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You're a Video Games Business expert - but do you walk the talk?

Are you a people manager / leader in an organisation of 100 or more employees?

  • Yes

    Votes: 89 35.3%

  • No

    Votes: 116 46.0%

  • "Uh, uh, papers, um, just papers, uh, you know, uh, my papers, business papers."

    Votes: 47 18.7%
  • Total voters
    252
Wet Jimmy

Wet Jimmy

Member
Nov 11, 2017
812
It goes without saying that there are a lot of perspectives on display in the comments of any message board...

When it comes to business practices, development cycles, marketing, budgets, managing P&L, decision making, etc, within the often huge corporate machine that is medium to large video game development studios, many posters seem to assume the role of Expert Business Ninja.

I'm curious as to how many people here actually hold people management / leadership positions in organisations with more than say 100 employees and have some perspective when it comes to Big Business (Stonks!) as a result.

Are you responsible for managing a budget?
How easy do you find it to "get stuff done"?
How easy is it to influence your team, change direction or float new ideas that actually make themselves manifest in a real way?
Why do you think you've got the perspective to comment on how Mega-Corp conducts its business?

Be honest :)
 
oneils

oneils

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,159
Ottawa Canada
I was in middle management for about 10 years, in a government agency. Recently, I got a new job that is a demotion but with higher pay. There arent a lot of incentives to being a government manager unless you want to be on the executive career track. I decided it wasnt for me and im much happier now.

But, iver never passed myself off as a videogame business expert. The expectations I see here, sometimes, are interesting.
 
Kazooie

Kazooie

Member
Jul 17, 2019
5,186
My qualification for video game business leadership is that I'd mandate Banjo-Threeie. This would unquestionably make me more qualified than Phil Spencer at least.
 
OP
OP
Wet Jimmy

Wet Jimmy

Member
Nov 11, 2017
812
Kazooie said:
My qualification for video game business leadership is that I'd mandate Banjo-Threeie. This would unquestionably make me more qualified than Phil Spencer at least.
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For real?

I dipped my toes into Rare Replay the other day. Tried both Banjo-Kazooie games and just couldn't... I think I must have missed the zeitgeist and don't have the patience for that N64 era 3D platformer. Same applies to Conkers Bad Fur Day.

I want to believe, but...
 
Lobster Roll

Lobster Roll

signature-less, now and forever™
Member
Sep 24, 2019
35,023
I have several years of experience that relate to consumer rights, consumer empowerment, and UDAAP compliance. When topics about what is right or wrong as it relates to consumers in gaming, I'm usually pretty active in those discussions. Other than that, I'm aware both through education and real-life experience at a few companies of how decisions are made operationally and how those decisions vary depending on industry, company culture, available personnel, etc.
 
Phellps

Phellps

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,281
Wow, I actually did not expect to see people trying to prove to some random person on the internet that they actually have some sort of background to talk about games on a forum board.
 
Melpomene

Melpomene

One Winged Slayer
Member
Jun 9, 2019
18,560
If everyone here was required to stick to speculating only on things they're literal experts in, every thread discussing anything video game business related would just be filled with a thousand people going "Oh, that's neat! Wonder why they did that!"
 
OP
OP
Wet Jimmy

Wet Jimmy

Member
Nov 11, 2017
812
For a time I was on-call 24x7 for critical service escalations and for some time AFTER moving on from that role, my heart still skipped a beat whenever I heard that familiar Blackberry ring tone :)

Can I say how nice it is to live in a time when many people seem to take great offence at actually using a phone to make a call?!
 
Shelbyville Milhouse

Shelbyville Milhouse

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,455
I'll have you know that I have led armies of thousands of "employees" to great victories against my sworn enemies while keeping an entire economy running.
 
nampad

nampad

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,238
Don't work in video games but with one of the biggest professional firms in the world.
I do consult some of the most prestigious names in banking/financial services with projects that go up to C-level.

Middle management/subproject lead most of the time so I do the planning and organize the timely execution within the budget constraints. Also responsible for the heavy lifting on the development of proposals (up to high six figures) for new projects.

Right now I focus quite a bit on the capital planning processes. One of my projects made it possible for a company to pay out up to hundreds of millions of dividends more than they have planned before.

