A New Year and a new podcast episode has released. This week Stefan and I go into our predictions for the video games industry in 2021. It’s going to be an exciting year with work from home, enterprise video games, and the 20th anniversary of Streamline. We cover that and more in this weeks episode!
SEASON 2 OF STARVEUP BEGINS NOW!
It’s been a minute. When I first started this entire website, I was excited to post more content and get things rolling and then life happened.
Company grew.
Projects got wild.
Had another child.
Moved back to the other side of the world.
Landed a massive destination wedding gig that took me to three countries in 10 days.
And we decided to self-publish and launch our next game, Bake ‘n Switch. It’s been a long road to say the least, but one that has been worth every second.
Now that I’m back into a rhythm that now incorporates life in a pandemic and the inconsistencies of life in the United States, i’m getting back onto the horse and making sure to use this site as the main content aggregator of everything that is going on in my universe.
First up, Season Two of Starveup has begun. You can find the video below! Enjoy and if you have comments, please feel free to place them here or on YouTube. If there’s anything else you’d like me to cover in the videos, please let me know.
The world has flipped upside down and become a bizarre facsimile of what it once was. With all the chaos and strife, it can be hard to remember that creativi...
Tough Decisions
Like the infamous Kobayashi Maru from Star Trek, I don't believe in no-win scenarios, but I know firsthand that there are situations where the options are bad or worse.
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Contracts like you mean it
The video games industry is notorious for the asymmetry that exists between different parties in contract negotiations. Back when I first started in the early 00s, I was told that certain publishers liked to push out their "bonehead" agreements first to see if they could get a deal that honestly, no one sane would sign. Recently, I ran into a similar situation and the expression, “there’s a sucker born every minute,” came to mind and got me thinking why there are some that think signing anything is better than nothing and gleefully push subpar agreements onto others.
Context is key
If you're desperate for money or don’t believe you can get better than by all means, consider a deal as is, but I sincerely doubt much would merit taking an agreement that isn’t in anyone’s interests. Yes, you read it right, even a partial deal is still a loss for everyone involved and here’s why.
Agreements are only as good as the people who sign them and moreover the spirit in which made. The moment when either party realizes they’ve been taken to the cleaners, everything changes.
Show me a person gleeful of taking advantage of a situation, and I’ll highlight the fools shortsightedness and soon to be heartbreak when things inevitably fall apart.
Corporate blah-blah
In creative endeavors, especially video games, poor contracts line the road of delayed releases and slums of broken studios.
Before the corporate folks scream out in laughter let me get something clear, risk mitigation/shareholder value go hand and hand with equitable agreements. Lacking the will or competence to negotiate internally isn’t an excuse for pushing templates forward- especially if you want great work.
I don’t doubt the honor that comes from working with any great brand, but let’s not confuse this with the lines one gives to their first love.
The fact is it’s a business deal and protecting downside isn’t just a nice to have it’s downright essential for all parties.
Surprise, commonsense
The good news is that none of this is impossible to solve so as long as both are willing to seek compromise and understand things change.
Evolution leads to revolution and in industries as fast paced and ever growing like gaming, ensuring you’re realistic and up to date comes down to a few simple truths:
Quality of the delivery and experience come first
Understand the context your partner is operating in
Create a spirit of partnership by establishing win-win solutions
Some readers may not believe they can make change happen in their organization or that their partners genuinely don’t want them to succeed. In both cases, I would argue that it is possible and you need to possess the will to seek the required change.
In my 18+ years of dealmaking in video games, film, and advertising I’ve only encountered one instance of inability, but frank discussion and hard truths overcame even that. In the end, we all wanted the same thing and ultimately became a team.
Nothing great comes from taking advantage of someone in creative endeavors let alone in the video games industry. Finding that way forwards sets the stage for greatness and long-term success. After all, shipping a great product requires a great beginning, and that starts with a good agreement in place.
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TRUE CAPABILITIY
Throughout the years I've heard many different opinions about what it takes to have a successful business or career. The obvious things like communication, expertise, and focus fill
Those with true capability seemingly maneuver in-and-out of difficult situations that most would find impossible and somehow materialize things from the ether through a mix of personality, aptitude, and imagination. For some, it seems like magic, but for them, it's Tuesday. How they accomplish this is by continuing to foster a learning mindset bolstered through curiosity, possibilities, and grit. They've found a simple truth in life: those who can do and those who can't posture.
In 2001, I attended my first video games trade show and heard from "experts" that the industry would never outsource art. At one point, I was so frustrated and disheartened that I found myself at the center developer lounge where I was given sage advice to pay no attention to the haters and keep focused on what we were doing. During our conversation, this spiritual advisor shared with me that his team was starting to license out their engine technology to other developers and he would be happy to let us try it out. We took him up on that offer setting Streamline onto an incredible trajectory as a premier Unreal development studio.
At the time, we only had a hunch that teams would grow in size and that art would become more complicated. Looking at other industries, we saw a pattern emerging of the need to find experts, wherever they could be, and I believed we could lead the way in this exciting space. We understood that it would never happen if we postured and our talented team kept making content non-stop to show anyone who would look at it. With each passing day, we convinced more people, gained more experience, and won more contracts. All because we felt compelled to do more.
