Player Driven

Greg
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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.

  1. vor 52 m

    Why Most Games Fail in the Gap Between the Idea and the Build

    Lewis Ward spent sixteen years covering games as an analyst at IDC. Now he runs Design Desk at Player Driven, and his obsession has moved upstream, into the design layer where games are still just ideas. In this episode he and Greg get into the part of game-making most teams skip: the psychology underneath the code, the math underneath the fun, and the reason a strong blueprint so often falls apart on the way to a shipped game. It's a conversation about why design is never really separate from the real world, and why the gap between theory and practice is where studios quietly lose. What they get into: Lewis's move from market-research analyst to Design Desk, and why the early "kernel of an idea" stage is the part that fascinates him nowThe Guild Wars 2 lesson from Kristen Cox: architect your live ops systems to be surprised by players, then have the humility to say "we were wrong" and roll with it (the 80-to-100-person "champ trains" nobody designed for)Why gaming is a verb, not a noun, and how even a single-player game is a conversation with the team that built itGame economy vs. monetization: Catalin Alexander's argument that every forced choice in a game is an economic decision, and that the math underneath the core loop is what holds the whole thing togetherThe three loops of a live game, from moment-to-moment to season to multi-year progression, and why they all have to line up mathematicallyGenres as psychological needs: how self-determination theory (autonomy, mastery, relatedness) maps onto why players pick what they pick, and why too many designers treat psychology as "frou frou" and skip itThe dark power fantasy problem: why letting one player feel like a god works in single-player and breaks the moment a game goes social (and what that means for web3 games that turned everyone else into serfs)A preview of the upcoming Charlie Olsen episode on skill-based matchmaking, framed as Activision managing skill like a scarce resource to engineer close, uncertain, "sweaty" matchesWhere AI playtesting tools might let smaller teams get design insight without spending six figures on a data clean roomGuest: Lewis Ward, VP of Content, Design Desk at Player Driven. Former IDC games analyst (2009–2025), covering PC, console, and mobile. Reading list referenced: The Rules We Break (Eric Zimmerman), A Theory of Fun (Raph Koster), and a self-determination theory text. Mentioned in the episode: Kristen Cox (ArenaNet / Guild Wars 2), Oscar Clark (Arcanix), Catalin Alexander (behavioral game economist), Nick Yee (Quantic Foundry), Mark Otero (dark power fantasy take), Charlie Olsen (Invokation Games, ex-Activision matchmaking), and an upcoming Zach Letter / WonderWorks episode on Roblox and real-time live ops. A line worth pulling: On social games, Lewis: "Once you get into a social context, it's very difficult to make one person a god, because that makes everybody else a serf. And you know what the serfs will do? They'll quit the game."

