Marc Hernandez

🎉 Two New Career Resources Just Landed on Our Community Site - With Huge Thanks to Scott Millard and Tim C.! https://lnkd.in/d3z__2sV If you’ve ever wanted to understand how video game publishing actually works - not the surface-level stuff, but real, on-the-ground global strategy - you now have one of the best free guides in the world, permanently, thanks to Scott Millard. Scott is a veteran industry leader, best known for his time as Managing Director of Bandai Namco Southeast Asia and Korea. He helped launch Tekken, Dragon Ball Z, and even brought Skyrim to market in the region. His publishing knowledge spans regions, formats, and decades - and he’s gifted our community his Guide to Video Game Publishing for all to access at Amir Satvat's Games Community. Also, I’m thrilled to welcome Tim Cullings as a contributor - someone I’ve admired for years. You may know Tim from his leadership at Global Game Jam, Seattle Indies, or his earlier work with Oculus VR and in engineering. He’s kicked things off by sharing a curated list of top game dev events and jams - something many have requested. But this is just an amuse bouche. Tim has big ideas, and we’re excited to build this space with him and for him. We’ve heard your feedback loud and clear - you want more Tim in the community, and so do we. 🔹 In sharing these, I also want to recognize the 20 amazing individual contributors behind the career resources on our site, in addition to our Discord moderators and 2,400+ community coaches. I’m proud to say that 10 of the 20 are female - 50%, which is double industry gender representation. And we’re equally proud of the diversity across many other dimensions, which we take seriously in every aspect of our work. Here they are - please join me in thanking them: • Sarah Thomson (Mentorship Guide) • Alex Gombos (Interview Guide) • Jasmine Coppin (Art Portfolio Review Guide) • Hailey Rojas (#OpenToNetwork) • Mayank Grover (New Games Roles Partnership) • Eva Tucker (Support Your Indies) • Alexander Rehm (MVP Resources) • Johnathan Vance (Indie Marketing Guide) • Aïda Figuerola (Early Career Guide Lead) • Ali Farha (Early Career Guide Lead) • Chris Mayne (Games Art Resources) • Seth S. (Guide To Games Startups) • Corey Neuman (Homelessness Resources) • Michelle Fuzari (Mental Health Resources) • Jessica Lindl (Career Resources Suite) • Renee Gittins (Game Dev Foundry - External Resource Partnership) • Lex Parisi (Ask Lex Career Questions) • Tim W. (LinkedIn Premium Trials Resource Ownership) • Tim C. (Events And Jams; And More To Come) • Scott Millard (Guide To Video Game Publishing) • Thank you also to Fitzgerald Lewis, Tim Wood, Will Morgan, Max Bowser, Alex Gombos, and Michelle Voillot for their contributions to the Early Career Guide 💙 Never forget - this is a total team project of 10,000+ lifetime contributors. "We Help Gamers Get Hired. Zero Profit, Infinite Caring."

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I want to demystify how ASGC tracks games industry job cuts so you understand what goes into the numbers The way we track industry reductions is far more rigorous than most people realize. I occasionally see comments wondering if we only use public announcements, WARN notices, or that we miss contractors, co dev teams, and non traditional roles. I understand why people might assume that, but that is not how our system works. Collecting jobs data is the most resource intensive process in our community because it shapes our support too. Step one is public information. We monitor news reports, company statements, WARN filings, and government notices. That is just the starting point. Step two is direct community reporting at scale. Every year I receive 5-10K+ messages, just related to job cuts, across LinkedIn, Discord, and email from people sharing what happened to them, their teammates, or their organizations. Much of this never appears in the press. It includes contractors, co dev partners, support studios, and indirect roles, not just FTEs at major publishers. Step three is individual signal tracking. I regularly review posts from professionals who are suddenly open to work or referencing team changes. These signals confirm patterns or reveal cuts that were not announced. All of this flows into a large internal tracking system that helps me understand not just how many roles were affected, but who was impacted, where, and when. That context allows our community to reach out and design support that matches reality rather than headlines. Is it perfect? No. I am still working to improve visibility in regions where transparency is lower. But I can say sincerely this process goes far beyond public records and is more comprehensive than any single external source. You may notice that, for a few years, I no longer publicly name organizations when cuts happen unless they request a Games Org support post. That is intentional. My goal is to avoid errors and avoid shaming, because I recognize that not every reduction comes from bad intent. Sometimes funding ends, contracts fall through, or projects conclude despite leaders trying to do right by their teams. Also, my approach is to build bridges and encourage quiet, meaningful accountability. I regularly hear that organizations know ASGC tracks layoff decisions and understand their actions will reach me, even with smaller or less visible cuts. That awareness, even without public callouts, can influence how situations are handled. Most importantly, workers know their experience is not invisible. Individual data is never shared publicly. People trust me with personal information, and I take that seriously. What I share are patterns, totals, and insights that help us mobilize support. So when we talk about industry cuts, please know this is not casual scorekeeping. It is the result of thousands of conversations and careful tracking to make sure every affected games person counts.

