Nick shares his all-time top games and the release he’s most looking forward to helping launch this year, and reveals the secret to keeping the Ops team running like a well-oiled machine…
What’s your favourite game of all time and why?
Impossible! That’s like picking a favourite album. So much about a video game is about how old you were, how your life was at the time, what technology was available. Over the years they have been Archon, Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid Phantom Pain, Persona 5. So many great memories its too hard to choose!
Tell us a bit about what you do at Genba Digital and how you got here.
I’m head of the Ops team and it’s our role to make sure all of our titles and inventory are available, approved and released on schedule for our customers. I’ve had a few different Ops roles over the years-starting in US Gold (back in the day) and more recently Codemasters where I ran their Development Support services departments which included Publisher Operations, QA, Localisation and more recently their Birmingham Studio. When you say you work in the Operations department, people often assume you’re medically qualified, which can lead to fairly awkward situations…
What are the best things about working at Genba?
It’s always busy, there are always new challenges every day, but the team works well together and on the rare, quieter days, we have fun. It’s also great to work so closely with all of our publisher partners around the world and see the exciting content Genba is helping them bring to market.
The Ops department is probably the most challenging in terms of being reactive to customer demand. What’s the secret to staying on top of this as a team?
Good quality sources of caffeine and happy house music keeps us frosty (isn’t that what the kids say?). Seriously though, being as organised and proactive as possible is key – whether that’s ensuring all of our releases are ready to go or the promotion uploads are lined up successfully to maximise revenue for our partners.
What’s your favourite Genba fact?
Genba is a Japanese word that means “where value is created”. Lots of people pronounce it “Jen-ba”, which just makes us laugh.
Lastly, what game are you really excited about helping to launch in 2019?
Definitely Resident Evil 2. I’ve been a fan of the franchise for years and its really exciting to see it on the schedule.