The good news is that you can cross over and become a doer. All it takes is brutal self-reflection, honesty about your capabilities, and checking egos at the door. Sure, you're going to fail multiple times. You more than likely will embarrass yourself- but in the process, the learnings gained will get you one step closer to where you want to be in the long-run.
After all, developing capability is a lot like a round of golf, you're playing against your last best self and improve with each swing you take.
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BFM INTERVIEW: STREAMLINE JOURNEY
By far my favorite interviews have been with BFM radio in Malaysia. The hosts are wickedly smart, funny, and informed. My first interview focused on the journey of building Streamline from an apartment into a global brand.
The Nature of Teamwork
Nothing big ever gets done alone. Teams are the nucleus of everyday life. Our families. Our jobs. Our relationships. They are living testaments to the collective power of people coming together with a purpose. Though we live it every day, we seldom think about what makes a team work.
Central to every great team is a mutual understanding of what’s at stake. The premise. It’s not some meta idea. It’s as raw and clear as knowing a lack of food leads to starvation. It serves as a rallying cry and benchmark for all decisions. This kind of understanding does not develop overnight. It comes through constant conversation, practice, and reinforcement. When achieved, teams gain full-court vision and can build a shorthand that accelerates their work. My partners and I have been together for almost two decades. During that time, we have developed a frankness towards what’s at stake. We look at things for what they are, not what we hope they might be. This leads us to make decisions that succeed big or fail big. It mitigates analysis paralysis and accelerates decision-making.
Teamwork is a full contact sport and requires direct feedback. It stings. It hurts. It burns. People are resilient, and the best teams are as well. Communicating with the fewest words possible and still being clear and respectful is key. What’s surprising is it’s not only the communicator that matters but also the receiver. Exceptional teams set the baseline of respect and always consider it when engaged. With this baseline, any perceived slights, friction, or time wasters are avoided. In the end, when teams are direct with each other, alignment happens.
At Streamline Studios, finding common denominators amongst 31 nationalities isn’t easy. It forces us into adopting a direct communication style. We strip away decor in favor of utility, bringing forward an easy to understand style for all. No one needs to guess what another person means. It’s as clear as day.Straightforward no frills communication is not for everyone. Experience has showed us how great a tool it is for weeding out those who don’t belong.Great teams learn and have relentless ambition. They go from one challenge to the next, pausing for a moment to survey what worked and what didn’t. They find key learnings and apply it to the next challenge. They never get to the final destination because they set new goals as they achieve old ones. Their ambitions are never quenched, only satisfied for a moment then they’re off looking for the next level, the next challenge, the next goal.
People are gob smacked when they learn Streamline Studios is 16 years old. Once their initial shock has worn-off, they ask when will it be enough? As a young entrepreneur, I may have responded with a common exit strategy retort. As I get older, I know it’s when we decide we’ve had enough. I can say from my heart it isn’t anytime soon.
The odds of us surviving as a business were low. Game developers have short life spans. I pin our longevity on learning and understanding the nature of teamwork early on in our history. It allowed us to remain flexible, absorb critical hits, and maximize opportunities. I know firsthand that any team applying the learning above will get further than those that don’t.
Startup Grind @ Google
The romanticism placed behind startups these days makes it easy to believe in overnight success, but anyone whose built a successful enterprise will tell you otherwise. For most it's an unforgiving grind that spits out the best of us while those who make it through each business stage attest to rarefied air that making it another year brings. At one point you look around and realize nearly everyone in your cohort didn't make it. At those points it's important to reflect and remember what it took to get to where you're at.
I was fortunate that the good people at Google Startup Grind asked me to share my journey with a group of entrepreneurs. Reflecting back on the journey was refreshing as well as eye opening. You can see the talk in its entirety below and I've summed it up here: It's been a hell of a lot of work that at times was scary, crazy, and stressful- I don't really remember those days well as much as the emotions. What outweighs it all has been the sense of purpose, accomplishment, and wonder that has come with a life lived on my own terms.
7 Keys to Great Leadership
Entire industries have been created to study, define and build leaders. Ask any business student or career minded person what they think about the topic and a plethora of responses pour forth. Businesses are leadership obsessed. Their future rests on the ability to cultivate or attract the best leaders. Yet, I've experienced a massive disconnect between the reality of leading and those who aspire to become leaders.
What is the essential element of leadership?
Society tends to amp up the benefits while obscuring reality. Let's strip away the money, respect and titles from the equation and look at the essence of leading: accountability over others. In the context of business: accountability over others and the results they produce. It's reasonable to think whatever methods necessary to produce results is fair-game, right? In fact, that's exactly the problem with most wannabe leaders- they believe the end justifies the mean. That can lead an organization into big trouble.
What quality does a leader need?
