Esports superstar 100 Thieves has over 150 million Gamers as fans across all its channels. Now they’ve hired industry superstar Pete Hawley to build their own game studio.
Why It Matters
100 Thieves is one of the biggest marketing engine in all of gaming. With superstar streamers like Nadeshot and Valkyrae, championship esports teams, and a wide ranging lifestyle brand, 100 Thieves has a community of gamers that is unparalleled in the space. Now, they’re making the natural leap from playing other people’s games to building their own.
Gamedev Bonafides
100 Thieves President and COO John Robinson is no stranger to game development, having worked for years inside of M&A for Electronic Arts, as well as having run the Nexon M mobile game studio. Heading up the Project X venture is Pete Hawley, who’s impressive credits include Burnout Paradise, Driver, Fable and Black. And their true secret weapon, an army of streamers who eat, sleep and breath games and have an intimate connection with their audience of gamers. As John says in the interview, it’s like having an army of game design scholars ready to help out at every turn.
Why They’ll Win
Pete and co are taking a modern, open approach to game development. This isn’t an exercise in building a massive team and game in secret for years and years before bringing the players in. Just 8 weeks into development, not only do they have a first playable of their multiplayer FPS up and running, but they’ve already shared it with their streamers and army of fans. This is an experiment in true, community driven game development and a model for how I think games will be built moving forward.
Ethan’s Thought Bubble
Pete & John are very humble about their chances of success in the interview, but I think they are underplaying it. Yes, making games is incredibly, incredibly hard, as we all know. Just getting something playable in players hands is a triumph. But with the talent on board, the input of their streamers, and their army of fans, the new 100 Thieves games studio has natural advantages that should make any competitor green with envy.
For more, listen to the whole interview embedded below or on the podcast service of your choice.
