Building Better Games

Author: Benjamin Carcich

Leadership in game dev is hard. I can't make it easy, but I can make it a heck of a lot better. My name is Benjamin Carcich, and this podcast helps leaders in game dev who feel stuck, ignored, and out of options find their path to success. I've spent the last several decades studying and leading in environments ranging from the U.S. Army through to game development. I want to share what I've learned. Better leadership is a huge opportunity in the games industry. Let's make it better together. Better leaders build better games.
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Language: en

Genres: Business, Careers, Leisure, Video Games

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E150: Why AAA Experience Is Working Against Game Dev Leaders
Episode 150
Tuesday, 6 October, 2026

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