Shows
The Valued Cultures PodcastGordon Bellamy of USC: "Digital Civics"Today, our Co-Founder Daryl Ogden speaks with Gordon Bellamy, who serves as Professor of the Practice of Cinematic Arts at USC and is a long-tenured veteran of the video game industry. They discuss Gordon’s “brute force” approach to entering the game industry, what mentorship meant to him then and what it does now, and how “digital civics” might play out in today’s game culture. Finally, they explore how Gordon’s own quest to live and work as his full, true self–as well as his desire to give back to a field that has nurtured him–finds expression in his wo...2025-07-0941 minThe Valued Cultures PodcastJen MacLean of Dragon Snacks Games: "Connect, create, build something lasting"Joining us on the pod today is Jen MacLean, Co-Founder and CEO of Dragon Snacks Games. She speaks with our own Co-Founder Daryl Ogden who has known her since she was heading up partnerships and business development at Xbox.
Jen speaks to her rich, varied career in games–one which began as a play tester– with a focus on why she recently decided to take the plunge and start her own studio, including a life-defining story of a friend who asked her what she wanted to be said in her eulogy. She explains why she believ...2025-05-0734 minThe Valued Cultures PodcastEd Fries of 1Up Ventures: Culture as FilterToday Ed Fries joins us on the pod. Ed is a long-time veteran of gaming, having founded Microsoft Game Studios, and been there at the birth of Xbox. He is now a founder of 1Up Ventures which funds and supports independent game developers globally.
Ed tells us about his early days in gaming, which actually started in high school on an Atari 800! After the game industry crash of 1984, he began working as a programmer for Microsoft Office, and only then moved over to games. We discuss the differences in work and culture between these two experi...2025-04-1035 minThe Valued Cultures PodcastLizzie Mintus of Here's Waldo: Talking to People is Her SuperpowerToday Daryl Ogden and Mike Merrill speak with Lizzie Mintus, founder of the boutique placement firm Here’s Waldo, now celebrating their 4-year anniversary. Lizzie explains how an off-handed conversation led her to a career in recruiting and to eventually founding her own firm, one based in the deeply customer-centric experience that she learned in her early work at Nordstroms.
Daryl and Mike explore with Lizzie what she’s seen in the four years of Here’s Waldo’s existence: From incredible growth during the height of the COVID pandemic, to a slowing market now, and why and h...2025-02-2029 minThe Valued Cultures PodcastTanya Short of Kitfox Games: Riding the ElephantKicking off a new year of pods, Daryl Ogden speaks with Tanya Short, the co-founder and creative director of Kitfox Games. Tanya and Daryl dig into how her team accomplishes so much with limited resources, notably a very tight team of studio members. In addition to developing games like “Streets of Fortuna” & “Boyfriend Dungeon”, Kitfox serves as a publisher for other small studios. As you'll hear, that's the result of a relentless eye on efficiency, the deployment of resources for multiple purposes, and judicious use of procedural generation.
Level up Games:
Against the Storm
...2025-01-2241 minThe Valued Cultures PodcastDom Matthews of Ninja Theory: After the FoundersWhen you take on the head role of a studio in the wake of the founders departing, how do you not only maintain the “DNA” of the studio, but even build upon it? That is the challenge that Ninja Theory Studio Head Dom Matthews explores with our own Daryl Ogden.
Dom started out thinking he wanted to be a sports agent, but quickly found himself pursuing a marketing career within the games industry. How did he end up leading a studio that would go on to win 5 BAFTAs for "Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice"? And what does it ta...2024-12-0435 minThe Valued Cultures PodcastMatt Booty: From Game Developer to Xbox Portfolio LeaderHow does a gamemaker’s gamemaker transition to being a builder of an organization that cultivates studios? That is the story of Matt Booty, a veteran gamemaker–starting with pinball machines at Midway in Chicago before he moved on to Xbox in Seattle. He now serves as President of Game Content & Studios at Xbox where he oversees the dozens of games that constitute the Xbox portfolio.
Matt speaks with our own Daryl Ogden, who has worked with Matt over many years at Xbox. Their conversation provides hard-earned insight into gaming then and now. Ultimately, Matt addresses a chall...2024-11-1344 minThe Valued Cultures Podcast"Mentorship, Iteration & Stubbornness": Julian Maroda of NorsfellWe’re back for Season 2 of the Valued Cultures Podcast, and we’re welcoming Julian Maroda, co-Founder and CEO of Norsfell, a Montréal studio with a mission to forge new genres that bring people together. The studio’s best-known game, Tribes of Midgard, is enjoyed by over 4.5 million players.
