Goodnight from Skopje :)

Today I'm excited to be headed to North Macedonia (for the first time) to keynote Game Dev Rev, their inaugural game industry event! And then it's off to Poznan to speak again at the always fantastic Game Industry Conference. If you'll be attending either event, I look forward to crossing paths!

As a long-time board member of @takethis.org, I'd like to encourage everyone to consider supporting this vital org's mission by grabbing this awesome game bundle!

On Saturday, @setjetters.bsky.social was honored to be at the Old Royal Naval College to help them celebrate their 100th anniversary as a filming location. We also participated in the successful @guinnessworldrecords.com attempt for the Largest gathering of people dressed as film and TV characters!

For some fun listening, check out this ~75 minute podcast session where we cover a LOT of topics from my 30+ years in the game industry! If you’re building a game for a global audience, then I highly recommend having a listen. :) 🎧 Watch or listen here: phokou.com/podcasts/30-...

It's DLC day! If you're an Indiana Jones fan and a fan of the #IndianaJones and the Great Circle game from the amazing folks at Machine Games, the "Order of the Giants" DLC is available now on your favorite platform :) Sadly, I won't have any time to play it before I depart on 13 Sept - so enjoy it!

If you’re attending Devcom next week, consider making time for my talk on Monday - you won’t be disappointed :) #ddc2025

Over the weekend, I hit a milestone of working on 300 games over my career! Thank you to all my colleagues over the years who included me in your creative journeys! It started with Flight Simulator 5.0 in 1993, but after 28 years, I'm STILL working on Age of Empires (hence this tribute art)!

Longest-running diversity panel at @officialgdc.bsky.social #1ReasonToBe is looking for panelists for 2026 We are looking for underrepresented women in video games living in the U.S., or from abroad, who normally attend GDC, due to the challenges of entering the country forms.gle/QWSK8wPjLu5t...

devcom & gamescom! I will be in Cologne 17-22 August and speaking once again at Devcom! I'm scheduling meetings and it's getting busy as usual. Please reach out ASAP to discuss game #culturalization, @setjetters.bsky.social, my event speaking (ask early!), and/or just to catch up! #ddc2025

If you are heading to San Diego Comic-Con next week or know someone who is, check out the game dev-related sessions that Jonelle and I are hosting as usual during the event! Feel free to share, especially with people looking to work in the game industry. If you'll be on site, I hope to see you!

Happy to be back home after a great, relatively brief (for me) trip to speak at the Morocco Gaming Expo and Develop Brighton! Such great feedback on the talks, and excellent networking. So now it's home for a busy week before heading to so. Calif. for San Diego Comic-Con!

Podcast Clip: Game Industry Unionization with Kate Edwards 🎮 An award-winning game industry veteran, Kate Edwards chats with us in this podcast clip about the State of the Game Industry and Unionization 📣: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMAb... @geogrify.bsky.social #GameDev #IndieDevs

Check out this fun podcast interview I did with @eventsforgamers.bsky.social! :)

Today I’m heading out to speak at the Morocco Gaming Expo and then Develop:Brighton. I’ll be giving a culturalization lecture in Morocco and then moderating the keynote session at Develop on Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, as well as presenting at the awards! And delivering an online lecture :)

SetJetters is so excited to have a partnership with Martha's Vineyard to help them celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Jaws! We've added a bunch of scenes from the film to collect and replicate, and even a Jaws collectors badge to complete 🙂 www.nbcboston.com/news/local/m...

Before I flew out of JFK yesterday, I visited the amazing TWA Hotel! As someone born in 1965, the hotel’s aesthetic resonates deeply with my early childhood! And of course, it's also been a prime filming location, as found in @setjetters.bsky.social :)

Never a dull travel moment, but I'm heading to NYC tomorrow to speak on Saturday (and back home Sunday) at the @egdcollective.bsky.social's Waffle Games event once again! This student-run event is so well done and I'm happy to be able to support their efforts! www.egdcollective.org/wafflegames2...

Cleaning out my wallet after a long trip through 8 countries 🙂 Yes, I still carry some hard currency wherever I go because you never know when you might need it. The latest addition to my collection is Bulgaria, third down on the right!

Congratulations to all the Machine Games team for their Game of the Year award at @nordicgame.com for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle!! And this follows a great keynote panel we did this morning about making the game! I can’t thank the team enough for including me in the celebration on stage!

Heading out tomorrow on a 4-week trip to speak at various events, including Digital Dragons, @nordicgame.com, @echobasecon.bsky.social, and Dev.Play/DevTalk! Going to be a busy but fun month ahead!

Pretty awesome to see #SetJetters being highlighted so prominently by the Motion Picture Association! The tremendous amount of ongoing hard work and bootstrapping, and the endless networking with so many key partners, is really accelerating our momentum. :) www.motionpictures.org/2025/05/aven...

May the 4th Be With You! Celebrate by visiting #StarWars filming locations! :)

Goodnight from #AbuDhabi! Despite the oppressive heat, it’s been a great experience speaking at the Culture Summit. More details later…

After a great Reboot Develop conference, the next stop is Abu Dhabi to participate in @economist.com Culture Summit on a panel about the confluence of games and geopolitics. In other words, the focus of my career in the games for the past 32+ years. I'm really looking forward to the experience!