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For everyone who is not attending GDC: Relax. It’s not a big deal. You’re not missing any "incredible opportunities." Your opportunities come from how great and desirable your products are, not from the conferences you attend. Networking matters, but it’s not just about party invites. Your online presence is just as powerful (if not more). P.S. And yes, I'm not attending GDC either. Instead of spending days on flights and nights in overpriced hotels, I’d rather get some work done.

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Staying Safe at GDC in San Francisco – Some Tips GDC is next week, and while SF is a fantastic city, it’s always good to keep a few safety tips in mind. A few things to be aware of: • The Tenderloin: look, it’s notorious it’s probably right between your hotel and Moscone; If you can, avoid walking through this area, especially at night. Stick to well-lit streets with lots of people. • Hotel Room Meetings: No one should expect you to meet in a hotel room for any reason. It’s always okay to say no and on this point…. • Meeting People for the First Time: Even if someone seems totally legit, be mindful about where and how you meet them. Public spaces are best. • Watch Your Drinks: Especially at open GDC events or badge events without guest lists. Better safe than sorry. • You Can Say No: Everything is optional; parties, meetups, whatever. Don’t feel bad about setting boundaries. • Be Aware of Your Surroundings: last year I met a person who had been followed all the way home the previous night from an event. A good reminder to stay aware when leaving events. If something feels off, trust your instincts. Autonomous Waymos and Lyft/Uber are available in the city. • Don’t Share Your Hotel Info Casually: It’s easy to make small talk about where you’re staying, but it’s best to keep that private. • Door Wedges for Hotels: A simple but great extra security measure. • Don’t Leave Your Bag Unattended: Even for a second. • You Don’t Need Much Cash: Almost everywhere takes Apple Pay or cards, so there’s no need to carry a lot of cash. • Wear Comfortable Shoes: You’ll be walking a lot. • Bring a Light Rain Jacket: SF weather can be unpredictable, and you don’t want to get caught in a sudden drizzle. • Local Help: I’m local, so if you ever get into a situation where you need help or just feel a little lost, message me here. I’m online all the time. • Health & Hygiene: Bring hand sanitizer and wipes. Don’t share equipment without cleaning it first—no one wants to spend the week sick. • Explore SF!: If you have time, check out the town, especially the west side of the city; also Golden Gate Park, the California Academy of Sciences, the Presidio, or even take the ferry to Sausalito. There’s amazing food outside of the conference area. GDC is an incredible time to connect, learn, and have fun. Just keep an eye out, take care of yourself, and look out for each other. See you there!

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As a freelance rigger, I need to make sure my builds have a lot of flexibility. So I've recently reworked my lid modules to add variable joint counts. By utilizing a curve-based output I can changed the amount of joints used based on the needs of the project. Higher joint counts for fidelity and control, lower counts for simplicity and optimization. Or I can test and iterate to find a happy middle ground. So animators using my rigs on film or game projects can enjoy the same features, such as: - Automated lid follow with eye movement - Main controls to position the lids through translation and sculpt the curvature with rotation/scale  - Secondary controls for finer detail (If there are enough joints to support it) - Manual or automated blinking. Animate controls, or activate the automated meet point between your posed lids for a perfect seal I've been using iterations of this system over my last few projects, both commercials and games. The core elements of this system have been floating around in my head since 2018, so it's been great to finally put it to the test. 