Julian speaks with our co-Founder, Daryl Ogden, about his youth in Belgium, an impactful trip to Australia, and his immigration to Québec–all with a focus from his earliest day on making games. Julian and Daryl dig into the values that define the quality of Norsfell g...2024-10-1643 minThe Valued Cultures PodcastSteve Goldstein of Turtle Rock Studios: Advocacy & LeadershipToday our co-Founder Daryl Ogden speaks with Turtle Rock Studios’ President, Steve Goldstein. Steve talks about what it was like to transition from serving studios as an attorney to working in-house and ultimately leading one. He also discusses his experience with leading a studio during an acquisition and the implications of what this means to the studio being acquired. You’ll hear about Turtle Rock's rising ambitions, and the role Daryl and Valued Cultures has been playing in helping the studio pursue these heightened goals.
To download our report, "Winning Game Studio Culture in the Post-Pand...2024-05-2235 minThe Valued Cultures PodcastLiving your Studio Values: Rory McGuire of Blackbird InteractiveOn this week’s pod, Rory McGuire, President of Blackbird Interactive (“Hardspace”, “Homeworld”, “Minecraft Legends”) speaks with Valued Cultures Co-Founder, Daryl Ogden. Rory and Daryl discuss how very concrete initiatives like skunks works and 4-day weeks can be animated by core studio values such as empowerment, autonomy, and respect. Daryl and Rory also dig into a finding from Valued Cultures’ recent report, “Winning Game Studio Culture in the Post-Pandemic Era”: Why are studios in Western Canada even more focused on the shift to remote and hybrid work than those in the rest of North America?
Level Up Game: Balatro2024-05-0139 minThe Valued Cultures Podcast"Improvise. Adapt. Overcome" with Mitch Gitelman“Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.” Tattooed on the arm of today’s guest, Mitch Gitelman, most recently of Harebrained Schemes, this personal motto reflects the lessons he learned in his training and apprenticeship in theater and improvisation. Speaking with Valued Cultures Co-Founder Daryl Ogden, Mitch explores the stamp his early work in these disciplines has imprinted on his approach to making games.
Citing his Harebrained Co-Founder Jordan Weisman, Mitch explains that in both theater and games, “You can tell when they’ve made it with a smile.” And Mitch explains how his improv training influences everything from how he thinks ab...2024-04-1736 minThe Valued Cultures PodcastFounding a Remote Studio Culture with Jen Oneal of Magic Soup GamesHow do you create a vibrant workplace culture in a “remote only” studio? Very intentionally says our guest today, Jen Oneal Co-Founder and Head Chef of Magic Soup Games.
Jen explains to Valued Cultures Co-Founder Daryl Ogden that when Jen and her Co-Founders J. Allen Brack and John Donham set out to found a new studio in 2022, their first step was talking about the types of games they loved, the values that animated them, and the studio that they wanted to build. And at each step they’ve taken, they’ve drawn upon those intentions, bringing on...2024-03-2728 minThe Valued Cultures PodcastShannon Loftis' first impressions of our "Winning Game Studio Culture" reportValued Culture’s Senior Advisor Shannon Loftis joins Co-Founder Daryl Ogden to share her first impressions of our forthcoming report, “Winning Game Studio Culture in the Post-Pandemic Era.” Their focus falls on the “intentionality chasm”: How the leaders of game studios know that they should bring more attention to studio talent and studio culture, but in the pressure of the moment, find themselves time and time again falling back on solving technical problems instead. Shannon and Daryl go on to discuss how the pandemic exacerbated this problem, and how a post-pandemic studio landscape dominated by remote and hybrid work presents both...2024-03-1719 minThe Valued Cultures PodcastChris Chancey of Manavoid and Indie Asylum: "Live together or die alone!"In our inaugural podcast, Chris Chancey of Manavoid Entertainment and Indie Asylum joins Valued Cultures Daryl Ogden to discuss vibrant studio cultures. In briefly sketching the history of Manvoid, Chris and Daryl determine how a focus on ensuring market fit led Manavoid to pursue a strategy of hybridizing game genres. They go on to discuss how Chris and his partners evaluate candidates for Indie Asylum, an Montréal-based incubator/accelerator that supports nascent game studios. Finally, drawing upon research from the soon-to-be-released "Winning Game Studio Culture in the Post-Pandemic Era," Chris explains some of the differences Valued Cultures found in h...2024-03-1237 min