Once again, I had a fantastic time at Reboot Develop Blue! I was honored to deliver the day 2 keynote, for which I have been overwhelmed by the positive reactions and all the brilliant conversations that it has generated. Thank you to everyone who attended!

Got to interview @geogrify.bsky.social at Konsoll 2024! www.tiktok.com/@nerdy_norwe... www.youtube.com/shorts/1U4Oe...

It's travel time again (outside the US) and my first stop is #RebootDevelop in #Dubrovnik! This year is special as I've been asked to deliver the Tuesday morning keynote, about the 5 lessons I've learned in my career. I hope to see you there - and if you'd like to set a meeting, get in touch ASAP!

I had a great time recently discussing the intersection of games, culture, and geopolitics on the @amataworldpodcast.bsky.social! Check it out and have a watch if you're curious about the topic :) youtu.be/U-O4YzNAID0?... #AmataWorldPodcast #gaming #geographer #geopolitics #culturalization

Today marks the 20th anniversary of my self-employment! And I can still honestly say that I absolutely love my work! To all my clients who made this possible, I am forever grateful for your trust in my expertise! (Photo taken during my Monday lecture at the @rgsibg.bsky.social on 15 April 2019)

@officialgdc.bsky.social last week and into the fray of #WonderCon this week! Never a dull moment!

To say that Monica Harrington is a "hidden figure" of the game industry is only the start of her impact as one of the founders of Valve. I'm happy that her story was told at #GDC2025 and that I had a small part in facilitating the visibility of her journey! venturebeat.com/business/mon...

The local ABC television affiliate reached out to me to comment on @officialgdc.bsky.social in #SanFrancisco abc7news.com/post/gamings...

Off to the @officialgdc.bsky.social! Looking forward to a busy and productive week, and seeing a lot of familiar faces 🙂 Sorry I couldn’t accommodate all the meeting requests (many of which came in very late…), but I did my best, including taking some on Sunday. #GDC2025

Just one week away and I'm excited to be heading back to the @officialgdc.bsky.social and to be invited to participate in 2 sessions this year: 1) Crafting Worlds, Building Teams: The Power of Culture in Game Development 2) #1ReasonToBe Hope to see you there! #meetmeatgdc #WeAreGDC #gdc2025

Adventure day at Emerald City Comic Con! Hey you guys, it’s fortune and glory time! #ECCC25

Great to be enjoying Emerald City Comic Con as a nice break before the Game Developers Conference!

I'm attending/speaking at @officialgdc.bsky.social! If you'd like to schedule a meeting to discuss any of the following, get in touch ASAP. Culturalization services SetJetters (the screen tourism app) Industry advocacy Speaking at your industry event (ask early!) Seeking mentoring/career advice

We had a call with @brendaromero.bsky.social @geogrify.bsky.social and the panelists of the #1reasontobe panel to discuss ideas of the topics Please if you're attending GDC Thursday 20th / 11 am / Room 2002 West Hall schedule.gdconf.com/session/1rea...

Welcome to the start of my 7th decade! Hard to believe I survived to 60 years old, but happy that I did. Stay focused on seeking that confluence of all the things you love - and once you find it, revel in the experience :)

Join me next week for a fun conversation about culturalization and other aspects topics around games!

Yet another fantastic DICE Summit completed! Not only filled with so many productive meetings and catch ups, but also sharing in the awards victory for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, so awesome to see! Thank you to @megganpez.bsky.social and the entire @official-aias.bsky.social team!

Congrats to the amazing team at Machine Games and @bethesda.net for this victory - it was a real honor and pleasure to contribute to the game!

Curious about the whole #GulfofMexico / #GulfofAmerica issue from the perspective of a geographer and cartographer? Read my @linkedin.com post! www.linkedin.com/posts/geogri...

The event is coming up fast, and I will be there as usual! Reach out if you’d like to discuss any of these initiatives: - Geogrify: Game Culturalization services - SetJetters: The premiere screen tourism app - Industry advocacy: We need to keep being vocal in these times! Hope to see you soon!

Good morning, from near Lillehammer Norway

What a (great) day…after a very busy and productive PGC London, I GOT up very early to fly to speak at the Fitur Madrid and present @setjetters.bsky.social to an enthusiastic audience of film commissions and tourism professionals. Now back to London, and off to Norway tomorrow to keynote GGJ Hamar!

Over 20 years ago at Microsoft, I dealt with a volatile cultural issue in Kakuto Chojin that would be one of the most challenging of my career, with me going before the Saudi Arabian government to apologize for the company. Polygon did a great job in reporting on exactly what happened and why.

Heading to PGC London? Now's the last chance to grab a meeting spot to discuss: - Culturalization/global adaptation services - SetJetters: The screen tourism app, now includes game locations! - Industry advocacy: I'm still involved in a number of efforts, from Take This Org to the Global Game Jam.

Women founders only receive 2% or less of venture capital (VC) funding, even though 50% of all US startups are founded by women. This withholds women’s ideas from the world, and even hurts the bottom line. Founding teams that include a woman outperformed by 35% ROI. #TWOPERCENT