Game Developer Podcast

This week on the Game Developer Podcast, Skybound Entertainment CEO David “DA” Alpert and co-chairman Jon Goldman join senior editor Bryant Francis to explain the company’s future video game strategy following the successful release of Quarter Up’s Invisible VS. Even in a tough economic environment for the video game industry, Alpert and Goldman are bullish on the company’s strategy and its ambitions to expand the worlds of The Walking Dead, Invincible, and its other properties in video games.

Alpert and Goldman are both tenured entertainment industry professionals—Alpert co-founded Skybound with comic book creator Robert Kirkman, and Goldman’s video game career began with the founding of Foundation 9 Entertainment—once a pillar of independent game development in the industry.

Learn more about Invincible VS: https://invinciblevs.com/

Learn more about Skybound Entertainment: https://www.skybound.com/

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This week on the Game Developer Podcast, senior editor Bryant Francis sits down with narrative designer Harrison Pink and game writer Emma Kidwell for a conversation about the craft of creating narrative content in games that don’t strictly have a narrative focus. Between Pink’s work on Diablo VII and Kidwell’s work on Sid Meier’s Civilization VII, the pair both have plenty of experience crafting stories for games where storytelling takes a backseat to complex, systems-driven gameplay.

This kind of narrative design leans into the “educational” aspect of game writing—the art of using storytelling to teach your player about the rules of your game, and guide them through different segments of the experience. From tweet-length text to explicit instructions, Pink and Kidwell share plenty of tips and thoughts about this rarely celebrated element of the game development craft.

Learn more about Harrison Pink: https://www.harrisonpink.com/

Learn more about Emma Kidwell: https://emmkid.info/

Game Developer and GDC Festival of Gaming are sibling organizations under Informa Festivals

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GDC Side Quest returns to the Game Developer Podcast Feed, with the first of many interviews recorded live from the GDC Festival of Gaming show floor. This month, GDC Content Marketing Manager Beth Elderkin chats with Sandfall Interactive lead writer and localization producer Jenniver Svedberg-Yen about the creative decisions that went into Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, easily one of the most-talked about games of 2025. 

Learn more about GDC Festival of Gaming: https://gdconf.com/

Learn more about Sandfall Interactive: https://www.sandfall.co/team

Game Developer and GDC Festival of Gaming are sibling organizations under Informa Festivals.

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This week on the Game Developer Podcast, we conclude our run of episodes recorded from the show floor of the 2026 GDC Festival of Gaming with a conversation about NetEase Games’ Marvel Rivals. The 2024 hero shooter defied the odds to become one of the most successful multiplayer games of the decade, with hundreds of thousands of players logging in each day and chatting on “the largest gaming Discord server” to date.

Publishing and Marketing Lead Yachen Bian and Executive Producer Danny Koo joined us for a stellar conversation about running a gargantuan live service game in 2026, working with Marvel to make the game’s unique character skins, and the various ways NetEase tries to support players of all backgrounds.

Learn more about Marvel Rivals: https://www.marvelrivals.com/

Learn more about NetEase Games: https://www.neteasegames.com/

Game Developer and GDC Festival of Gaming are sibling organizations under Informa Festivals.

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This week on the Game Developer podcast, we’re diving into Valve’s newest piece of hardware: the Steam Controller. The company behind Steam provided Game Developer with a pair of controllers to stress-test their capabilities, so we recruited regular contributor Alessandro Fillari to help us analyze the new device.

We stress-tested the controller on first-person shooters, triple-A action games, colony sims, and real-time strategy games. For the most part, the controller impressed us—but what impact do we think it will have on the market? Who will want to pony up for a premium PC controller? These and other questions will be answered on today’s episode.

Read more from Alessandro Fillari: https://afillari.pressfolios.com/

Learn more about the Steam Controller: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/steamcontroller

Read more of our Steam Controller coverage: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/pc/-millimeters-matter-inside-the-steam-controller-s-flawless-physical-design

Disclaimer: This episode was recorded before Valve unveiled the release date and pricing of the Steam Controller

Game Developer, Omdia, and GDC Festival of Gaming are sibling organizations under Informa.

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This week on the Game Developer podcast, writer and self-avowed former theater kid Alexa Ray Corriea joins Bryant Francis live on the show floor at the 2026 GDC Festival of Gaming for a conversation about the craft of writing, how juniors can build their skills entering the game industry, and how the industry needs to better support rising developers. 

Corriea has spent her career learning not just how to be a better writer, but how to collaborate with the many disciplines that bring games to life. That experience has been a two-way street of course—after all, in game development, anyone who isn’t as familiar with another person’s field runs the risk of giving counterproductive feedback that makes for a worse work environment.

Follow Alexa Ray Corriea on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/alexaray.bsky.social

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This week on the Game Developer Podcast, Owlchemy Labs Chief Executive Owl Andrew Eiche joins Bryant Francis for a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants interview from the show floor of the 2026 GDC Festival of Gaming. There was only one slight issue involving a forgotten laptop.

Who among us hasn’t forgotten the recording device they need for the first-ever podcast in a brand new podcast booth at a huge major event? Luckily, we decided to turn mishap into opportunity and ask Eiche about his own hair-raising moments in game development before springboarding off into a great chat about game design.

Learn more about Owlchemy Labs: https://owlchemylabs.com/

Game Developer and GDC Festival of Gaming are sibling organizations under Informa Festivals.

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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.

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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/

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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/

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