Today marks the launch of the Games Growth Guild, a new global network and community for marketing and publishing professionals in the games industry.
The guild aims to be a hub for knowledge, opportunities, and connections, with members sharing ideas and guidance on subjects like marketing strategies and live events. The guild will host monthly talks as well as in-person events, including a partnership with GameDiscoverCo at GDC Festival of Gaming in March 2026.
Membership of the Games Growth Guild is free, and it’s open to games industry marketers, community leaders, and growth professionals.
“Game developers have solved incredible technical challenges, but marketing and distribution remain the hardest problems,” said Eden Chen, founding advisory board member for the Games Growth Guild and CEO of FirstLook and Pragma. “The Games Growth Guild brings together the industry’s best to share practices and resources to help great games find their players.”
The guild includes experts from a range of backgrounds and companies, including indie studios (such as Brain Jar and Ruckus Games), mobile companies (such as Scopely and Second Dinner), AAA publishers (such as Riot Games, Epic Games, and Krafton), and platforms (such as FirstLook, GameDiscoverCo, and IndieBI). The list of Games Growth Guild advisory board members includes:
- Eric Wood (SVP of publishing, Scopely)
- Krystal Herring (head of global events, Twitch)
- Nikki Lewis (operating partner, marketing and publishing, Haveli Investments)
- Leo Olebe (CEO, Olebe Media Group)
- Connor Bridgeman (director of marketing, Lyrical Games)
- Jeff Legaspi (director of marketing, Fictions)
- Eden Chen (CEO, Pragma and FirstLook)
- Victoria Tran (director of communications, Innersloth)
- Thomas Ko (VP, Krafton)
Marketing and publishing professionals can apply to join the Games Growth Guild through its website.
Below, in an exclusive interview with GamesIndustry.biz, founding advisory board member Eden Chen provides more details on how the Games Growth Guild will work, and how it came to be.
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How did the idea for the Games Growth Guild come about, and why is it needed?
The Guild came out of a simple idea: the people driving marketing and publishing in games don’t really have a home base for idea exchange and intercompany collaboration. We wanted to create a place where those people could actually learn from one another. Where they could share what’s working, what’s not, and collaborate instead of operating in silos. And at the highest level, discovery, growth and go-to-market are more important than ever in our industry today. The Games Growth Guild exists to change that and create a network where everyone can level up together.
How did you assemble the advisory board, and what criteria are there for selecting board members? Do they serve for fixed terms?
We looked for people who’ve seen the industry from different angles – indie, mobile, AAA and across sub-disciplines, with a mix of leaders who understand the creative and analytical sides of marketing. The advisory board had to feel representative of the full ecosystem.
Everyone on it is there because they’ve built something meaningful, but also because they’re the kind of people who give back. The Guild’s culture is about generosity. It’s “give and get.” The idea is to keep fresh perspectives coming in as the Guild evolves, with no fixed terms.
Can you give some examples of how the guild will work? For example, will there be a Discord forum for discussions?
Exactly, our Discord is one of the two major forums for connection and discourse. It’s the always-on space where members share insights, case studies, data points and just chat.
Beyond Discord, we’re also hosting real-world meetups around industry moments like GDC, Gamescom, etc. We want the Guild to live both online and offline. We hope that all conversations across the various forums can turn into collaborations, panels, and ultimately progress for games’ growth and our industry at large.
Can you provide more details on what the GDC event will entail?
Our inaugural event will be “Coffee & Conversations.” It’s a morning event at the Hathora Hub during GDC week, presented in partnership with FirstLook and GameDiscoverCo. We’ll be featuring a few panels with industry leaders, and about 150 people connecting over coffee.
It’s the first of many events we plan to host. When there’s an opportunity to bring the community together, we’ll make it happen.
Membership is free, but are there any criteria for joining?
We’re keeping it simple. If you work in marketing or publishing for games, you can apply. We’ll verify every applicant, not to gatekeep, but to make sure the community stays relevant and valuable.
What do you hope to achieve with the Games Growth Guild?
The goal is to build a culture of shared growth. Marketing and publishing in games are hard. The landscape is changing constantly, and it’s easy to feel like you’re reinventing the wheel every time.
If the Guild can save studios from repeating the same mistakes, help teams discover new strategies earlier, and create friendships across companies, I’d call that success. Long term, I want this to be the place where the best ideas in game marketing are born, tested, and shared.
