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

Are we chasing unicorns into a graveyard, or is the "Black Hole" game the only way to survive 2026?

The math of game development is no longer adding up. As budgets soar into the hundreds of millions, the traditional "hit-driven" model is reaching a breaking point, forcing studios to choose between low-risk IP or the near-impossible gamble of creating the next "forever game."

In this episode, Ben sits down with Andrew Brownell, a veteran Game Director at Netflix with a pedigree spanning Blizzard's Warcraft III, Riot's League of Legends, and massive mobile strategy titles. Andrew pulls back the curtain on the "bleak" reality of modern development costs, the rise of hyper-efficient global competition, and how his own children's gaming habits have completely upended his philosophy on game design.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• Why a 4x return on a $200M blockbuster is now considered a dangerous gamble.
• How titles like Fortnite and Roblox act as "attention monopolies" that leave only 15% of the market for everyone else.
• Why it's becoming increasingly difficult to justify US-based development costs against global talent pools.
• How the next generation of gamers—who have never known boredom—is forcing a total rethink of game mastery and strategy.
• The reason we are seeing a flood of Marvel and Star Wars games, and why even "hits" like Hogwarts Legacy are changing the investment landscape .

Learn More About Our Guest:

🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahbrownell/

🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ahbrownell/

🔗 Twitter: https://x.com/ahbrownell

🔗 ContactOut: https://contactout.com/Andrew-Brownell-3180561

🔗 Netflix LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/netflix/

🔗 Netflix Games YouTube: @NetflixGames

Notable game studios our guest has worked with:

🔗 @riotgames

🔗 @Blizzard

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

If you want me to help producers or studios build better games through effective systems and leadership, you can reach me at: info@valarinconsulting.com

#GameDev #GamingIndustry #LiveService #IndieDev #VideoGameBusiness

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

What is the hidden pattern behind why world-class AAA studios, with hundreds of millions in budget, suddenly collapse?

In the last 12 months, the industry has watched high-profile projects from Mind's Eye, Ashes of Creation, and High Garden lead to layoffs, shutdowns, and lawsuits. While many blame "the market" or "toxic leadership," the reality is often found in five specific failure patterns that haunt studios of every size. In this episode, we strip away the headlines to look at the structural fragility that kills games and provide five essential questions every leader must ask to keep their project grounded in reality.

What You Will Learn in This Episode:

• Why projecting confidence can actually blind you to a project's impending failure
• How to move past "theater" playtesting and get real signals from players
• What game visions should do for your organization
• Why treating launch as the finish line instead of a milestone is a $200 million mistake
• How to empower your team to prove you wrong before the market does

If you're a leader in game dev who's ever protected the plan instead of facing reality, or felt pressure to project certainty when the game wasn't coming together, this episode is for you.

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

If you want me to help producers or studios build better games through effective systems and leadership, you can reach me at: info@valarinconsulting.com

#GameDevLeadership #AAAGaming #GameIndustry #StudioManagement #BuildingBetterGames

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

If your day is nothing but back-to-back meetings, you might be busy, but are you really helping your team and game succeed. Senior leaders often grind 10–12 hour days yet still miss the most critical questions, such as: Are we building the right thing? What is the biggest risk we face?

In this episode, Ben breaks down why we treat thinking as a luxury we can't afford, and why that's exactly what's causing misalignment and waste in your studio.

What you'll learn from this episode:

• Why "fast thinking" habits are dangerous in a constantly evolving environment like game dev.
• The difference between "scraps of thinking" and structured, effortful "slow thinking".
• Three practical ways to build thinking back into your week.
• A 60-minute challenge to help you think about what matters instead of rushing into another one on one

If you're a senior leader buried in meetings, stuck in reaction mode, and worried your team is moving fast in the wrong direction, this episode is for you.

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

If you want me to help producers or studios build better games through effective systems and leadership, you can reach me at: info@valarinconsulting.com

#GameDevLeadership #GameProduction #StudioManagement #ThinkingFastAndSlow #BuildingBetterGames