Podcast
Building Better Games
Hosted by Benjamin Carcich · EN
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. Better leaders build better games.
10episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
E104: Game Dev Leaders: Save Weeks of Thrash in 20 Minutes
Oct 2100:16:18Tap to summarizeIf 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, 20-minute fix that can unblock your entire game development team. The problem isn't your process, your backlog, or lack of effort—it’s failure to pause and actually talk to each other. You'll learn: 5 signs you need to stop trying to outwork the problems Why pushing every problem to standup or retro isn’t working How the right conversation can be worth more than weeks of work Don't let denial or the fear of one more meeting cost you months of development time. It's time to stop wasting effort and have the one real conversation you need. Connect with us: 🔗Ben’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-carcich/ 🔗BBG’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/building-better-games/ 🔗Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildingbettergames/# 🔗Website: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg 🔗YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZpMT-dUwQR-R4Mb4uub6Sw #GameDev #GameDevelopment #TeamAlignment #Agile #Productivity #BuildingBetterGames
Transcribe →E103: Leadership Under Fire: Surviving a $100M Game Studio Crisis
Oct 1400:57:29Tap to summarizeIf 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 chaos, burns out teams, and kills great games. In this powerful episode, Ben sits down with Clinton Keith, author of Agile Game Development and one of the pioneers of Agile in the games industry. Clinton shares raw, unfiltered stories from real studio crises, including the moment a CEO threatened his team’s lives to force change. This isn’t a lecture; it’s a candid look at what happens when pressure spikes, trust erodes, and leaders have to choose between survival and integrity. Together, Ben and Clinton break down the industry’s most toxic patterns, from “efficient waste” caused by rapid scaling to the trust issues that cripple creative freedom. They also explore how proven frameworks from the military and medicine, like the OODA Loop, can help game studios move faster, safer, and with more clarity. 👉 Watch this episode for a brutally honest look at what real leadership takes in game development and how to lead when the system itself feels broken. What you’ll learn in this episode: ✅ The Accountability Trap: Why even great leaders get stuck in broken systems (and how to break free) ✅ Scale Creates Waste: The hidden cost of growing your studio too fast ✅ The Trust Fix: Why control kills creativity (and how vulnerability builds real leadership) ✅ Beating Bad Systems: How to call out problems and keep your job ✅ Lessons from the Military & Medicine: Battle-tested frameworks that make your team faster and safer 🎮 About Clinton Keith: Clinton is a Certified Scrum Trainer and coach who has worked with over 150 studios worldwide. With experience ranging from building fighter jets to developing Midtown Madness and Midnight Club, he’s helped countless teams reduce crunch, improve collaboration, and build games that truly deliver value. Learn more about Clint: 🔗Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B003AAP51G 🔗LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clintonkeith/ 🔗Website: https://clintonkeith.com/ Connect with us: 🔗Ben’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-carcich/ 🔗BBG’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/building-better-games/ 🔗Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildingbettergames/# 🔗Website: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg 🔗YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZpMT-dUwQR-R4Mb4uub6Sw #GameDevLeadership #AgileGameDevelopment #GameIndustry #StudioCulture #GameProduction
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E102: 5 Game Dev Delusions That Kill Studios
Oct 700:28:09Tap to summarizeStop 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 breaks down the five game dev delusions that kill studios, which I've seen in well-funded, 100+ person teams, unfunded indies, and VC-backed startups. If you lead a team or want to avoid losing touch with reality, this is for you. We cover five "Ps" of delusional failure: Play, Planning, People, Players, and Purpose AND provide the concrete actions you must take to stay grounded, align your team, and ship a game that makes a difference. What You'll Learn in This Episode: ✔ Why chasing “the first fun” is a mistake ✔ How to spot vapor estimates before they sink you ✔ Why “best people” hiring puts the cart before the horse ✔ The “audience size” trap (and what to do instead) ✔ Why more work isn’t getting you over the line ✔ What gives leaders an edge in staying grounded Connect with us: 🔗Ben’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-carcich/ 🔗BBG’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/building-better-games/ 🔗Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildingbettergames/# 🔗Website: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg 🔗YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZpMT-dUwQR-R4Mb4uub6Sw #gamedevleadership #gamedevelopment #gamedevlife #startups #gameproducer
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E101: How Layoffs Go Wrong—and the Right Way to Do Them
