Published
30-8-2024
Type of Work
Book
Advisors and Contributors
Anna Barham (Interviewee), Dr Raffael Boccamazzo (Interviewee), Branden Buffalo (Interviewee), Jetha Chan (Interviewee), Alayna Cole (Interviewee), Luke Dicken (Interviewee), Amy Louise Doherty (Interviewee), Osama Dorias (Interviewee), Megan Fox (Interviewee), Keith Fuller (Interviewee), Jason Imms (Interviewee), Jonathan Jennings (Interviewee), Dr JC Lau (Interviewee), Jean Leggett (Interviewee), Dr Marija Koprivica Lelićanin (Interviewee), Emily MacMahon (Interviewee), Lazar Mesaros (Interviewee), Chima Denzel Ngerem (Interviewee), Damon Reece (Interviewee), Liana Ruppert (Interviewee), Camden Stoddard (Interviewee), Anthony Sweet (Interviewee), Zenuel (Interviewee)
Abstract
Great Games Need Great Leaders brings together the knowledge and perspectives of numerous past and present games industry leaders and practitioners to form a clear picture of how leadership operates in a game development studio. It identifies the ways in which things are changing or can change for the better in the games industry and provides a set of tools for the reader to use in their own professional practice.
Notes
Citations
Allsup, M. (2021) Activision Blizzard Sued Over ‘Frat Boy’ Culture, Harassment. Available at: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/activisionblizzard- sued-by-california-over-frat-boy-culture.
Andersen, E. (2012) Leading So People Will Follow. John Wiley & Sons. APA Dictionary of Psychology. (2023) APA Dictionary of Psychology. Available at: https://dictionary.apa.org/.
Bennis, W., Goleman, D. and O’Toole, J. (2010) Transparency: How Leaders Create a Culture of Candor.
John Wiley & Sons. Bernstein, E.S. and Turban, S. (2018) ‘The impact of the “open” workspace on human collaboration’, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 373(1753), p. 20170239. Available at: https://doi.org/ 10.1098/rstb.2017.0239.
Blanchard, K., Zigarmi, P. and Zigarmi, D. (2013) Leadership and the One Minute Manager Updated Ed: Increasing Effectiveness Through Situational Leadership II. HarperCollins.
Boccamazzo, R. et al. (2023) ‘Occupational Burnout in Games: Causes, Impact, and Solutions’. Game Developers Conference. Available at: https://www. gdcvault.com/play/1029254/Occupational-Burnout-in-Games-Causes.
Broadwell, J. (2023) ‘Baldur’s Gate 3 voice actors also did all their own motion capture’, For The Win, 28 August. Available at: https://ftw.usatoday.com/2023/08/ baldurs-gate-3-voice-actors-also-did-all-their-own-motion-capture.
Brown, B. (2018) Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. Random House.
Browning, K. and Stevens, M. (2023) ‘Starfield’s 1,000 Planets May Be One Giant Leap for Game Design’, The New York Times, 31 August. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/31/arts/starfield-bethesda-microsoftxbox. html (Accessed: 26 January 2024).
Carnegie, D. (1982) How To Win Friends And Influence People.Simon and Schuster.
Carpenter, N. (2023a) ‘Destiny 2 developer Bungie lays off dozens of staff’, Polygon, 30 October. Available at: https://www.polygon.com/23939245/ bungie-layoffs-destiny-2-final-shape-delay.
Carpenter, N. (2023b) ‘The game studios changing the industry by unionizing’, Polygon, 8 January. Available at: https://www.polygon.com/gaming/23538801/ video-game-studio-union-microsoft-activision-blizzard.
Catmull, E. (2014) Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration. Random House.
Clark, M. (2021) ‘Nearly a thousand Activision Blizzard employees slam its response to harassment suit’, The Verge. Available at: https://www.theverge. com/2021/7/26/22594882/activision-blizzard-employees-open-lettermanagement- california-sexual-harrassment-lawsuit.
Clay, K. (2023) ‘Why Baldur’s Gate 3 is a masterclass in game writing’, KAT CLAY, 3 December. Available at: https://www.katclay.com/why-baldursgate- 3-is-a-masterclass-in-game-writing/.
Collins, J.C. (2001) Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap – and Others Don’t. Random House.
Dealessandri, M. (2023) League of Geeks: ‘We’ll fight till the last breath’, GamesIndustry.biz. Available at: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/league-ofgeeks- well-fight-till-the-last-breath.
Druskat, V.U. and Wolff, S.B. (2001) ‘Building the emotional intelligence of groups’, Harvard Business Review, 79(3), pp. 80–90, 164.
Dunbar, R.I.M. (1992) ‘Neocortex size as a constraint on group size in primates’, Journal of Human Evolution, 22(6), pp. 469–493. Available at: https://doi. org/10.1016/0047-2484(92)90081-J.
Dyer-Witheford, N. and Peuter, G.D. (2009) Games of Empire: Global Capitalism and Video Games. University of Minnesota Press.
