PODCAST·OCT 20, 2026
Game Publisher or Marketing Agency? Ben Kvalo, Midwest Games
▸ Publishing is dozens of disciplines, and nuance earned over time beats any shortcut.
Industry & BusinessFull episode page →
PLAYER DRIVEN / MANIFESTO
The next generation of games will be built by operators, not investors.
The learning network for the people who design, run, and rebuild live games. Climb from learning the craft to leading the room.
The operator's briefing
FROM THE NETWORK
Game Publisher or Marketing Agency? Ben Kvalo, Midwest Games
Read the post──IN PERSON / NOVEMBER
Meet us in November.
A place to stay close to the conversations shaping live games this fall.
Updates are not tickets or guaranteed admission.
────── THIS WEEK
Fresh from the network.
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──THE ACADEMY
The top of the ladder
Player Driven Academy.
A credential built by operators, scored by operators. Stack credits from the shows you already watch, complete two studio briefs, get certified.
In play nowWhy did Halo: Campaign Evolved miss?Pick a side
────── WORK WITH PLAYER DRIVEN
Selling into games is its own game.
We help the companies building tools for games — trust & safety, player support, voice moderation, community — actually land with the studios they're built for.
Go-to-market strategy
Positioning, pricing, and a pitch that survives a room full of skeptical operators — not a recycled SaaS playbook that's never shipped a game.
Onboarding documentation
The docs and rollout that get your tool adopted across a studio, instead of stalling in a six-month pilot nobody finishes.
Market intelligence
Operator-side research — with Lewis Ward, sixteen years an analyst at IDC — on what studios actually need, budget for, and buy.
We're not guessing what studios want — we're in the room with them every week, through the show, the community, and the intel desk. References available on request.
Start a conversation →──THE OPERATOR'S BRIEFING
One email a week.
Worth opening.
Three things every Tuesday: the week's best essay, the next live drop, and one thing we're still arguing about internally.
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