Building Better Games

Learn to apply Agile to Game Dev: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg/agilefundamentals
Are we witnessing a total structural collapse of North American AAA game development, or is the industry simply burning away its own excess to make room for a scrappy, highly efficient new era?
In this episode of Building Better Games, host Ben Carcich sits down with Leif Johansen to unpack the current state of game development. They dive deep into why US AAA studios are disproportionately suffering from massive lay-offs, how years of easy funding and ballooning team sizes created a culture of "poisonous success," and why the future of gaming belongs to generalists, AA studios, and scrappy fundamentals.
What You'll Learn:
What caused the structural brittleness and "boom-time" atrophy across US AAA studios
Why the global games industry outside the US is weathering the current economic storm much better
How hyper-specialization, bloated scopes, and "do you know who I am" executive energy distorted game greenlighting
What lessons modern game studios need to learn from the resilience of Japanese game dev
Why AA developers, indies, and multi-skilled generalists are positioned to become the industry's next leaders
How the end of cheap capital, Game Pass distortions, and speculative fads are forcing studios back to fundamentals
This conversation marks Part 1 of a multi-part series exploring how to make games effectively, so if you're a leader in game dev who is trying to navigate industry restructuring, unlearn bloated AAA habits, and build efficient, resilient teams, subscribe! This episode and this series are for you.
🔗Connect with Leif on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leif-johansen-52139141/
🔗Learn to apply Agile to Game Dev: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg/agilefundamentals
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/@buildingbettergames
If you want help leading teams and studios to better games players love, you can reach me at: info@valarinconsulting.com
#GameDev #AAA #GameDevelopment #GamingIndustry #IndieDev

Level up your leadership: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6
Are you optimizing four out of five teams on your project, only to find your final ship date hasn't moved a single day?
In game development, when multiple teams or disciplines are working toward a release, exactly one of them will decide when you ship: the long pole. If you can't identify which team is that long pole, you may be wasting critical leadership attention on teams that don't need it while leaving the bottleneck unsupported.
In this episode of Building Better Games, Ben Carcich breaks down how to identify the effort that truly dictates your timeline, measure real pace instead of stacking expert guesses, and focus your leadership energy where it actually changes your ship date.
What you'll learn in this episode:
What the "long pole" concept is and why it determines your actual ship date
Why relying on expert guesses and stacking assumptions ruins project plans
How to use historical team data and pace to project realistic release timelines
How long poles show up across multi-team projects, discipline pipelines, and sprint dependencies
Why pushing teams that aren't the long pole can waste time when the ship date matters
How to prevent hiring in the wrong places when trying to solve velocity problems
How to focus support on the bottleneck team without resorting to micromanagement or crunch
Why vision, culture, and prioritization matter far more than perfecting a plan
If you're a leader in game dev who is tired of guessing ship dates, drowning in complex Gantt charts, or pushing teams faster without seeing the final release date move, 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/@buildingbettergames
If you want help leading teams and studios to better games players love, you can reach me at: info@valarinconsulting.com
#GameDevLeadership #GameProduction #AgileGameDev #ProjectManagement #BuildingBetterGames

Level up your leadership: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6
North American AAA isn't just struggling in a downturn. It is actively choosing to die.
With record budgets and elite talent, senior leaders continue to reach for quick fixes like AI, outsourcing, and layoffs while ignoring the true rot: broken leadership incentives, political empire-building, and a refusal to adapt.
In this episode, Benjamin Carcich breaks down why the industry's current survival strategies are failing, why the leaders who can fix the problem are being pushed out, and what the future of game development looks like for those willing to build something better.
What You'll Learn in This Episode:
What the North American games industry reset reveals about the shifting balance of global development power
Why AI, outsourcing, and headcount cuts aren't fixing the real problems inside struggling studios
How bad incentives and politics keep studios stuck
Why fear of accountability can make risky decisions harder to challenge even when the warning signs are obvious
How emerging studios can adapt by staying smaller longer, facing reality earlier, and prioritizing shared vision over sheer output
If you're a leader in game dev who sees the structural flaws in traditional AAA and wants to build adaptable, high-performing teams for the future of the industry, this episode is for you.
🔗Watch my reaction to ShadowHand's video here: https://youtu.be/HCeqGKcMcLY
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/@buildingbettergames
If you want help leading teams and studios to better games players love, you can reach me at: info@valarinconsulting.com
#GameDev #GameDevelopment #TripleA #GameIndustry #StudioLeadership

Level up your leadership: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6
Are you frequently seeking more visibility from your dev teams because there is a ton you don't know?
As game dev studios scale, senior leaders often fall into the trap of confusing visibility with control. They end up using reports to soothe their own anxiety about uncertainty. But demanding more visibility does not always fix problems; it can turn you into a decision-making bottleneck, it can disempower your talent, and it can slow production down. In this episode, Benjamin Carcich breaks down why your hunger for visibility might be sabotaging your studio and what you should focus on instead.
What You'll Learn in This Episode:
The hidden cost of "just in case" data, and how over-reporting can quietly slow your team down and hurt morale
Why more visibility doesn't always mean better decisions and leadership
How excessive reporting can turn into micromanagement, disempowering teams
How to replace centralized control with local autonomy
What leaders should focus on instead: building a strong culture, reinforcing a clear vision, and removing the larger challenges
If you're a leader in game dev who feels overwhelmed by the constant need to monitor every detail and wants to build a high-trust, fast-moving studio culture, this episode is for you.
🔗Watch Part 1 here: https://youtu.be/A2L3ROBFlGc
🔗Watch Part 2 here:https://youtu.be/5J3p96_FyvM
🔗Access the trust audit here: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg/trust-audit
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/@buildingbettergames
If you want help leading teams and studios to better games players love, you can reach me at: info@valarinconsulting.com
#GameDevLeadership #GameDevelopment #GameStudioManagement #LeadershipInGames #GameProduction

Level up your leadership: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6
Have you ever found yourself re-checking a team member's work, taking over their tasks to avoid an awkward conversation, or secretly worrying they're going to derail your project?
In game development, a lack of trust rarely gets addressed directly. Instead, leaders build workarounds, approval gates, and defensive processes that slow down production and erode team culture. In this episode, Benjamin Carcich breaks down the four core root causes of mistrust in game studios and shares actionable strategies to diagnose, resolve, or eliminate them.
What You'll Learn In This Episode:
The four ways trust can break down:Malice, Lack of Expertise, Unreliability, and Misalignment … and how to identify which one is affecting your team
Why not every trust problem is personal and how confusing a skill or alignment issue with bad intent can create a toxic work environment
How misdiagnosing trust issues leads to micromanagement
How to rebuild trust
The one type of trust breakdown you can't fix — and how recognizing it early can help your team and studio succeed
If you're a leader in game dev who is tired of babysitting performance, constantly double-checking work, or feeling like your team is pulling in four different directions, this episode is for you.
🔗Watch Part 1 here: https://youtu.be/A2L3ROBFlGc
🔗Access the trust audit here: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg/trust-audit
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/@buildingbettergames
If you want help leading teams and studios to better games players love, you can reach me at: info@valarinconsulting.com
#GameDev #GameLeadership #StudioManagement #GameProduction #TeamCulture