Season 1 Episode 6: Growing and Shepherding Thriving Design Culture in Games
Some leaders speak with their actions, and video game design executive Eric Kabisch is one of those leaders. A seasoned gaming design executive with experience at companies like Scopely, Roblox, Google, and VRChat, Eric has spent most of his career with a laser focus on the teams and products he supports and his record speaks for itself. This rare, frank, and transparent conversation with a people-focused design executive like Eric brings actionable insight for any leader of creatives in the video game industry: from applied business insights to from advice for helping team members navigate the shift from ideation to operations, the concept of low-ego, high-collaboration, high-alignment environments; from audio design for games to the critical role of a curious mindset; insight into some of the elements that made Scopely’s initial rise successful, and of course a reflection on the state of the industry economy and artificial intelligence.
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Featured in this Episode
Eric Kabisch, Member of the Design Executive Council and Strategic Advisor for VRChat
Eric’s considerable history as a design leader includes time as an early design leader at Scopely and VP of Design for Roblox. Recently VP of Design at VRChat, Eric is now a strategic advisor for VRChat and a member of the Design Executive Council. Eric is a pioneer in the space of user-generated content and a creative leader dedicated to creating safe, functional teams.
Show Notes
Supporting Links
| Eric’s past companies | Roblox Scopely VRChat |
| About Scopely | Scopely’s “MONOPOLY GO!” Becomes the Fastest Mobile Game Ever to Gross $3 Billion Scopely on the Time 2025 100 Most Influential Companies List Scopely acquisition by Savvy Games Group |
| Cheryl’s past game for Scopely | MARVEL Strike Force |
| Design Executive Council | https://www.designexecutivecouncil.com/ |
| Eric Kabisch on the Internet |
Episode Outline
| Scene | Time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Podcast Start | 1:37 | Introductions |
| Host Commentary | 3:02 | Taking heart in winding career paths |
| Narrative Cutscene | 5:20 | User-Generated Content (UGC) |
| Level 1 | 7:53 | The role of design in multidisciplinary game development |
| Tutorial Level | 9:22 | Curiosity as a strategic tool |
| Host Commentary | 10:35 | Leading with curiosity as a gift to leaders |
| Level 3 | 14:21 | Low-ego, High Collaboration, High Alignment environments |
| Host Commentary | 16:55 | Dispelling the “auteur” model of executive leadership |
| Level 4 | 18:50 | The harsh truth about video game careers |
| Level 5 | 22:06 | Designers as custodians of emergent gameplay |
| Host Commentary | 26:30 | Defining emergence and emergent gameplay |
| Level 6 | 28:11 | Modeling successful design leadership across an organization |
| Level 7 | 33:05 | Audio design for video games and virtual reality |
| Level 8 | 36:30 | New product mindset: “from zero to one” |
| Host Commentary | 38:31 | MBA concept: defining product-market fit |
| Level 9 | 39:49 | Evolving evergreen games |
| Narrative Cutscene | 41:06 | Scopely Background Information |
| Level 10 | 43:33 | Transitioning teams from ideation to operations mindset |
| Level 11 | 46:42 | Artificial Intelligence for video game development |
| Level 12 | 49:42 | A call for AI literacy |
| Level 13 | 51:30 | Evaluating the current state of the video game industry economy |
| Level 14 | 54:18 | Pivoting to new opportunities |
| Final Podcast Level | 56:22 | Links and Followup |
The Game Development Strategy Guide
Eric Kabisch is featured as Player 12 in Cheryl Platz’s new book, The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games that Thrive. Released on September 16, 2025, the book is available from booksellers worldwide.
Use code ENDURINGPLAYS1 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order – and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 1 discount offer expires November 30, 2025.
DISCOUNT CODE
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