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🎮 Gaming is for everyone. Always. 💙♿ Long before “#inclusiveDesign” became an industry buzzword, #Nintendo quietly created something extraordinary: the Hands-Free Controller for the NES. Released in 1989, this device was developed in partnership with Seattle Children's Hospital, designed specifically for gamers with limited or no hand mobility. It strapped around the player’s chest, used a chin-operated joystick for movement, and even featured sip-and-puff controls to press buttons. Nintendo didn’t mass-market it. Instead, they sold it at cost through customer service, because the mission wasn’t profit—it was access. Today, when we celebrate advancements like the #XboxAdaptiveController or ongoing strides in #accessibility across the #gamingindustry, it’s worth remembering: • Accessibility is not new—it has always been part of the gaming journey. • Inclusion comes from listening to real users and building with empathy. • Small steps toward equity can create ripples that last for decades. It reminds us that gaming should be for everyone, always. Accessibility isn’t an add-on. It’s the heart of play. #GamingForEveryone #VideoGames #GamIndustry #RetroGaming #Inclusion #AdaptiveTech #HumanCenteredDesign #TechForGood

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A tip for younger game professionals going into GDC: If someone experienced offers you an introduction or some of their time, seize the opportunity. These moments are ephemeral and the source is not endlessly renewable. You have a responsibility to yourself to respectfully take what is offered, assuming it is an opportunity you wish to avail yourself of, and follow up on it. This is not to say that you should swarm folks for introductions, or that if you get one, you should be omnipresent on brief acquaintance. It means that if someone in a position to do you a favor thinks highly enough of you to offer that favor, it is both rude and bad business not to follow up. It's rude because you are telling the person who made the offer that you don't value it, and by extension, them. This is not good networking technique. It is also rude because in many cases, they will have already reached out to the person they want to introduce you to and gotten permission to make the connection, and if you don't follow up that reflects poorly on them. This is also poor networking technique. Which leads us to bad business. Turning down something that is offered for free that could help you get better at your job, that could build important connections, and that could lead to further connections or an ongoing professional relationship is not good tactics. It potentially cuts you off from further interactions as well. Furthermore, the well of introductions and free consults does not flow forever. If you don't follow up on things that are offered, sooner are later people are going to stop wasting their time offering them. Your opportunities will dry up, precisely at the time when you most need to establish professional connections. Look, I know it can be hard taking the step and reaching out to someone you don't know. I get not wanting to intrude, not wanting to be perceived as wasting someone's time, not thinking you're worth the connection. All of these thoughts are wrong, just the dreaded vulture working on you from another angle. If a pro thought highly enough of you to offer, there was a reason. Accepting that offer is not wasting anyone's time, it is not an intrusion, and it is absolutely something you have earned. Believe in yourself and claim it as your rightful due. Take the offer for what it is: an appreciation of you and your potential, and a gift of valuable time and social capital. By making the offer, someone is saying they think good things about you, enough to make an investment in your development for its own sake. So when one of these comes your way, take it and take advantage of it, and use it to best potential. And then maybe someday, you'll be in the position to do this for someone else.

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I've seen people talk about the "deprofessionalization" of game dev - that large game companies are becoming unsustainable and that smaller and indie devs are going to rule the market. Not that long ago, people were complaining about the reverse. The problem then was that all the smaller game companies were dying off and game dev was becoming "winner takes all". All the smaller companies were closing and everyone was going to have to go work at large mega corps. The return of smaller game studios can be a good thing, both for work, as well as the games created. more people taking more risks means more innovation and more "weird" games instead of only safe bets. Don't stress, the pendulum is just swinging back the other way.