So I am pretty much hired to be the Expert Business Ninja 😉
After seeing many different companies and many that are supposed to be quite professional, I know that they all have people fuck up somewhere 🤣

Are you responsible for managing a budget?
Yes.

How easy do you find it to "get stuff done"?
Depends on the stakeholders. But most of the time you "just have to do it

How easy is it to influence your team, change direction or float new ideas that actually make themselves manifest in a real way?
Depends on how good the idea is and what the costs/rewards are.

Why do you think you've got the perspective to comment on how Mega-Corp conducts its business?
Have seen several different ones work as a consultant and auditor. My work requires me to have a look into many different departments (front office, back office, risk, accounting, strategy/planning, internal audit, HR,...).
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Going back into armchair mode now 🤓
 

____

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,743
Miami, FL
Yes.

I'm a project manager thats worked in a creative industry (not gaming) for about 6 years. I worked with Art Directors, Designers, Production and our Copywriting team, as well as our Brand Development/Marketing teams and and led our creative team as the traffic manager. I wasn't in charge of critiquing the creative, though I would give input when asked. My role was to assign projects to my creatives and ensure the jobs got done on time, or I would be the person to negotiate an extension/back up my creatives. We also used to contract external agencies, freelancers, etc. for outsourced work if we had some unmanageable workload.

I'm no longer in that role, but now I'm a project manager in construction/newbuilding (same company - September will be 11 years).

I'm currently in charge of several budgets, one being $8M (personally responsible) and our overall project of around $1.5B (some aspects I'm responsible for, including tracking and procurement/logistics, but not the entire thing is my responsibility thank GOD). I'm also in charge of managing the overall project timeline, and facilitating teams workstreams to get the job done. If something isn't done, it's my responsibility. Not the people who were supposed to work on it.

I've managed and currently manage projects with ridiculous timelines, crunch, and work across multiple disciplines across multiple continents. I've interviewed people for years to work here, in both roles, and I had a direct report for over a year until COVID hit and she was furloughed and eventually laid off.

I regularly (literally weekly or bi-weekly) host meetings with our CEO/EVP/VP and all the executive leadership teams on different projects, programs, updates, etc. and am responsible for providing exec-level reports and updates on the project and the program.

I also work with Finance, Logistics, Procurement, Technical teams, Marketing, Sales & Revenue teams, deployment, product development, concept development teams, etc. just about every day. I either sit in these meetings or I lead/facilitate them. It can be incredibly stressful with always-changing deadlines, executive requests, new asks, unclear guidance/direction, unforeseen circumstances, leaks, etc.

The shit I read here is laughable, but I mostly witness from afar. I'll chime in when I see people can be civil.
 
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Melpomene

Melpomene

One Winged Slayer
Member
Jun 9, 2019
18,560
Wet Jimmy said:
Hmm, that's not what I'm saying. Just curious about the topic and the context.

You're free to do you!
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I get you. There just seemed to be some implicit criticism in the way you phrased a few things in the OP.

I imagine the distribution of folks here with that background's probably about as high as anywhere else on the internet, though, since we're just talking general people management, rather than games-specific.

(Just kidding, we're all totally business geniuses and why won't John Nintendo and Bill Sony listen to us?!)
 
Sheng Long

Sheng Long

Moderator
Oct 27, 2017
7,623
Earth
Wet Jimmy said:
For a time I was on-call 24x7 for critical service escalations and for some time AFTER moving on from that role, my heart still skipped a beat whenever I heard that familiar Blackberry ring tone :)

Can I say how nice it is to live in a time when many people seem to take great offence at actually using a phone to make a call?!
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Since I can retire soon I really want to move into something a little less stressful lol. Not that what I've done hasn't been fulfilling in many ways, just want to have a more 'normal' life I suppose.
 
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Pirateluigi

Pirateluigi

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,024
____ said:
Yes.

I'm a project manager thats worked in a creative industry (not gaming) for about 6 years. I worked with Art Directors, Designers, Production and our Copywriting team, as well as our Brand Development/Marketing teams and and led our creative team as the traffic manager. (I wasn't in charge of critiquing the creative, only ensuring the jobs got done on time, or I would be the person to negotiate an extension).

