Jonathan Grant

Typically, executives at video game companies are just retreads from other industries. For whatever reason, business executives often view the C-suite jobs as interchangeable across different markets, and that’s how end up with a guy who ran operations at a retail chain suddenly parachuting into your company and mucking up its structure from the top down.

That’s what makes this interview with Paul Sams interesting. Most hit games are somewhat accidental in that they often succeed in spite of the organization they are produced in. The attitude of many members of the executive class is often, “I’m here to do the important work of running the business, let the lackeys figure out how to make product”. In this interview you can see that Paul understands that game development is a alchemical process, and that the best way he can be a productive executive is to put the right ingredients into the crucible and get out of the way while the magic happens.