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PODCAST

Building Better Games

Benjamin Carcich

Leadership in game dev is hard. I can"t make it easy, but I can make it a heck of a lot better. My name is Benjamin Carcich, and this podcast helps leaders in game dev who feel stuck, ignored, and out of options find their path to success. I"ve spent the last several decades studying and leading in environments ranging from the U.S. Army through to game development. I want to share what I"ve learned. Better leadership is a huge opportunity in the games industry. Let"s make it better together

leisure video games

All Episodes

16:36

E112: The Game Producer Trap: Busy, Helpful, Useless

Building Better Games ·

2026/01/14

If you're a leader in game dev who feels stuck, able to spot problems but struggling to make a real difference, there is a path forward that levels up your leadership and accelerates your team, game, and career. Sign up here to learn more: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6 If you disappeared for a week, would your team lose their momentum—or just their note-taker? Most game producers are stuck in a "checklist trap"—spending their days managing tickets, booking meetings, and taking notes without

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01:08:49

E111: Why Western Game Dev Is Breaking — What Leaders...

Building Better Games ·

2026/01/06

If you're a leader in game dev who feels stuck, there is a path forward that levels up your leadership and accelerates your team, game, and career. Sign up here to learn more: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6 30,000 Layoffs. Solid prototypes can't get funding. Western Game Dev Is Breaking. In this episode, Rich Vogel explains why Western game development isn't in a downturn, it's in a reset. Fresh off fundraising conversations in 2025-2026, Rich breaks down why funding for large-budget games has

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45:20

E110: The Truth About Game Studio Politics (And How...

Building Better Games ·

2025/12/16

If you're a leader in game dev who feels stuck, there is a path forward that levels up your leadership and accelerates your team, game, and career. Sign up here to learn more: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6 You're doing the work, fighting for your team, but your ideas stall in meetings and people with less context somehow have more influence than you. It can feel like the only way to win is to become the political operator you hate. In this episode, Ben breaks down the simple, three-part system

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01:43:28

E109: Is Ethical AI in Game Dev Even Possible?

Building Better Games ·

2025/12/02

If you're a leader in game dev who feels stuck, there is a path forward that levels up your leadership and accelerates your team, game, and career. Sign up here to learn more: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6 Leadership in game dev is hard, but choosing to ignore the biggest technological shift of our generation is a high-stakes gamble. In this episode, we talk with Benjamin Chevalier, Chief AI Officer at Mighty Bear Games, who has a uniquely informed perspective as an Art Director turned tech

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31:23

E108: 3 Leadership Mistakes Quietly Crippling Your...

Building Better Games ·

2025/11/18

If you're a leader in game dev who feels stuck, there is a path forward that levels up your leadership and accelerates your team, game, and career. Sign up here to learn more: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6 Are you leading a team that has plenty of people but can't seem to get moving? You care deeply about your team and your game, but projects crawl and decisions drag in the. It's almost never just a talent problem. Instead, it's three quiet leadership mistakes that choke momentum. In this

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01:01:27

E107: Stop Hiring "Testers." Start Doing QA.

Building Better Games ·

2025/11/11

If you're a leader in game dev who feels stuck, there is a path forward that levels up your leadership and accelerates your team, game, and career. Sign up here to learn more: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6 You can't just test quality into a game at the end. You have to build it in from the start. Ignoring your Quality Assurance team's full value is a fast way to lose millions. The state of game development is at a challenging inflection point, characterized by high-risk live service ambitions

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33:10

E106: Why Jira Hurts Game Studios

Building Better Games ·

2025/11/04

If you're a leader in game dev who feels stuck, able to spot problems but struggling to make a real difference, there is a path forward that levels up your leadership and accelerates your team, game, and career. Sign up here to learn more: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6 Are you inadvertently forcing your team to serve a tool, instead of letting your tools serve your team and game? In a recent conversation with Clinton Keith, Ben asked how Clint would help all of game development. Clint's

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01:04:30

E105: Your "2-Day" Task Takes 2 Months. Here's the Fix.

Building Better Games ·

2025/10/28

If you're a leader in game dev who feels stuck, able to spot problems but struggling to make a real difference, there is a path forward that levels up your leadership and accelerates your team, game, and career. Sign up here to learn more: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6 How much is your bad code costing you, and how much is your team's suffering just a ritual of amateur theatre? In this episode, Engineering and Agile expert Tim Ottinger and Ben challenge the core belief systems that plague

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16:18

E104: Game Dev Leaders: Save Weeks of Thrash in 20...

Building Better Games ·

2025/10/21

If you’re a leader in game dev who feels stuck, able to spot problems but struggling to make a real difference, there is a path forward that levels up your leadership and accelerates your team, game, and career. Sign up here to learn more: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6 How do you save weeks of thrash when your team is busy and perhaps even crunching, but your key goals aren't moving? This solo episode with Ben reveals the hidden cost of avoiding difficult conversations and the simple,

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57:29

E103: Leadership Under Fire: Surviving a $100M Game...

