Neil Young : Absolutely. I said this at a GDC speech a year and a half ago... this is the best time to be a game designer. When I worked at Electronic Arts we really just didn't know why our games sold or made money. It was the license, it was the game design, it was a collection of things, but we didn't really know. Now you absolutely know what game design feature users are engaging in the most, and paying for the most. It's a really wonderful time for the game designers who can make that transition. The most valuable people in the next decade of gaming are going to be the designers and the producers who can really effectively blend that highly iterative, deep understanding of what the users are doing with strong creative visions that can lead the market. People like Ben are those kind of people in my opinion. Related articles About the author Steve Peterson Steve Peterson has been in the game business for 30 years now as a designer (co-designer of the Champions RPG among others), a marketer (for various software companies) and a lecturer. Follow him on Twitter @20thLevel.