    56 Min.

  2. 2. Juni

    Let Bungie Die: The State of Sony, Activision, and Everyone Caught in Between

    Bungie's total mindshare has collapsed 86% since 2019, Destiny is winding down to a final mission, and Marathon is on life support. Greg Posner and Colan Neese (SVP Gaming, ASI Screen Engine) work through what happens when a studio forgets who its audience actually is, then pivot to Activision's surprise Modern Warfare 4 announcement, Bond's launch curve under the GTA 6 shadow, why Lego Batman is the first Batman content Greg's six-year-old can actually engage with, and predictions for next Tuesday's State of Play. Chapters 00:00 Cold open and Player Driven update 02:50 Welcome to Player Driven Live 03:30 Modern Warfare 4 surprise drop and the October 26 release 06:55 Is Modern Warfare 4 part of the Xbox comeback story? 09:00 Why the GTA 6 release window is "black Sharpie" for everyone else 12:00 The "popcorn Call of Duty" vs the grimy core-gamer franchise 16:00 2026 as the year of the AAA comeback: Resident Evil, Forza, Crimson Desert, Wolverine 19:00 2018 Black Ops 4 vs Red Dead 2 — the precedent for this release strategy 20:20 Lego Batman, the Arkham mechanics, and TT Games' ownership purgatory 24:25 "The first thing that's come out of Batman since my son was born in 2019" 26:00 Did Lego overcorrect the formula and alienate younger players? 29:15 Sean Layden callback: bigger games aren't better games 30:00 Bond: how IO Interactive's marketing missed the audience 33:00 Why Bond, Lego, Subnautica 2, and Forza all cannibalized each other in one launch window 35:00 "Making a good game slows the degradation curve" — the Spider-Man 2 pattern 36:55 The Bond launch window that could have been 38:30 The Crimson Desert garden hose tangent 40:30 State of Play predictions: Wolverine, Gears, Fable, and a possible GTA 6 date drop 41:25 Bungie's 86% mindshare collapse since 2019 43:50 "You come out with something called The Final Shape — and then you're like, but not the end?" 46:13 "Unless the plan was let Bungie die" 47:00 Marathon as the cleanest case of a studio forgetting its audience 48:45 Concord, the previous Sony regime, and the half-billion Destiny 3 question 52:30 Bungie's rebellious DNA: from Microsoft to Activision to Sony 56:30 Charlie Olsen, the original Call of Duty SBMM algorithm, and an upcoming Player Driven podcast 58:45 Colan's final word: "I'm not anti-Bungie. I'm anti-Bungie leadership." Key Quotes "Bungie's total mindshare across all its IP and games has fallen 86% since 2019." — Colan Neese"How do you build up such a community and then squander it? Unless the plan was let Bungie die." — Greg Posner"Bungie was a studio that made games for normie gamers to get on board with shooters. Anyone could just play Halo and have a good time. Then they made Marathon for hardcore gamers." — Colan Neese"Modern Warfare has always been the popcorn game of their sub-genres. Black Ops is the grimy core-gamer franchise." — Colan Neese"Making a good game that people then go and talk about how good it is does matter in terms of slowing the degradation curve." — Colan Neese"This Lego Batman is the first thing that's come out of Batman since my son was born in 2019." — Greg Posner"I'm not anti-Bungie. I'm anti-Bungie leadership." — Colan Neese Resources Mentioned Modern Warfare 4 — releasing October 26, 2026State of Play — next Tuesday (June 2026)ASI Screen Engine — Colan's mindshare data sourceSean Layden interview on the Player Driven Podcast — referenced on filler content and game scopeBloomberg reporting — Destiny 3 estimated $500M budgetCrimson Desert — Colan's current obsessionLego Batman, Bond, Subnautica 2, Forza Horizon 6 — the May launch window pile-upComing soon: Charlie Olsen (built the original Call of Duty SBMM algorithm at Raven Software, 2017) on a future Player Driven Podcast Hosts Greg Posner — Founder, Player Driven Colan Neese — SVP Gaming, ASI Screen Engine Connect 🎙️ Player Driven Live every Thursday → www.playerdriven.io 💬 Discord — join the conversation → https://discord.gg/GC5PkbKFH 🌐 playerdriven.io

