real
Some cheat developers make more money than the games they’re exploiting. We explore the underground networks fueling this industry and why traditional bans aren’t working.

One identity to rule them all
Andrew introduces PlaySafe ID, a system that gives each player a single anonymized identifier across games. It keeps players accountable without exposing their personal info.

Game economies, broken by bots
Cheaters ruin more than just competitive play. They crash in-game markets, devalue rewards, and destroy core gameplay loops. We talk through the impact on long-term retention.

Reddit as the proving ground
A low-budget Reddit campaign helped Andrew validate the idea and attract thousands of pre-registrations before a single studio integration went live.

From kitchens to code
Andrew’s path to gaming wasn’t straight. He went from Michelin-starred pastry chef to founder of a gaming trust and safety platform. He shares the lessons that transferred from fine dining to startup life.

💡 Key takeaways:

 * Cheating doesn’t just hurt games, it destroys trust and drives players away
 * Accountability doesn’t have to mean giving up privacy
 * Studios want to fight back, but they’re outmatched by organized cheating rings
 * Solving this problem could unlock stronger communities and more sustainable games

🎯 This episode is for:

 * Developers, LiveOps leads, and support teams dealing with bad actors
 * VCs and founders looking at trust and safety as the next big frontier
 * Players who are sick of losing to cheaters and wondering if anything will change
 * Anyone interested in how tech, ethics, and community all collide in online games

This one hits hard. Fair play matters more than ever. Listen now and be part of the change.
🎧 Available wherever you get your podcasts

One Account, One Life: Can This Fix Online Gaming

Episode Summary:

In this episode, we're joined by Alex Seropian, a true legend in the gaming industry and the co-founder of Bungie, the studio behind Halo. Alex is now the founder of Look North World, a company focused on creating experiences within the Fortnite ecosystem using Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN).  Alex discusses the evolution of the gaming industry, from the era of physical game distribution to today's platform-driven economy.  He shares his insights on where innovation in gaming is headed, the challenges of discoverability, and the paramount importance of building a strong community.  This conversation is a must-listen for anyone interested in the future of game development, user-generated content, and the ever-changing landscape of interactive entertainment.

About Our Guest:

Alex Seropian is the founder of Look North World and has an extensive history in the gaming industry.  He co-founded Bungie, was part of Industrial Toys, and worked at Disney.  He is now focused on building user-generated content and experiences within Fortnite.

 * Look North World: https://www.looknorth.world/
 * The Fourth Curtain Podcast: https://www.thefourthcurtain.com/

Key Topics Discussed:

 * [02:11] The Future of Innovation in Gaming: Alex shares his thoughts on where new and innovative ideas in the gaming industry will come from, highlighting platforms that support experimentation and risk-taking.
 * [05:10] Discoverability in a Crowded Market: A discussion on the challenges of getting your game noticed on platforms like Steam versus UEFN and Roblox.
 * [10:05] What Defines a "Good" Game?: The conversation explores how the definition of a quality game has evolved and how generational differences impact what players find engaging.
 * [12:41] Creating Games for Younger Generations: Alex talks about his approach to creating content that appeals to him while also building a diverse team to create games for various audiences.
 * [14:42] The Player Feedback Loop: How Look North World launches numerous games and uses player feedback to iterate and improve their experiences in a live service environment.
 * [18:15] Company Pillars and Adapting to New Platforms: Alex discusses Look North World's founding principle of exceeding player expectations and how they've adapted that philosophy to the realities of the UEFN platform.
 * [20:54] The Importance of Community: Alex emphasizes that building a direct relationship with players is a top priority for Look North World, as important as the IP they create.
 * [25:08] The Early Days of Halo and Multiplayer: Alex reflects on the explosion of the Halo community and the surprising ways players connected to play online before the widespread availability of Xbox Live.
 * [35:34] What Excites Alex Most About the Gaming Industry: From the advent of 3D graphics and the internet to the current "platform economy" where creativity is happening within larger game ecosystems.
 * [47:16] Alex's Podcast, The Fourth Curtain: Alex plugs his own podcast where he interviews other luminaries in the game industry.

The Future of Gaming is User-Generated: A Conversation with Look North World's Alex Seropian

Welcome to Player Driven, the hub where gaming insights and community collide.

We believe that behind every great game is a thriving community and an unforgettable player experience. Whether it’s building inclusive environments, exploring the latest tech, or diving into the art of storytelling, our mission is simple: to empower the creators, communities, and players that make the gaming world extraordinary.

What We’re About:
🎮 Insightful Conversations – Through our podcast and community clubhouse, we bring industry leaders, creators, and innovators together to explore the cutting-edge of gaming.
🌍 Player-Centric Focus – From accessibility to trust and safety, we champion the initiatives that keep players at the heart of the industry.
📈 Data Meets Creativity – With a knack for combining KPIs with compelling narratives, we highlight strategies that don’t just work but resonate.
🤝 Community Building – We celebrate what makes the gaming community special: its people. From indie developers to AAA veterans, every voice matters here.

Join us as we explore what drives games, empowers communities, and defines success in the ever-evolving gaming landscape.

Your Game. Your Story. Your Community.

Greg

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