Game Developer Podcast

This week on the Game Developer podcast, our whole team—editorial director Alissa McAloon, editor-in-chief Danielle Riendeau, and news editor Chris Kerr—join senior editor Bryant Francis for a wrap-up conversation about the 2026 GDC Festival of Gaming. What were the vibes like? What were the coolest games we saw? Is this the first-ever appearance of a sound board on the Game Developer podcast? These and other questions will be tackled in front of a tiny live audience as we deliriously recap a madcap week.   Author profiles: Alissa McAloon - https://www.gamedeveloper.com/author/alissa-mcaloon Danielle Riendeau - https://www.gamedeveloper.com/author/danielle-riendeau Chris Kerr - https://www.gamedeveloper.com/author/chris-kerr Bryant Francis - https://www.gamedeveloper.com/author/bryant-francis Game Developer and GDC Festival of Gaming are sibling organizations under Informa Festivals. - - - The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling game development triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between, as devs from all sides of the industry share lessons and strategies fellow game makers can use to hone their craft. Learn More at https://www.gamedeveloper.com Follow Game Developer for more game dev Podcasts, News, & Interviews Bluesky: https://www.gamedeveloper.bsky.social LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gamedeveloperofficial Music by Mike Meehan Edited by Pierre Landriau

It’s time for another episode of GDC Side Quest! This month, GDC Festival of Gaming content marketing manager Beth Elderkin sits down with the legendary actress Jennifer Hale, best known for work in the Mass Effect trilogy, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic…and the cult animated show Totally Spies? Today Hale is swinging by the show to discuss the modern landscape of voice acting, how developers can collaborate with performers to make better games, and discuss the impact of generative AI in the aftermath of the SAG-AFTRA strike.  Learn more about GDC Festival of Gaming: https://gdconf.com/ Learn more about Jennifer Hale: https://www.jenniferhale.com/about-jennifer Learn more about Skillshub.life: https://acting.skillshub.life/ - - - The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling game development triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between, as devs from all sides of the industry share lessons and strategies fellow game makers can use to hone their craft. Learn More at https://www.gamedeveloper.com Follow Game Developer for more game dev Podcasts, News, & Interviews Bluesky: https://www.gamedeveloper.bsky.social LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gamedeveloperofficial Music by Mike Meehan Edited by Pierre Landriau

This week on the Game Developer Podcast, Hooded Horse CEO Tim Bender joins us to discuss his journey into the world of video game publishing, what he’s learned, and why he feels many publishers aren’t doing right by developers (in a way that ultimately hurts their own business). The landscape of video game publishing has changed immensely since the heydays of companies like Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard. Gone are the titans funding big games from big companies, now there are a number of mid-sized publishers supporting mid-sized-and-tiny studios. But not all publishers are created equal, and even the best-intentioned ones can leave developers in a rough spot. Bender breaks down how Hooded Horse works with its partners and makes the case for why everyone benefits if a publisher prioritizes partnerships over long-term profits. Learn more about Hooded Horse: https://www.hoodedhorse.com/ - - - The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling game development triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between, as devs from all sides of the industry share lessons and strategies fellow game makers can use to hone their craft. Learn More at https://www.gamedeveloper.com Follow Game Developer for more game dev Podcasts, News, & Interviews Bluesky: https://www.gamedeveloper.bsky.social LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gamedeveloperofficial Music by Mike Meehan Edited by Pierre Landriau

This week on the Game Developer Podcast we’re diving into the world of co-development. Co-development is the practice of hiring external companies to support a game project.  Sometimes described as “outsourcing” or “external development,” co-development is increasingly becoming a more integrated practice, helping developers collaborate while distributing risk across different corporate entities. As the industry looks to recover from years of layoffs, can a broader constellation of smaller studios working together continue to produce big-budget games? We’re talking to Sweet Baby Inc. CEO Kim Belair, Blackbird Interactive Rory McGuire, and Wolfjaw Studios CEO Mitch Patterson about their experiences in the co-development business, what works well about the model, and where there’s room to improve. Learn more about Sweet Baby Inc: https://sweetbabyinc.com/ Learn more about Blackbird Interactive: https://blackbirdinteractive.com/ Learn more about Wolfjaw Studios: https://wolfjawstudios.com/ - - - The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling game development triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between, as devs from all sides of the industry share lessons and strategies fellow game makers can use to hone their craft. Learn More at https://www.gamedeveloper.com Follow Game Developer for more game dev Podcasts, News, & Interviews Bluesky: https://www.gamedeveloper.bsky.social LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gamedeveloperofficial Music by Mike Meehan Edited by Pierre Landriau

The Game Developer Podcast is back for 2026! We’re kicking it off this week with an analysis of the 2026 GDC Festival of Gaming State of the Industry Report. This annual report surveys several thousand developers to gather data on the video game marketplace, workplace overtime, layoffs, and other topics.  This year marks a major transformation for the report, which includes more robust data and segmentation on demographics and other topics. GDC Festival of Gaming content marketing manager Beth Elderkin joins us for the first half of this episode to discuss the changes, and how they should provide a more accurate and in-depth look at the state of game development. Then, Game Developer news editor Chris Kerr and news columnist Nicole Carpenter swing by to help us break down a number of key data points relating to layoffs, interest in unions, generative AI, and the impact of tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration. Read the full survey: https://reg.gdconf.com/2026-SOTI Follow Chris Kerr on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/kerrblimey.bsky.social Follow Nicole Carpenter on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/nicolecarpenter.bsky.social Learn more about GDC Festival of Gaming: http://www.gdconf.com Game Developer, GDC Festival of Gaming, and Omdia are sibling organizations under Informa. - - - The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling game development triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between, as devs from all sides of the industry share lessons and strategies fellow game makers can use to hone their craft. Learn More at https://www.gamedeveloper.com Follow Game Developer for more game dev Podcasts, News, & Interviews Bluesky: https://www.gamedeveloper.bsky.social LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gamedeveloperofficial Music by Mike Meehan Edited by Pierre Landriau