    59 Min.

  3. 26. Mai

    Ad-Supported Xbox, the Death of the Open Web, and House Cats for AI

    Matt Ball just joined Xbox, and Colan is calling his shot: a free, ad-supported Xbox tier is coming, and people are massively underestimating what free does to an ecosystem. Greg thinks it's a trap that splits the audience and pushes core gamers to PlayStation. They go ten rounds on it. Then the conversation shifts. Google IO basically announced the end of the open web. AI is now answering the questions Google used to send you to a website to find. Colan grew up in the open web and is melancholy about losing it. Greg's read from GamesBeat: AI makes everyone's breadth of knowledge wider, but the depth underneath is paper thin. Which leads to the line of the episode. If autopilot makes us worse drivers, what does autopilot-for-everything make us? Colan's answer: house cats for AI. Plus Forza Horizon 6 is real and it's spectacular, the GamesBeat recap is in, and Greg got an introduction to Charlie Olsen — the guy who built Call of Duty's original skill-based matchmaking system. More on that soon. ⏱ Chapters TimeTopic00:00 | Opening — patch notes and a shorter newsletter 02:30 | Lewis Corner: Catalin Alexandru on game economy vs monetization 04:45 | Matt Ball joins Xbox 07:20 | The case for a free, ad-supported Xbox tier 12:00 | Greg's counter — you can't serve both audiences 17:30 | Why Steam, Sony, and Nintendo won't follow 22:00 | Microsoft's actual ad business, in context 25:15 | Reddit, Bond, and arguing with strangers 29:30 | The death of the open web 34:00 | Breadth vs depth — Greg's GamesBeat takeaway 38:15 | House cats for AI 42:00 | Forza Horizon 6 — first impressions 46:30 | GamesBeat recap 52:00 | Charlie Olsen and the Call of Duty matchmaking story 57:00 | Closing 🔗 Links🎙 Site: playerdriven.io💬 Discord: playerdriven.io/discord📩 Newsletter: playerdriven.io📝 Lewis Corner — Catalin Alexandru, Part 1: Read herePlayer Driven Live runs every Thursday with Greg Posner and Colan Neese. #Xbox #Gaming #GameIndustry #AI #LiveOps #GamePass #PlayerDriven

    59 Min.

  4. 19. Mai

    "No AI" Doesn't Mean What You Think It Does

    Guest: Tess Lynch, Founding Attorney, Clause and Affect When Crimson Desert announced "no AI in our game," the internet applauded. But does anyone agree on what that actually means? Tess Lynch — gaming and IP attorney, founder of Clause and Affect, and one of the more practical legal voices covering this space — joined Greg to untangle what studios are really promising when they make that pledge, and what they're leaving dangerously undefined. What we get into: The three tiers of AI in games that almost nobody distinguishes clearly — procedural generation (been here forever, deterministic, mostly fine), machine learning trained on licensed data (DLSS, Adobe Firefly, getting complicated), and generative AI trained on scraped data (the one everyone's actually upset about, and for good reason). Why "no AI" policies get weird fast — no Gmail, no Copilot, no AI meeting notes — and why the real target is almost always generative AI replacing human creative work, not automation tools embedded in software you're already using. The consent problem hiding inside "licensed" datasets. Adobe Firefly is built on licensed images, but did those photographers consent to having their work used to train the model? Tess breaks down where that gets legally murky, and why the Scarlett Johansson standard she uses is a useful gut check. UGC platforms and the IP trap studios don't see coming. When players generate content in your game — especially with AI tools — the question of who owns it, who's liable for it, and whether you can even copyright it is almost entirely unsettled law right now. Why purely AI-generated work can't be copyrighted (current U.S. law requires human authorship), and what that means for studios shipping games with AI-generated assets as placeholders they forgot to swap out. Clair Obscure and Crimson Desert both came up. The patchwork regulatory problem. Every state has its own privacy laws, its own AI laws, its own age assurance rules. Tess calls it what it is: an amalgamation that will never get cleaner until it becomes a federal issue — which she doesn't expect soon. When should you actually talk to a lawyer? Her answer: yesterday. But more practically — before you touch sensitive data, before you go live with anything using AI in a novel way, and definitely before you sign contractor agreements that don't address it. And on the business side: what it's actually like to build a solo law firm serving indie devs and creatives who can't pay BigLaw rates. Billing, time management, and figuring out what your work is worth. Tess Lynch: LinkedIn | Clause and Affect website | Your AI NPC Might Be Illegal Player Driven: Discord | Newsletter