Gach, E. (2018) Telltale Employees Left Stunned By Company Closure, No Severance [Update], Kotaku. Available at: https://kotaku.com/telltaleemployees- left-stunned-by-company-closure-no-1829272139.
Galante, J. et al. (2021) ‘Mindfulness-based programmes for mental health promotion in adults in nonclinical settings: A systematic review and metaanalysis of randomised controlled trials’, PLOS Medicine, 18(1), p. e1003481. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003481.
Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R.E. and McKee, A. (2002) Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence. Harvard Business School Press.
Grayson, N. (2022) ‘Bungie leadership assures employees Sony deal will not result in layoffs, restructuring’, Washington Post, 1 February. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/02/01/bungie-sonybuyout- destiny-2-developers/.
Greenleaf, R.K. (1970) The Servant as Leader. Center for Applied Studies.
Hoffman, E. (2004) ‘EA: The Human Story’. Available at: https://ea-spouse.livejournal. com/274.html.
Hollister, S. (2021) California sues Activision Blizzard over a culture of ‘constant sexual harassment’, The Verge. Available at: https://www.theverge. com/2021/7/22/22588215/activision-blizzard-lawsuit-sexual-harassmentdiscrimination- pay.
Homer. (1991) The Iliad of Homer. Oxford University Press.
International Game Developers Association. (2021) ‘Developer Satisfaction Survey (DSS) – IGDA’. International Game Developers Association. Available at: https://igda-website.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/ uploads/2021/10/18113901/IGDA-DSS-2021_SummaryReport_2021.pdf.
Johnson, L.K.D. (2018) The Light Triad Scale: Developing and Validating a Preliminary Measure of Prosocial Orientation. Available at: https://ir.lib. uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7588&context=etd.
Kabat-Zinn, J. and Hanh, T.N. (2009) Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness. Random House Publishing Group.
Karunamuni, N. and Weerasekera, R. (2024) ‘Theoretical foundations to guide mindfulness meditation: A path to wisdom’. Available at: https://doi. org/10.31231/osf.io/mfs63.
Klepek, P. (2019) ‘The ambitious future of “dead cells” is ditching co-ops for capitalism’, Vice, 30 October. Available at: https://www.vice.com/en/ article/3kxed3/the-ambitious-future-of-dead-cells-is-ditching-co-opsfor- capitalism.
Kocurek, C.A. (2015) Coin-operated Americans: Rebooting Boyhood at the Video Game Arcade. University of Minnesota Press.
Kraut, R. (2023) ‘Socratic method | Definition, Socrates, Examples, & Facts | Britannica’. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Socraticmethod.
Langford, J. and Clance, P.R. (1993) ‘The imposter phenomenon: Recent research findings regarding dynamics, personality and family patterns and their implications for treatment’, Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 30(3), pp. 495–501. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1037/ 0033-3204.30.3.495.
Lencioni, P.M. (2012) The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business. John Wiley & Sons.
Liao, S. (2021) ‘At Blizzard, groping, free-flowing booze and fear of retaliation tainted “magical” workplace’, Washington Post, 6 August. Available at: https:// www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2021/08/06/blizzard-culturesexual- harassment-alcohol/.
Markovits, D. (2015) ‘Theories of the common law of contracts’. Available at: https://plato.stanford.edu/archIves/sum2020/entries/contracts-theories/ index.html.
Maslach, C. (1998) ‘A multidimensional theory of burnout’, in Theories of Organisational Stress. Oxford University Press, pp. 68–85. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198522799.003.0004.
Maslow, A.H. (1943) ‘A theory of human motivation’, Psychological Review, 50(4), pp. 370–396. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1037/h0054346.
Mindful.org. (2020) What is Mindfulness?, Mindful. Available at: https://www. mindful.org/what-is-mindfulness/.
Miserandino, C. (2013) ‘The Spoon Theory written by Christine Miserandino’, But You Dont Look Sick? support for those with invisible illness or chronic illness, 25 April. Available at: https://butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/ written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory/.
Murray, A. (2009) Building Your Airplane While Flying: Production at Bungie. Available at: https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1284/Building-Your-Airplane- While-Flying.
Murray, G. and Green, J. (2021) After Covid-19, Aviation Faces A Pilot Shortage. Available at: https://www.oliverwyman.com/our-expertise/insights/2021/ mar/after-covid-19-aviation-faces-a-pilot-shortage.html.
Newfield, A. (2020) Oops, I Became a Manager: Managing the Veterinary Hospital Team by Finding Unicorns. Self-Published.
Noor, F. (2024) 2024 – Game Industry Layoffs – Obsidian Publish. Available at: https://publish.obsidian.md/vg-layoffs/Archive/2024.
Noseworthy, M. (2014) ‘Evolving Bungie’s production practices for a Brave New World’. Game Developers Conference. Available at: https://www.gdcvault. com/play/1020597/Evolving-Bungie-s-Production-Practices.
Paulhus, D.L. and Williams, K.M. (2002) ‘The Dark Triad of personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy’, Journal of Research in Personality, 36(6), pp. 556–563. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0092- 6566(02)00505-6.
