Lewis Ward
For the past 15+ years I have specialized in researching, testing, contextualizing, forecasting, and writing actionable reports and giving insightful presentations about the global supply and demand for video game, XR, and interactive 3D software, hardware, and services.
20 pieces across the network.
- PODCASTJUN 9, 2026
Why Most Games Fail in the Gap Between the Idea and the Build
Lewis Ward spent sixteen years covering games as an analyst at IDC. Now he runs Design Desk at Player Driven, and his obsession has moved upstream, into the design layer where games are still just ideas.
- DESKMAY 26, 2026
Mediating Irreconcilable Differences with Behavioral Game Economist Catalin Alexandru, Part 2
The consulting vet offers hot takes on what’s derailed Web3 gaming, SDT’s upsides, and the importance of bridging the gap between game design and production processes
- DESKMAY 15, 2026
Navigating Irreconcilable Differences with Behavioral Game Economist Catalin Alexandru, Part 1
He’s always surfing the next big, sexy, dangerous, and psychologically meaningful logarithmic or asymptotic curve
- DESKMAY 8, 2026
Utrecht University’s Dr. Joost Vervoort on Gaming’s Potential to Help Build a Better Future, Part 2
Forces in the EU are working to tap into video games’ latent potential to make the real-world a better place for everyone and the environment
- DESKMAY 1, 2026
Utrecht University’s Dr. Joost Vervoort on Gaming’s Potential to Help Build a Better Future, Part 1
He's helping to shape Speculative Agency's strategic deck-builder, All Will Rise, to be a means toward that end
- DESKAPR 24, 2026
Quantic Foundry’s Nick Yee on Gamer Motivations, Part 2
The consultancy’s Gamer Motivation Model is like a Swiss Army knife for understanding what motivates video game players
- DESKAPR 17, 2026
Quantic Foundry’s Nick Yee on Gamer Motivations, Part 1
The company’s model of twelve motivations is a window into the hearts and minds of “the gamer” and helps explain and predict their behaviors
- DESKAPR 2, 2026
GDC 2026: Riot Games’ Stone Librande on Game Design
The veteran designer helped lead workshop participants through two exercises that connected video game design elements to positive emotional and psychological outcomes for players.
- DESKMAR 19, 2026
NYU Professor Eric Zimmerman On Game Design's Deep and Broad Potential
From Diner Dash and Balatro to redesigning capitalism, Zimmerman is interested in creating, iterating, and playing with systems that deliver "mouthfuls of delicious meaning"
- DESKMAR 17, 2026
Player Support at Schell Games with Laura Hall
Among other insights, Hall highlights why AI-based tools such as ToxMod add significant valuable in a Live Ops gaming context
- DESKMAR 12, 2026
Meet Christina Camilleri, Netflix Games' "Chaos Gremlin" and "Safety By Design" Champion
From a dedicated MapleStory player to an "ethical hacker" to the Head of Trust and Safety at Netflix Games, Camilleri has blazed a unique trail across the digital community support landscape
- DESKMAR 9, 2026
The Steelier Side of Amir Satvat's Games Community Success
I started Amir Satvat’s Games Community because I saw members of the games community losing their jobs and needing help. I remembered everything I had gone through trying to get into the industry and thought I could do something with the skill sets I had. It all began with our first resource, now one of 13, which was a games jobs workbook. - Amir Satvat
- DESKFEB 26, 2026
How Focused Player Psychology, Design, and Post-launch Process Sets the Stage for Live Ops Success
ArenaNet’s Crystin Cox, a veteran Live Ops video game designer, director and publisher, warns that Games-as-a-Service overthinking can spell doom
- DESKFEB 11, 2026
A Discussion With James Au, Author of Making a Metaverse That Matters
The 20-year metaverse vet shares his thoughts on what's gone right and what's gone wrong relative to the Snow Crash vision
- DESKFEB 4, 2026
Gamefam's Joe Ferencz On Roblox's Metaverse Potential
The CEO of Gamefam, Ferencz has had a front row seat to Roblox Corp's wild rise and ride across the metaverse's ever-shifting terrain for 7+ years
- DESKJAN 27, 2026
A Window Into Alex Seropian's UGC-based Studio, Look North World
It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a studio working to fly in someone else's sky!
- DESKJAN 20, 2026
Profiling the Pariah Teenage Guild Leader
A cautionary tale for social economy designers and participants: don't let your "foxes" run the "henhouse"
- DESKDEC 29, 2025
Nine Seconds to Fun
Mark Otero built Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes into a $1.4B mobile franchise by obsessing over one metric: time-to-fun. Tracing his path from a South Korean village to EA Capital Games reveals how personal obsession, financial modeling, and a camera-angle insight reshaped the collectibles RPG genre.
- DESK
ARCANIX’s Oscar Clark on the EU’s DFA, Lightning Lessons, and the Primacy of Player Value, Part 2
The industry vet talks Lightning Lessons, ARCANIX, and how studios can “find the fun” in a sustainable way
- DESK
ARCANIX’s Oscar Clark on the EU’s DFA, Lightning Lessons, and the Primacy of Player Value, Part 1
The veteran gaming industry exec, speaker, and author is acutely attuned to the interplay of ethics and regulation