When I was thirteen, I lied about my age so that I could start working. I managed to land a gig at a telemarketing company where I quickly befriended the owner and offered my technical expertise on anything the company needed. I was young, eager to please and full of energy. The owner obliged and I found myself working overtime, helping to setup the new office while also building the next network for the company. The owners couldn't have been more than 30 at the time. I watched in awe as they leveraged an energetic mass of teenagers and young twenty-somethings into a very successful enterprise. They did this by structuring the organization in a manner in which the highest ranking manager beneath the executives was 20 years old. This closeness in age, wholesome goodness and approachability endeared her to the rank and file. One night, while building out the network, the owners told me that the secret was to find a genuine person to lead. It was helpful if they were likable too. I wasn't sure how someone could be genuine and not likable, but took the knowledge in.
What sums up leadership?
A few years later, I ended up working closely with a man who built a premier VoIP company before the internet really took off. He loved saying "Excuses don't change results." At 18 years of age, I found it to be a jack-ass comment, but knew he truly believed what he was saying. His straight forward off-the-cuff talk always made clear where you and the company stood. We all respected it.These two jobs revealed a simple truth of leadership: You can be an ass. You can be angel. Both have benefits, both have detractions, but what ultimately brings people together is the genuine nature of a person. And bringing people together is what leadership is all about. For many corporate-types, playing the game refers to the political structures within their organization. It's the unwritten rules of conduct that define success and failure. These transparent chains can feel restrictive to some while others thrive. Restrictive feelings are caused by the suppression of a person’s ability to express themselves. In other words, be real, be genuine, be who they are.
What key trait do all leaders have?
For most of us who grew up in the 80's and 90's, being true to yourself was a core foundations of our education. In school and the workplace, we were told playing the game was the only way to be successful. Of course, that’s never been the case, especially when it came to leadership. Genuine people overcome invisible structures. They frankly don't waste time on them and instead focus on getting the job done. This behavior attracts others that admire their ability to be themselves and to get on with it. This key trait to focus on what matters most is the mark of a leader, as is their ability to attract people.Let's be clear. Being genuine isn't an excuse for negative behavior. Sure you might be the most genuine sociopath the world has known, but hopefully your organizations leadership candidate process has a good screening process. I would venture as far to say that you get help for that before attempting to enter the leadership ranks of your company, unless that truly is the culture of your chosen organization. And if it is, maybe you want to find another place to work!If being genuine is the foundation for leadership, then accountability is the framework.
Where does leadership begin?
The financial crisis left many of us battered and thinking everyone for themselves. After all none of the financial CEO's involved in bringing the economy to its knees were ever held accountable, with the exception of the ones in Iceland. If that's a lesson in accountability, then clearly there’s none, but that simply isn't true. We must first hold ourselves accountable for the lives we live. I’m not talking about the failed New Years resolutions or chores you haven’t done, but the decisions we take on a daily basis that form the foundation of our lives. By holding ourselves accountable to the life we desire, we start building a cadence that emanates outwards towards those we lead. Actions speak louder than words, as cliche yes, but nonetheless, true.
How do real leaders lead?
The fastest way to build such accountability is to lead from the front. This means getting your hands dirty and involved in the situations you direct. When your team sees you in the trenches with them, it breeds deep trust and camaraderie. It’s the foundation for successful teams. Another way of seeing this is to never ask someone to do something that you wouldn’t do yourself. Try this for a quarter and see the differences your life takes.
What question must every leader ask?
Every morning, I look in the mirror and tell myself I have to make payroll. It’s a reminder of a major goal I believe makes the difference to the life I live. I’ve been saying this to myself for a decade. It's kept me focused and clear on what matters most. Ask yourself this: “Who am I?” Take a moment to feel what comes up and then begin to ask yourself why you’re the way you are. Ask why 5 times. By the 5th time you’ll uncover a deep, resonant answer. Grab onto it and follow it down the rabbit hole.
What must leaders remember most?
Together Everyone Achieves More (TEAM)It’s good to remember there’s a team. Having that clearly in focus helps the decision making process. I tell all my upcoming leaders there will be a moment where what’s right for the team may not be right for you or how you personally feel. It’s the greatest test of a leader, making decisions that don’t take themselves into consideration. The greater the stake, the greater impact. The best thing is always remember your team. Your team is your lifeboat in a hurricane.
What's the winning idea?
I’ve met this situation more time than I would care to have throughout my career. Some situations fundamentally changed my life, but with each of these steps the aftermath brought greater opportunities and possibilities than had I become obstinate or immovable. The truth is life is constant change and by meeting these situations head on, I was able to find a way to roll with it and find a stride that made it possible to succeed. Now, when presented with these circumstances, I get a rush, because I know something incredible lays on the other side. Through knowing who you are, being accountable and genuine, leaders find a path to success. The winning idea is not only build their careers, but build the careers of everyone on the team as well. As you come up you’ll leave in your wake people who are empowered and ready to follow you. No amount of money can buy that. It gives you true power to accomplish any goal. So it comes down to these seven essential principles of leadership.
Be accountable.
Be genuine.
Bring people together.
Focus on what matters most.
Lead from the front.
Know thyself.
Team first.