Playmakers - The Game Industry Podcast
Jordan Blackman interviews the leaders and legends of the video game industry so that you can succeed with your game project, career, or venture. Discover how you can produce, market, and operate games more successfully so that your career can be more satisfying and impactful, whether you're a game designer, engineer, or entrepreneur and whether you work at a studio, publisher, brand or startup. Jordan is an industry insider, who has worked as a Senior Producer at Ubisoft and a Lead Designer at Zynga. Since 2012, Jordan has been helping clients like EA Sports, AMC Networks, The Pokemon Company, Ellen Degeneres, and Capcom create and grow hit games. In each episode of Playmakers, he goes to work uncovering valuable insights, tactics, and know-how from a wide range of entertaining personalities including designers, writers, product managers, technologists, studio founders, executives, and more. Why? So that you get practical perspectives and insights week after week. No matter your experience or discipline, this is the show that can level you up on everything from raising funds to live operations, and everything in-between. Oh, and you'll have fun every step of the way, because there's a magic sprinkle of goofiness in each episode. So thwack that subscribe button and buckle your safety belt, 'cus this here is the wildest ride in the metaverse.
Show episodes
In this episode: Jordan sits down with legendary video game composer, producer, and entrepreneur Tommy Tallarico, whose career spans over 30 years in the gaming industry. Known for his work on iconic titles like Prince of Persia, Earthworm Jim, and MDK, Tommy shares his inspiring journey from homelessness to launching
How to Create Breakthrough Worldwide Hits, with Amy Jo Kim
In this episode: Jordan sits down with Amy Jo Kim, a game designer, community architect, and innovation coach, named by Fortune as one of the “Top 10 Influential Women in Games.” Amy Jo has contributed to hit games like The Sims, Rock Band, Ultima Online, and Covet Fashion, and has worked on non-gaming products such as
In this episode: Jordan sits down with Jon Radoff, the founder of Beamable,the creator-centric platform for building live games in Unity. Jon's career spans across multiple areas of the game industry, from building one of the first commercial internet games to leading the development of popular mobile games like Game o
How to Win as a Mobile Game Entrepreneur, With Joakim Achrén
In this episode: Jordan interviews Joakim Achrén, a gaming entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience. Joakim shares his journey from co-founding two venture-backed gaming startups, including Next Games (which IPOed in 2017), to his current role at Elite Game Developers. Joakim helps aspiring game entrepreneurs laun
In this episode: Jordan sits down with Tadhg Kelly, an experienced consultant specializing in augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and video games, with a rich background in game design and production. Tadhg has held significant roles at notable companies like BSkyB, Lionhead Studios, Climax Studios, and Mobil
In this episode: Jordan interviews Travis Boatman, CEO and co-founder of Carbonated, a mobile game studio based in LA. Travis is a 25-year veteran of the game industry, with over 20 years of experience in mobile games. He has previously served as SVP of Mobile at Zynga and Electronic Arts (EA), where he led global stud