I'm no longer in that role, but now I'm a project manager in construction/newbuilding (same company).

Im in charge of several budgets, one being $8M (personally responsible) and our overall project of around $1.5B (some aspects I'm responsible for, including tracking and procurement/logistics, but not the entire thing is my responsibility thank GOD).

I've managed and currently manage projects with ridiculous timelines, crunch, and work across multiple disciplines across multiple continents.

I regularly (literally weekly or bi-weekly) meet with our CEO/EVP/VP and all the executive leadership teams on different projects, programs, updates, etc.

I also work with Finance, Logistics, Procurement, Technical teams, Marketing, Sales & Revenue teams, deployment, product development, concept development teams, etc. just about every day.

The shit I read here is laughable, but I mostly witness from afar. I'll chime in when I see people can be civil.
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This. I've been running PMOs and major projects for well over a decade and it's obvious that a lot of threads that no one has ever run a project in their lives.

My bonafides:
Exec level PMO leadership for multiple billion dollar orgs
PMP certification and MBA
15 years corporate experience
Led software development and implementation in medical and financial industries
 
OP
OP
Wet Jimmy

Wet Jimmy

Member
Nov 11, 2017
812
Lobster Roll said:
I have several years of experience that relate to consumer rights, consumer empowerment, and UDAAP compliance.
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I had to look this up - Unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts and practices. (I'm assuming) it must be frustrating to observe how much the penalty for non-compliance seems to be inversely proportionate to the size of the organisation. The bigger the business, the better they can afford to just budget for penalties related to infringements in this area and keep on being shady.
 
Yahsper

Yahsper

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,607
I don't qualify, but I do own my own business with about 10 freelancers besides being a contractor specialized in film financing. So I do know something about starting a creative project from scratch, getting the money and right people together and hoping it reaches a large enough audience to do it again.

I don't post alot but I've been lurking here for years (pretty close to fifteen years including the old place) but sometimes I can't help myself. So many outdrawn arguments that last pages and pages with people putting their heels in the sand over some idea that they have about how games (or products in general) are made. It practically always comes down to 'my wish fullfillment is more important and logical than yours'. Zero rationale about how long it takes to make a game, what it demands of developers, the many factors involved, which things are important to have your business survive,...

Resetera would be so much better if most people took even as much as a short business management 101 course on Khan. It would elimate 99% of the crazy unrealistic expectations people here set for others.

I know the above sounds super arrogant but it's really a huge pet peeve of mine. Sometimes I get the feeling some people wouldn't mind a developer going out of business and dozens of people being laid of if it means that they get to win an online argument.
 
Platy

Platy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
28,140
Brazil
And here I was thinking "why not we copy this thing that sold 20 million copies" was not a huge controversy
 

____

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,743
Miami, FL
Pirateluigi said:
This. I've been running PMOs and major projects for well over a decade and it's obvious that a lot of threads that no one has ever run a project in their lives.

My bonafides:
Exec level PMO leadership for multiple billion dollar orgs
PMP certification and MBA
15 years corporate experience
Led software development and implementation in medical and financial industries
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✊🏿
Quite the resume you have there, brother/sister. I'm going on 11 years corporate experience, trying to catch up!
 

Deleted member 14313

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,622
Lol the framing of this question ia inherently biased. We advocate for buiesness models that benefit workers and customers because we are workers and customers. Why in the world would we want to do what is best for managers, executives, and owners?
 
Baji Boxer

Baji Boxer

Chicken Chaser
Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,425
I've studied project management in school, and have a couple decades of experience working with a lot of different managers, and seeing a variety of executives. I'll say that a lot of people get hired into decision making positions without showing any ability to manage anything. Also, corporate decision makers can end up in their own unique out of touch bubbles where only outside observers see some issues. Plenty of examples in the video game industry.

I don't know how I'd handle the day to day, or give a convincing presentation, but there are a number of high level decisions where I feel 100% confident I would have made a much better call on.

Edit: And then there are the ethical problems, where the executives and management are the last people whose judgement should be trusted.
 
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