This week Kitfox Games founder and CEO Tanya Short swings by the studio to unveil the latest output from game design retreat Polaris: an expert-led list of the 100 most influential video games of all time. Any such list is purely subjective, but unlike those made by sites like IGN, this one is assembled from the perspective of professional game designers. Today Short discusses the process of assembling the list, the influence of each game on the list, and  Polaris’ mission to document the ethereal truths and processes of designing games.  Read the list: https://polarisgamedesign.com/the-polaris-list-2025/ Learn more about Polaris Game Design Retreat: https://polarisgamedesign.com/ Learn more about Kitfox Games: https://www.kitfoxgames.com/en - - - The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling game development triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between, as devs from all sides of the industry share lessons and strategies fellow game makers can use to hone their craft. Learn More at https://www.gamedeveloper.com Follow Game Developer for more game dev Podcasts, News, & Interviews Bluesky: https://www.gamedeveloper.bsky.social LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gamedeveloperofficial Music by Mike Meehan Edited by Pierre Landriau

This week Nick Herman and Dennis Lenart, two of the co-directors of Adhoc Studio’s Dispatch, swing by the Game Developer Podcast to talk about the processes for telling great stories in games, the process of collaborating with animation shop Igloo Studio, and surviving the rollercoaster process of studio funding in 2025. Dispatch is the surprise smash hit narrative game of 2025. Adhoc Studios, with the help of Critical Role, Igloo Studio, and a satellite studio of other contributors, has crafted an amazing superhero story winning praise from players and developers alike. We’re excited today to chat with Herman and Lenart about their process and see what developers can learn from their storytelling success. Learn more about Adhoc Studio: https://www.adhocla.com/ - - - The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling game development triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between, as devs from all sides of the industry share lessons and strategies fellow game makers can use to hone their craft. Learn More at https://www.gamedeveloper.com Follow Game Developer for more game dev Podcasts, News, & Interviews Bluesky: https://www.gamedeveloper.bsky.social LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gamedeveloperofficial Music by Mike Meehan Edited by Pierre Landriau

Former Nexon CEO Owen Mahoney has been on a blogging tear lately, calling out industry execs for boneheaded fad-chasing, breaking down the economics of game development, and, yes, singing the praises of generative AI. His posts have rumbled across LinkedIn and through the private chats of industry executives. This week, we’re sitting down with Mahoney to ask about what game companies can do to survive the ongoing financial hardship—and press him about his thinking on why genAI is a supposed game-changer for game development.  Read Owen Mahoney’s blog: https://www.owenmahoney.ai/ - - - The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling game development triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between, as devs from all sides of the industry share lessons and strategies fellow game makers can use to hone their craft. Learn More at https://www.gamedeveloper.com Follow Game Developer for more game dev Podcasts, News, & Interviews Bluesky: https://www.gamedeveloper.bsky.social LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gamedeveloperofficial Music by Mike Meehan Edited by Pierre Landriau

Welcome to GDC Side Quest, our new monthly podcast project produced in partnership with GDC Festival of Gaming. On this show content marketing manager Beth Elderkin will travel the broader B2B ecosystem of the video game industry, seeking more insights from the many talented individuals who make great games come to life. In this premiere episode Elderkin quizzes Finji CEO Bekah Saltsman not just about *what* indies need to know to survive the modern marketing landscape. The GDC Side Quest podcast is a monthly podcast that celebrates and uplifts the entire game ecosystem, showcasing the people who make games thrive and sharing their lessons with the community. Part of the Game Developer podcast, GDC Side Quest is hosted and edited by Beth Elderkin, and features music by Mike Meehan. Learn more about Finji: https://finji.co/ Learn more about GDC Festival of Gaming: schedule.gdconf.com - - - The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling game development triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between, as devs from all sides of the industry share lessons and strategies fellow game makers can use to hone their craft. Learn More at https://www.gamedeveloper.com Follow Game Developer for more game dev Podcasts, News, & Interviews Bluesky: https://www.gamedeveloper.bsky.social LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gamedeveloperofficial Music by Mike Meehan Edited by Pierre Landriau

And now for some indie game appreciation. This week Trinket Studios’ Tom Eastman and Ben Perez join us to discuss the development of the anime-inspired, card-based role-playing game Battle Suit Aces, with tales of cooking up card games and racing to save their intellectual property from the sinking of Adult Swim Games.   Learn more about Battle Suit Aces: https://battlesuitaces.com/ - - - The Game Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling game development triumphs, catastrophes, and everything in-between, as devs from all sides of the industry share lessons and strategies fellow game makers can use to hone their craft. Learn More at https://www.gamedeveloper.com Follow Game Developer for more game dev Podcasts, News, & Interviews Bluesky: https://www.gamedeveloper.bsky.social LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gamedeveloperofficial Music by Mike Meehan Edited by Pierre Landriau