    39 Min.

  5. 12. Mai

    Feedback at 150,000 Players: What V Rising Learned from Its Own Launch

    What happens inside a studio when a game explodes past every projection on launch day? Jeremy Fielding, Community Manager and Narrative Coordinator at Stunlock Studios, was there when V Rising hit 150,000 concurrent Steam players — and he walked us through all of it: the chaos, the 60-hour weeks, the improvised official servers, and the feedback systems they built on the fly. Joined by Steve McLeod, founder of Feature Upvote, this conversation covers the full arc of community management at scale — from why every community manager is fundamentally a game developer, to how Stunlock built player trust through transparency, to why studio announcements largely don't work and what does instead. If you work in community, player support, or live ops — this one is packed. What We Cover: Why community managers are game developers (and why that framing matters)What it was actually like inside Stunlock during V Rising's early access launchHow to build feedback systems that scale before you think you need themThe case for private beta feedback boards — and the "Dracula pun" password strategyWhy AI bots in Discord often backfire — and what players actually want when they reach outHow transparency converts skeptical players into studio advocatesThe measurement problem: why community impact is real but hard to quantifyThe rise of the double-A studio and why mid-size teams have a community advantageGuests: Jeremy Fielding (Jeremy Berson online) — Community Manager & Narrative Coordinator, Stunlock Studios | playvrising.comSteve McLeod — Founder, Feature Upvote | featureupvote.com | LinkedInTimestamps: 00:00 — Intro & warm-up02:00 — Are community managers game developers?05:30 — How game dev is really about solving problems you made yourself09:00 — Translating player feedback to dev teams — the middle seat13:00 — V Rising's early access launch: what 150K concurrent looks like from inside21:00 — AI in community support: when it helps, when it backfires27:00 — Why honesty builds the community that defends you30:00 — Feedback tools at scale: what to look for, what to avoid38:00 — Private beta feedback with Feature Upvote (and Dracula passwords)44:00 — Turning feedback into competitive advantage49:00 — Why studio trust is the new double-A advantage54:00 — Guest intros & where to find themConnect with Player Driven: Discord: https://discord.gg/zdwAqvgvfyNewsletter: Player DrivenYouTube: Player Driven

    58 Min.

  6. 5. Mai

    Building NYC's Gaming Ecosystem from the Classroom Up with Alia Jones-Harvey

    Episode Description (the version that goes in podcast players) New York City has tripled gaming industry jobs since 2008. The average wage is now 14% above the citywide average. Over half of NYC's game studios are indie teams of five or fewer. And almost nobody outside the city knows it. In this episode of Player Driven, Greg Posner sits down with Alia Jones-Harvey, Associate Commissioner of Education and Workforce Development at the New York City Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, to talk about how the city is quietly building a connected gaming ecosystem — from K-12 students competing inside Minecraft, to CTE high schools running state-approved game design curriculum, to City College's bachelor's degree in game design housed in the school of arts. They cover Battle of the Boroughs, the NYC Video Game Festival on May 9, the Summer of Games initiative, and why community is the through-line that ties all of it together. If you work in gaming on the East Coast, this episode reframes what's possible. Topics covered NYC gaming industry, NYC Video Game Festival, Battle of the Boroughs, Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, MOME, NYC esports, game design education, K-12 gaming programs, Minecraft education, indie game development NYC, CTE schools, City College game design, Summer of Games NYC, Made in NY digital games, NYC workforce development gaming, East Coast gaming industry, gaming jobs NYC, indie studios New York, gaming community building, Convene Brookfield Place, collegiate esports NYC About the guest Alia Jones-Harvey is the Associate Commissioner of Education and Workforce Development at the New York City Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME). Her portfolio includes the Battle of the Boroughs program, the NYC Video Game Festival, the Made in NY digital games program, and the city's broader work supporting the indie game development community. About the show Player Driven is a podcast and media platform for gaming industry practitioners — community managers, player support leads, live ops professionals, trust and safety operators, and the people building the next generation of player communities. New episodes weekly. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Links NYC Video Game Festival  Battle of the Boroughs / NYC Summer of Games 2021 NYC Games Industry Economic Impact Study Player Driven Tags Gaming, Esports, Education, Government, New York City, Indie Games, Game Development, Community, Workforce Development, Trade Publication

    22 Min.

  7. 28. Apr.