Sep 3001:28:39Tap to summarizeReady 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 Head of League of Geeks, joins Ben Carcich for a deeply personal and frank discussion about his experience of laying off almost all of his employees and transitioning the studio into hibernation. Trent argues that leaders are often "ignorant and or untrained" in the critical business, legal, and ethical frameworks needed to navigate a shutdown event with compassion and integrity. In this discussion, you'll learn: ✅ Why financial foresight and business savvy matter ✅ The true costs of a studio shutdown (even hidden ones like clearing out old desks) ✅ How to build a “rip zone” into your balance sheet to protect everyone ✅ Why living your company values—even when it costs hundreds of thousands—builds a true home for talent ✅ A five-point framework for planning, communicating, and managing a human-centric layoff Trent’s GDC Talk (requires GDC Vault Access) : https://gdcvault.com/play/1035252/Leaders-Working-at-the-Heart Learn more about Trent Kusters: 🔗League of Geeks Website: https://leagueofgeeks.com/ 🔗LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trentkusters/ 🔗X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/trentkusters Connect with us: 🔗Ben’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-carcich/ 🔗LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/building-better-games/ 🔗Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildingbettergames/# 🔗Website: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg 🔗YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZpMT-dUwQR-R4Mb4uub6Sw #GameIndustry #GameDevLeadership #StudioLayoffs #FinancialLiteracy #GameProduction
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E100: Don’t Hire Until You See These 3 Signs
Sep 2301:09:42Tap to summarizeReady 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 for meetings and ensure they are actually valuable ✅ Why "safe" project pivots don't exist and what to do instead ✅ The common gaps in game production and how to fill them ✅ The evolution of the game producer role over the last decade This episode is packed with Ben's honest, experience-based insights to help you move past conventional wisdom and build better games. A special thanks to Jan for curating these questions from the GPC Discord, and for Juney who runs it. 👉 Connect with Jan here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanoyjl/ 👉 Check out the Game Production Community Discord: https://discord.com/invite/gameproduction Connect with us: 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-carcich 🌐 Website: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg ▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BuildingBetterGames If you enjoyed this video and want to see more content on how to build better games, hit Subscribe! Your support helps us create more videos that help you solve the problems that matter. #GameDev #GameDevelopment #GameProducer #Leadership #GameDesign
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E99: Stop Using 2-Week Sprints - Here's Why They’re Failing You
Sep 1600:38:40Tap to summarizeStuck 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 your team can reduce thrash, increase learning speed, and improve value delivery. What you’ll learn in this episode: The three dials that shape iteration length What the “reciprocal commitment” of an iteration is and why it matters The problem with rolling work from sprint to sprint How shorter iterations improve focus and learning without adding more meetings Why shorter beats longer iterations for exposing hidden problems This episode is for game developers and leaders who want to learn how to: Set an iteration length you can defend and adjust to reduce thrash. Avoid becoming a slave to a broken work system that doesn't serve you. Have more effective meetings and move faster with less effort. Connect with us: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-carcich Website: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BuildingBetterGames If you enjoyed this video and want to see more content on how to build better games, hit subscribe! Your support helps us create more videos that help you solve the problems that matter. #GameDev #ProjectManagement #Leadership #Agile #Scrum
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E98: Why Most Game Launches Flop (And How to Avoid It)
Sep 901:41:08Tap to summarizeIs 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 data-driven approaches have been too narrow to anticipate success. In this episode, you’ll learn: 🎮 Why launching at the wrong time can sink your game 👥 How building a community early can make or break you 🔊 The truth about player attention (it’s not just about genres or loud voices online) 📅 When to move your launch date, despite the cost 🕵️♂️ And how to spot if your game is actually gaining traction without outside help Learn more about Colan Neese: Connect with Colan on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/colanneese/ and subscribe to his newsletters: Mind Game Patch Notes: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/mindgame-patch-notes-7336099537939255300/ LinkedIn Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7336099537939255300/ The Game Dev Leadership Accelerator is live. A successful game begins with leaders who catalyze success instead of wasting everyone’s time. This conversation is a great example of the mindset we teach at Building Better Games at focusing on what matters, not what distracts. Are you ready to level up your leadership? Book a call with us now!: https://calendly.com/bcarcichcoaching/15-minute-one-on-one Connect with us: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-carcich Website: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BuildingBetterGames #GameDev #GameIndustry #DataAnalytics #MarketingStrategy #Leadership
