How Studio Culture Fuels an Exit (with Seth Sivak)

Naavik Gaming Podcast

What is culture, and why does it matter? Seth Sivak, the founder and ex-CEO of Proletariat, a studio most known for its title Spellbreak, joins our host, Alexandra Takei, Director at Ruckus Games, to discuss the importance of organizational culture in the gaming industry.

Proletariat was founded in 2012 by Seth and four other co-founders and went through various era of growth: scaling up to 80 people in person, 130 people remote during the pandemic, everyone brought back in person again, and then a sale to Blizzard Entertainment in the summer of 2022 with subsequent culture merging afterward.

We discuss the definition of culture, who is responsible for setting it, who is responsible for maintaining it, as well as tactics to create a shared vision and shared set of norms, habits, and standards. If you are curious about what supercharges a successful game and business, this is a conversation that illuminates the balance between transparency and employee focus, how to build an effective communication decorum that scales, and why spending time on your company culture does not detract from building your product and business, but if done right, enhances and augments success.

We’d also like to thank Lightspeed Venture Partners for making this episode possible! With its dedicated gaming practice, "Lightspeed Gaming," the firm is investing from over $7B in early- and growth-stage capital — the by far largest fund focused on gaming and interactive technology. If you’re interested in learning more, go to https://gaming.lsvp.com/.

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Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.