Starting a Studio, Don’t Give Up, Self Publishing, Being a CEO, and the Gold Rush ‘90s with Brad Hendricks of Blind Squirrel Entertainment

In this episode, I speak with Brad Hendricks, CEO and Founder of Blind Squirrel Entertainment. Brad talks about his path from working with new game technologies to starting his own company after his previous job at Gamebryo ended. He shares how he and his team landed their first project with 2K Games, kickstarting their game development journey before even having a company name :)

Brad then reflects on the ups and downs of being a CEO, stressing the need for flexibility and constant learning. We then share practical advice for newcomers, highlighting the importance of perseverance and staying in tune with industry changes. He touches on the challenges studios face, like dropping game dev budgets and the need to be creative and adaptable, plus thoughts on VR, AR, and how AI’s evolving. 

Towards the end Brad gets into some favorite projects, like the highly praised BioShock Remastered, which dramatically boosted BSE’s profile. He talks about recent work with Microsoft and Amazon and remains optimistic about the future despite current challenges. We wrap up urging listeners to support each other and stay strong as the game industry recovers through this dramatically difficult period.

Bio:

A gaming industry veteran with over 25 years of experience, Brad Hendricks is the CEO and Founder of Blind Squirrel Entertainment, a AAA game studio that creates original content and provides full game development services to various publishers and developers. Under his leadership, BSE has become the top collaborator for industry leading titles such as Disney Infinity 3.0, BioShock: Infinite, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Borderlands 2, Sunset Overdrive, and Evolve, to name a few.

Show Links:

* Gamebryo - website

* Gamespy - Wikipedia

* gamescon - website

* BioShock Remastered - 2K website

* New World - Amazon website

* State of Decay 3 - website

* Curt Schilling Lost His Entire $115 Million Career Earnings On A Video Game - Sportscasting website

* Grackle HQ - website

Connect With Links:

* Brad Hendricks - LinkedIn

* Blind Squirrel Entertainment - website

* Blind Squirrel Entertainment - LinkedIn

Bonus:

* Midwest Games Discord Webinar: Paths in the Gaming Industry they Don’t Teach in School - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeg3xKiiwJNSNI4HeYUyKWq6ObuqfolefrZIipv0LzO4dC0RQ/viewform 

Game Dev Advice Links: 

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* Game Dev Advice hotline: (224) 484-7733

* website - show notes, links, stuff

* info@gamedevadvice.com - reach out!

* Subscribe and go to the website for full show notes with links

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