Games live or die on retention
In gaming the launch is the easy part. Keeping players on day 7 and day 30 is the business. I focus product work on the early session experience and the loops that bring people back, because acquisition spend is wasted if the game does not hold.
Publishing is its own craft
Bringing a title to a new market is not a translation job. It is localization, store optimization, community and live ops calibrated to the region. At Wargaming I worked on publishing titles into the Japanese and Asian markets, where player expectations differ sharply from the West.
Live ops is a product, not a patch
Modern games are services: events, balance changes, monetization and a content cadence that never stops. I treat the live calendar as a roadmap with its own metrics, so the game keeps improving after launch instead of decaying.
Monetize without breaking trust
The line between healthy monetization and a game players resent is real and easy to cross. I push for models that respect the player, with fair progression and clear value, because a community that feels exploited churns and says so loudly.
Real example
At Silicon Studio and Wargaming I worked across mobile game development and publishing: engine and middleware adjacent tech, live titles, and market entry. The through line was always the same. Obsess over the first sessions and the return loop, and the LTV follows.