Industry Insights: Life After EA

Given our current economic realities and the steps many studios are taking to survive, our industry is at a very interesting crossroads. In case it helps others that may be about to embark on this path, I’d like to share what it was like to leave a senior level position in interactive gaming and start all over again at my own studio. Before it happened to me, I knew people who left the big leagues for something smaller, and I had to ask myself, “Are they crazy”?  

Life at a major gaming studio is fantastic. There’s incredible support, smart people and most importantly, you don’t have to worry about paying the bills. Shortly after opening Trilogy, my partner Michael Pole and I met with a well known industry insider. His first words to us were, “Well guys, how does it feel to be nobody?” It was a real shock. Gone was the prestige and status. I was starting over and quite frankly, at times it felt like it was from scratch. But four and half years later, I am sitting in my office with a beautiful view of the Santa Monica mountains and outside my door are forty of the most talented and tenacious people I’ve ever had the opportunity to work with. So yes, there is indeed a life to be had after walking away from the comforts of the greatest gaming company in the world. But it hasn’t been easy.

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