Peeters, B. (2004) ‘Tall poppies and egalitarianism in Australian discourse: From key word to cultural value’, English World-Wide, 25(1), pp. 1–25. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.25.1.02pee.
Peters, J. (2022) ‘Sony officially closes $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie’. The Verge. Available at: https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/15/23220335/bungie-sonyacquisition- complete-official-done.
Phillpott-Kenny, I. (2020) Comparing Skyrim’s Map Size to Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Game Rant. Available at: https://gamerant.com/skyrim-map-sizeassassins- creed-odyssey/.
Plunkett, L. (2021) Activision Blizzard Sued By California Over Widespread Harassment Of Women, Kotaku. Available at: https://kotaku.com/activisionblizzard- sued-by-california-over-widespread-1847339746.
PsychOdyssey. (2022). Available at: https://www.doublefine.com/dftv/psychodyssey.
Purchese, R. (2012) A Project Eternity recap: what $4 million has funded | Eurogamer. net. Available at: https://www.eurogamer.net/a-project-eternity-recapwhat- usd4-million-has-funded.
Purser, R. (2019) ‘The mindfulness conspiracy’, The Guardian, 14 June. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jun/14/the-mindfulnessconspiracy- capitalist-spirituality.
Ramsay, D. (2015) Open Office Plans: Advantages, Disadvantages, & Research, Adventure Associates. Available at: https://www.adventureassoc.com/openoffice- plans-the-advantages-disadvantages-and-research/.
Roberge, M.-É. and van Dick, R. (2010) ‘Recognizing the benefits of diversity: When and how does diversity increase group performance?’, Human Resource Management Review, 20(4), pp. 295–308. Available at: https://doi. org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2009.09.002.
Sawyer, C. (2003) Chris Sawyer Software Development. Available at: https://www. chrissawyergames.com/faq3.htm.
Schreier, J. (2017) The Story Behind Mass Effect: Andromeda’s Troubled Five-Year Development, Kotaku. Available at: https://kotaku.com/the-story-behindmass- effect-andromedas-troubled-five-1795886428.
Schreier, J. (2019) How BioWare’s Anthem Went Wrong, Kotaku. Available at: https://kotaku.com/how-biowares-anthem-went-wrong-1833731964.
Schreier, J. (2021) Cyberpunk 2077: What Caused the Video Game’s Disastrous Rollout – Bloomberg. Available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/ articles/2021-01-16/cyberpunk-2077-what-caused-the-video-game-sdisastrous- rollout.
Simelane, S. (2023) Starfield developer explains why planets are ‘meant to be empty by design’ – Destructoid. Available at: https://www.destructoid.com/ starfield-developer-explains-why-planets-are-meant-to-be-empty-bydesign/.
Spellecy, R. (2003) ‘Reviving Ulysses Contracts’, Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, 13(4), pp. 373–392.
Stone, D. and Heen, S. (2014) Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well. Penguin UK.
Stone, D., Patton, B. and Heen, S. (2010) Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most. Penguin Publishing Group.
Taylor, D.B. (2020) ‘Sony Pulls Cyberpunk 2077 From PlayStation Store and Will Offer Refunds’. The New York Times. Available at: https://www.nytimes. com/2020/12/18/technology/cyberpunk-2077-refund.html.
Valentine, R. (2023) Bungie Devs Say Atmosphere Is ‘Soul-Crushing’ Amid Layoffs, Cuts, and Fear of Total Sony Takeover, IGN. Available at: https://www.ign. com/articles/bungie-devs-say-atmosphere-is-soul-crushing-amid-layoffscuts- and-fear-of-total-sony-takeover. V
alve Corporation. (2012) ‘Valve’s Handbook for New Employees’. Available at: https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/apps/valve/Valve_NewEmployee Handbook.pdf.
Wilcox, K. (2021) Webb’s Deployments Most Complex Ever Attempted | APPEL Knowledge Services. Available at: https://appel.nasa.gov/2021/11/24/webbsdeployments- most-complex-ever-attempted/.
Wong, D. (2007) What is the Monkeysphere? | Cracked.com. Available at: https:// www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere.html.
World Health Organisation. (2022) COVID-19 Pandemic Triggers 25% Increase in Prevalence of Anxiety and Depression Worldwide. Available at: https://www. who.int/news/item/02-03-2022-covid-19-pandemic-triggers-25-increasein- prevalence-of-anxiety-and-depression-worldwide.
Zara, C. (2012) Tortured Artists: From Picasso and Monroe to Warhol and Winehouse, the Twisted Secrets of the World’s Most Creative Minds. Simon and Schuster.
Citation
Dyet, M. (2024). Great Games Need Great Leaders: Multiclassing to Lead Game Development Teams. CRC Press.
Link to Published Work
https://www.routledge.com/Great-Games-Need-Great-Leaders-Multiclassing-to-Lead-Game-Development-Teams/Dyet/p/book/9781032554464