Building Better Games ·

2025/10/14

If you’re a leader in game dev who feels stuck, able to spot problems but struggling to make a real difference, there is a path forward that levels up your leadership and accelerates your team, game, and career. Sign up here to learn more: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6 What happens when doing the right thing could get you fired? Every game dev leader faces this nightmare: being held accountable for results but not empowered to make the decisions needed to achieve them. That tension creates

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28:09

E102: 5 Game Dev Delusions That Kill Studios

Building Better Games ·

2025/10/07

Stop leaving reality behind and ship better games! If you’re a leader in game dev who feels stuck, able to spot problems but struggling to make a real difference, there is a path forward that levels up your leadership and accelerates your team, game, and career. Sign up here to learn more: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6 Is your studio living in a delusion that will only end in pain? Seemingly great teams burn millions of dollars only to shut down because they left reality behind. This episode

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01:28:39

E101: How Layoffs Go Wrong—and the Right Way to Do Them

Building Better Games ·

2025/09/30

Ready to take your game development career to the next level? Join the Game Dev Leadership Accelerator: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6 Do layoffs mean studio leadership is bad? While the popular answer is often "yes," the truth is more complex. Layoffs can reveal many things, from bad times in the market to failures to manage finances to corporate greed. But if you’re a leader, the real test is how you behave when your company’s survival is on the line. Trent Kusters, the co-founder and Studio

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01:09:42

Don’t Hire Until You See These 3 Signs

Building Better Games ·

2025/09/23

Ready to take your game development career to the next level? Join the Game Dev Leadership Accelerator: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6 In this special Q&A episode for Episode 100, we're answering your most pressing questions from the Game Production Community Discord! Join Ben Carcich as he dives into critical topics that every game development leader faces, from navigating project pivots to building a healthy team culture. We'll explore: ✅ When to scale your team up (or down) ✅ How to prepare

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38:40

E99: Stop Using 2-Week Sprints - Here's Why They’re...

Building Better Games ·

2025/09/16

Stuck in slow loops and broken systems? The Game Dev Leadership Accelerator can help you make lasting change. Sign up to learn more: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6 Why do most teams default to two-week sprints, even when they're wrong? In this episode, Ben Carcich breaks down a simple model with three dials that you should use to tune your iteration length. He explains why iteration length is a product lever, not a calendar convenience for your leadership, and how choosing the right rhythm for

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01:41:08

E98: Why Most Game Launches Flop (And How to Avoid It)

Building Better Games ·

2025/09/09

Is there a way to predict whether a game will hit or flop? In this episode, Ben is joined by Colan Neese, who has spent a lot of time looking at how audiences relate to products at companies like Twitch and Nielsen. Colan's work at Mind Game Data is focused on "puzzling through the problem of anticipating which games are likely to take off at launch and which seem to be headed nowhere". The conversation challenges the conventional wisdom about what drives a successful launch, revealing why our

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31:16

E97: The 3 Tools Your Team Needs To Deliver Great Games

Building Better Games ·

2025/09/02

🎮 There are tons of “game dev tools” out there promising to fix your problems… but too often, teams end up serving the tool instead of the tools serving them. In this video, I’ll break down a simple, practical guide to streamline your process. You’ll learn not just what you need, but why it matters whether you’re running a team, starting a game studio, or pushing an R&D project forward. ✨ What you’ll learn in this episode: The Power of Vision → Why a clear, shared vision is your best defense

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59:12

E96: Setting Goals: It’s Not Just About Shipping A...

Building Better Games ·

2025/08/26

Setting goals is harder than you think. In this episode, Ben Carcich is joined by Melissa Phillips, founder of Games Leadership, to dive deep into a topic that leaders often approach with little understanding: goal setting. From a professional perspective, goal setting is about helping people find fulfillment in what they are doing. Melissa discusses how goals have evolved from a basic survival need to a more complicated, individualistic pursuit. What you’ll learn in this episode: Why money is a

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01:27:57

E95: The Challenge Of Live Service Games And How To...

Building Better Games ·

2025/08/12

Are live service games truly dying, or are we just seeing a new era of evolution? In this episode, we sit down with game designer and product thinker Ryan Scott to unpack the difficult world of live service titles. Ryan brings a wealth of knowledge from his time working on major titles, sharing his unique insights on what makes a live service game thrive or fail. We dive deep into the concept of "switching costs," the importance of meeting specific player needs, and the delicate balance between

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01:09:45

E94: Why You Should Think About Publishing More In...

Building Better Games ·

2025/07/29

Do you need game publishing to ship your game successfully? What does a leader in a publishing organization truly do? Join us for a conversation with Elizabeth Howard, an industry veteran with over 20 years of experience across Aspyr, 2K, and Bungie, where she led publishing and production. Elizabeth views game development and publishing as two parts working together to ship games, defining publishing as everything outside of dev. This episode explores the nature of game publishing, the historical

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01:35:17

E93: The Collapse of the Games Industry with Trent...

Building Better Games ·

2025/07/15

How will the game industry adapt? Are we hurtling towards a gig economy? In this powerful conversation, we sit down with Trent Kusters, co-founder and studio head of League of Geeks, to talk about the future of our industry. Trent takes us on a deep, honest exploration of the game industry’s current state, from platform power struggles and algorithmic curation to the erosion of full-time game dev careers. This vital conversation goes beyond just metrics, delving into the human element,

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132 results

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