The role and responsibilities of a product manager are different almost in every game company. In some companies, product managers are pure business managers while at other companies product managers may take a strong role in driving the design. 

In the latest podcast, I discuss the role of a product manager and the role of a designer together with my friend, Florian Ziegler. Florian is a designer who has worked at companies like Ubisoft, Creative Assembly, Rovio, King and EA. Needless to say, we both have our strong opinions regarding the roles of game designers and product managers.