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Layoffs, studio closures and cautious publishing pipelines have dominated headlines (and conversations at GDC this year). But behind the doomscrolling, the last 12 months have quietly seen billions of dollars flow into gaming from VCs, government programs, crowdfunding campaigns and corporate deals. 🎮 Venture funds are still backing early-stage devs. 🏛️ Governments are doubling down on creative sector grants. 💡 Accelerator programs are popping up globally. 💰 Crowdfunding is booming again (especially for tabletop and indie). 🤝 And the biggest publishers and platforms are still making big bets. That makes me optimistic. I’m not blind to the challenges but convinced that the next wave of breakout studios are already being built. Here’s a snapshot of recent funding and investments that caught my eye… Play Ventures – Fund III – $140M – Announced Nov 2024 Kickstarter – Games crowdfunded – $270M+ in 2024 BITKRAFT Ventures – Fund III target – $275M – Apr 2024 Griffin – Fund III target – $500M – Jun 2024 Transcend. – Fund II – $60M – Nov 2023 A16Z GAMES – Games Fund II – $600M – Apr 2024 a16z speedrun – Accelerator – $1M per startup – 2024–25 cohorts UK Games Fund – Grants up to £150k – £5.5M committed for 2025-26 Canada Media Fund – Game project grants – C$7.8M – Aug 2024 Creative Europe – Game development funding – €5M annual call Screen Australia – Indie game grants – AU$1.6M – Mar 2024 Saudi Arabia / Merak Capital – Exel by Merak – $81M fund – Nov 2024 Tencent Venture Lab – Indie support program – Ongoing Scopely acquires Niantic, Inc. - $3.5B - Mar 2025 Playtika acquires SuperPlay – $2B deal – 2024 EQT Group acquires Keywords Studios – $2.8B – 2024 Miniclip acquires Easybrain – $1.2B – 2024 CVC Capital acquires Jagex – $1.1B – 2024 Modern Times Group MTG AB acquires Plarium – $820M – 2024 Just in those points above that’s $13.5B and I’ve certainly missed a ton. If you're building, job searching or fundraising don’t lose heart! There’s capital out there and plenty of people still backing bold creative bets. 📧 joe@play.vc

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Just found this undocumented feature added in UE5.5+ which allows standard Editor Utility Widgets to be dockable as a main tab instead of requiring it to be nested. This is especially helpful for those making widgets that require larger real estate or embedded viewports. I was digging in C++ source the last little while to see how to achieve this but looks like it was added in a different, and more accessible form, for newer versions of the engine already.

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A fair few folks I spoke to at PGC said they're skipping GDC this year. Mostly not for broader political reasons, but a mix of border risk and cost. Many basically don't want to risk either being turned away or being questioned because they feel in either event it harms their ability to visit later down the line. A few also cited being unsure whether GDC was "the place to be" any more, preferring to focus on Gamescom and its Dev arm. I also noticed that many aren't aware of the revised ticket structure for GDC. This is the part that I'm most excited for, as although it's more expensive to the Expo-only crowd it means most attendees can gain access to talks and panels in a way that they haven't been able to for many years. We may finally see some cross-pollination between the different camps of GDC, which I think can only be good for the conference (and the attendees) overall.

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72% of devs believe Steam has a monopoly on PC games. Conducted by Atomik Research, 306 industry executives were surveyed across the UK and USA. 75% of respondents were senior managers or C-suite level, with 77% from studios with more than 50 employees. The study found that for most studios, Steam accounts for over 75% of revenue. In US law, you’d need to either control the production pipeline top to bottom, or hold a dominant share through acquisitions of competitors. Steam does neither. Valve hasn’t bought out rivals and it doesn’t own all the studios that make the games sold through its store. What it does own is competence, and that’s where this whole argument starts to fall apart. Almost every other storefront has had years to compete, and almost all have stumbled. This isn’t a case of Valve killing competition. The competition just keeps shooting itself in the foot. Steam spent years refining features that now define the PC ecosystem: cloud saves, remote play, Workshop mods, forums, reviews, refund policies, and Proton support for Linux users. It built hardware, an OS, and a handheld that all tie back into the same ecosystem. Most importantly, it kept the service stable, predictable, and user-focused. That level of reliability became its moat. What developers call a monopoly is often just a reflection of consumer trust. Steam is where people go because they know their games, progress, and friends will still be there in a decade. It’s not market manipulation it’s consistency. If studios think they “rely too heavily” on Steam, that says more about their alternatives than about Valve itself. No one forced them to abandon their own launchers or build weak ones. Consumers simply migrate to what works best for them. It’s worth remembering that monopolies aren’t defined by popularity or market share alone. A monopoly becomes illegal when it restrains competition. Steam hasn’t done that. It hasn’t blocked other stores, locked content, or acquired rivals. It just runs the best version of what everyone else keeps trying to make. The day someone builds a better, more reliable, more feature-rich service, Steam will finally have a real challenger. Until then, calling it a monopoly is just a way to avoid admitting the obvious: they aren’t trying to kill their competition. Their competition is almost non-existent.

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