    From Side Project to Steam Launch: What a Two-Man Indie Team Learned the Hard Way

    What does it really take for a two-person indie team to turn an after-hours idea into a real shipped game? In this episode of Player Driven, Greg sits down with Max Mraz of Moth Atlas to talk about the long road behind Tombwater, a handcrafted horror western action game built over four years while balancing full-time jobs. What started as a small experiment quickly became something much bigger, forcing the team to figure out scope, structure, production, and eventually, what kind of help they actually needed to get the game across the finish line. The conversation digs into the reality behind indie development when you are not a full studio with departments, producers, and extra hands. Max shares how the team stayed organized, how they thought about what belonged in version one, and why building the game was only part of the challenge. The other half was everything around launch: QA, community, support, and the operational work that most people do not think about until it is staring them in the face. They also get into one of the more honest questions indie developers wrestle with: when does self-publishing stop making sense? Max breaks down why working with a publisher mattered for a team like his, what support actually made a difference, and which parts of the process he was most grateful not to have to own himself. If you are an indie developer, a publisher, or just someone who loves hearing how games actually get made, this episode is a great look at the gap between having a cool idea and getting a game into players’ hands. In this episode, we cover: How Tombwater went from a small side project to a full commercial releaseWhat it looks like to build a game after work while holding a full-time jobHow a two-person team managed scope, production, and version one decisionsWhat most indie teams underestimate about launching a gameWhy professional QA is very different from casual playtestingHow publishing support helped remove major operational burdensThe value of community support without forcing the developer to run everythingWhat Max would tell other tiny teams trying to build something realAbout Tombwater Tombwater is a handcrafted action game that blends Soulslike, Zelda-like, and Metroidvania elements inside an Eldritch Horror Wild West setting. Players explore a cursed town, uncover hidden mysteries, and battle through dangerous enemies, bosses, spells, weapons, and secrets. Links Wishlist / play Tombwater on SteamLearn more about Midwest GamesMore episodes at Player Driven#PlayerDriven #IndieGames #GameDevelopment #IndieDev #SteamGames #GamePublishing #Soulslike #GameDesign

    40 Min.

  8. 21. Apr.

    The Rise of Web Shops: How Games Are Reclaiming Players and Profit

    For years, mobile gaming operated under one unspoken rule: give up ~30% of your revenue to platform holders like Apple and Google. That model is starting to break. In this episode of Player Driven, Greg sits down with Gil Tov-ly, CMO of Appcharge, to unpack one of the biggest structural shifts happening in gaming right now: the move toward direct-to-consumer (DTC). Gil brings a unique perspective, having worked across adtech, UGC platforms, and now fintech infrastructure for game studios. He shares how rising user acquisition costs, platform restrictions, and regulatory pressure have pushed studios to rethink how they monetize and engage players. What used to be an experiment is quickly becoming the backbone of the industry.  🔑 What We Cover  Why the “30% platform tax” is no longer sustainable  How DTC web shops are unlocking 20–25% more margin for studios  The real reason DTC is about more than revenue — it’s about owning the player relationship  How top studios are already driving 30–40% of revenue through web stores  What actually happens to player behavior when you introduce off-platform payments  Why trust (not tech) is the biggest barrier to adoption  The rise of new roles like DTC managers and web shop leads inside studios  How AI is reshaping marketing, product design, and creative workflows in gaming 🎯 Key Takeaway The biggest shift isn’t just saving money. It’s control. Studios are moving from renting their players through platforms… to owning the relationship, the data, and the monetization strategy end-to-end. And once that happens, everything changes.  🚀 Why This Matters We’re entering an era where:  Growth is coming from efficiency, not just more playtime  Margins are being reinvested into UA, LiveOps, and AI  Direct player relationships are becoming a competitive advantage DTC isn’t a side channel anymore. It’s becoming core infrastructure for modern game studios. Links Appcharge - Payments Built for Mobile GamesPlayer Driven Discord: https://discord.gg/zdwAqvgvfyPlayer Driven

    48 Min.
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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.

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  • Erstellt von
    Greg
  • Jahre aktiv
    2023 - 2026
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