4. Jonathan Knight ― Lessons from 25+ years of games leadership Game of Life Podcast

Jonathan Knight is the Head of Games at the New York Times.  He's had a multi-decades long career in games, and we dig through his learnings from working on games like Sims 2, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Words with Friends, and working with people like Mitch Lasky and Will Wright.  We also talk about the interesting opportunity for games at The New York Times, the global sensation that is Wordle, and Jonathan's outlook on the future of games. 

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Substack: https://gameoflifepod.substack.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sophdeng

Email: golifepod@gmail.com

"Game of Life Podcast" is produced by Sophia Deng; visuals by Alonzo Felix; music is from Anchor.

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Timestamps

(00:56) All roads lead to Amber

(11:07) Development of The Sims 2, Harry Potter:  Wizards Unite, Words with Friends

(17:03) Leading games at The New York Times

(19:04) Wordle acquisition 

(24:47) Future of games

(29:07) Quick fire round:  Learnings from Mitch Lasky, Will Wright and Matt Groening

(32:02) 2 final questions 

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Jonathan's recommendations

Knotwords

chess.com