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E97: The 3 Tools Your Team Needs To Deliver Great Games
Sep 200:31:16Tap to summarize🎮 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 against wasted effort. (And how to avoid traps like jargon, prototype obsession, or endless feature lists.) The Collaborative Space → How a simple whiteboard can become your team’s creative playground — without crushing the fun with overbuilt systems. The Visual Task Board → Why a lightweight task board beats a complicated system every time — and how to avoid becoming a slave to your own process. 👉 Whether you’re an indie dev, part of a startup, or working on experimental projects, these three tools will help you keep things moving in the right direction. If you want to start using Favro, my preferred work management system, with a template based on the advice in this episode, sign up here: https://www.favro.com/templates/games/team-function/game-startup Full Disclaimer: I am a Favro affiliate, because they have been my favorite tool for years. Starts small, scales well, insanely flexible. Check them out! If you are a leader frustrated with broken systems and feeling like you are endlessly solving the wrong problems, I want to help. I am kicking off a Game Dev Leadership Accelerator where I help leaders and producers level themselves up and solve the problems that matter. Check the link to be notified once the course is available: https://forms.gle/6HcJi6WChDkRVuF9A Connect with us: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-carcich Substack: https://bencarcich.substack.com Website: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BuildingBetterGames #GameDev #GameDevelopment #ProjectManagement #GameProduction #Leadership
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E96: Setting Goals: It’s Not Just About Shipping A Game, with Melissa Phillips
Aug 2600:59:12Tap to summarizeSetting 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 terrible goal The problem with only having giant goals The importance of celebrating small wins A surprisingly effective way to find your true goals Why communicating goals to others matters The reality of your changing goals A successful game begins with better processes. This conversation is a great example of the mindset we teach at Building Better Games. Learn more about Melissa Phillips (Founder, Games Leadership) 🔗LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melphillips1/ 🔗Website: https://www.gamesleadership.com/ 🔗 Games Leadership Blueprint Course (A 12-week program helping leaders craft a sustainable and personalized leadership model.) Connect with us: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-carcich Substack: https://bencarcich.substack.com Website: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BuildingBetterGames #GameDev #Leadership #ProjectManagement #CareerDevelopment #Goals
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E95: The Challenge Of Live Service Games And How To Win with Ryan Scott
Aug 1201:27:57Tap to summarizeAre 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 mastery and novelty that defines a game's longevity. 🎮We talk about: Live service games - dying? The importance of serving real player needs Why a “better” game is not enough to win The elements to balance when updating live service games The 3 questions to consider before any update How elegance relates to design and complexity Who you are building your game for - and who you aren’t building it for Why every game is not “Esports-ready” even when the hype says they are Here's the breakdown of the games and companies we talked about in this episode: The Games: Apex Legends Battlefield One Battlefield Five Call of Duty (CoD) Concord Counterstrike (CS) Dota 2 Fortnite Halo Hearthstone League of Legends Marvel Rivals Overwatch Path of Exile Rainbow Six Smite Specter Divide StarCraft II The Cycle Valorant Warframe World of Tanks World of Warcraft (WoW) The Companies & Studios: Blizzard Epic Riot Games Sony Valve 343 Industries/Halo Studios Learn more about Ryan Scott: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-scott-akamorello/ In today's complex and costly industry, planning and estimation matter more than ever but are often destructive rather than helpful. Elevate your studio's decision-making and collaboration by learning how to get more out of estimation in less time. Learn more in our Advanced Estimation Course: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg/advanced-estimation-course Connect with us: Ben's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-carcich/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/building-better-games/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildingbettergames/# Website: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZpMT-dUwQR-R4Mb4uub6Sw #GameDev #GamingIndustry #GamePublishing #BusinessOfGames #GameMarketing
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