The Dream Architects

Adventures in the Video Game Industry

By: David Polfeldt

Narrated by: Matt Wolfe

The inside story of the booming video game industry from the late 1990s to the present, as told by the Managing Director of Ubisoft's Massive Entertainment (The Division, Far Cry 3, Assassin's Creed: Revelations).
At Massive Entertainment, a Ubisoft studio, a key division of one of the largest, most influential companies in gaming, Managing Director Polfeldt has had a hand in some of the biggest video game franchises of today, from Assassin's Creed to Far Cry to Tom Clancy's The Division, the fastest-selling new series this generation which revitalized the Clancy brand in gaming.

In The Dream Architects, Polfeldt charts his course through a charmed, idiosyncratic career which began at the dawn of the Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox era -- from successfully pitching an Avatar game to James Cameron that will digitally create all of Pandora to enduring a week-long survivalist camp in the Scandinavian forest to better understand the post-apocalyptic future of The Division.

Along the way, Polfeldt ruminates on how the video game industry has grown and changed, how and when games became art, and the medium's expanding artistic and storytelling potential. He shares what it's like to manage a creative process that has ballooned from a low-six-figure expense with a team of a half dozen people to a transatlantic production of five hundred employees on a single project with a production budget of over a hundred million dollars.
A rare firsthand account of the golden age of game development told in vivid detail, The Dream Architects is a seminal work about the biggest entertainment medium of today.

Critic reviews

PRAISE FOR THE DREAM ARCHITECTS:

"An entertaining and nuanced look at the human side of digital media."
—Publishers Weekly

"Readers expecting a history of gaming will be pleased to discover this entertaining autobiography....A great storyteller, Polfeldt comes across as truthful and self-effacing...[He] is a dreamer indeed, and gamers are lucky to be invited into his creative worlds."—Booklist

"Detailed and witty autobiography."—Library Journal

"He saved Massive, he created The Division, and he became a Ubisoft hero. This book is indeed, a documentary of Massive dream architects in the tumultuous history of the game industry."—p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica}span.s1 {font-kerning: none}Hideo Kojima, creator of the Metal Gear Solid series and Death Stranding

"A compelling, insider's story of the video game industry and its journey from a suspicious activity for some and a dubious career choice for others in the late 1990s to the multi-billion-dollar celebrated artform and lifestyle we know today. Like a brilliant game that pulls you in and propels you forward, Polfeldt interweaves his personal story of setbacks and triumphs with a backdrop of legendary people and the games they created to define an industry."—p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'}Dr. Lisa Su, President and CEO of AMD

"Triple A quality and artistry -- the backbones of the video game industry. David Polfeldt and Massive Entertainment are among the very few who have managed to balance the two, and if either the video games or the artistry were lacking, neither Polfeldt nor Massive Entertainment would have achieved their great successes. Polfeldt's memoir is a guidepost for the industry on how to create both games and art in equal measure."—p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'}Fumito Ueda, award-winning creator of The Shadow of the Colossus, The Last Guardian, and ICO

"THE DREAM ARCHITECTS is a fascinating look at Swedish game development and a peek behind the curtain of one of the most interesting video game publishers in the world. Full of colorful characters and political machinations, this memoir is a charming collection of anecdotes that highlight the struggles of balancing artistic endeavors with financial realities -- and what it's like to spend a week eating bugs in the woods."—p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'}Jason Schreier, nationally bestselling author of Blood, Sweat, and Pixels

Introspective look into the gaming industry

Beautifully well written work. An incredible inside look at the gaming industry that the majority of gamers will get to see, which is sad because it could foster more respect and empathy towards those that sacrifice so much of their life as well as mental and physical health to the beautiful and demanding modern art form of video games. Special appreciation the narrator who did just a fantastic job of bringing the author's life and times to emotional life! You're a talented man with an amazing voice; thank you for your contribution to this project!

Amazing story and a must read

This book grows on you, great performance, great insight from the author. INVEST SOME TIME.

Definitely a great read if you’re interested in the game industry

If you’re interested in games and the game industry, this book is a weird, but wonderful mix of celebratory, introspective, and sobering. As there are highs and lows in the game industry, you get a good glimpse behind the scenes.

Its not so good.

Its ok but, I can feel a biased perspective. It feels fake especially at the end. All round brave superhero, who wears a mask of modesty. I have listened to many books and listening to this one was hard since I could not see whats wrong with it. I realized only at the end why I sensed that something is wrong! It feels fake and inaccurate...