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New role, new studio, real stakes. We explore how to make your first 90 days as a game leader count, drawing on Michael Watkins’ proven framework and years of hard-won lessons from creative, technical, and production floors. From the first one-on-ones to the first visible win, we walk through a practical playbook for earning trust, reducing risk, and setting a durable pace.

We start with the discovery mindset: listening across departments, spotting patterns in pain points, and reading culture as carefully as code. Then we move into accelerated learning—getting fluent in pipelines, tools, and sprint habits while finding the quiet influencers who shape how work really gets done. You’ll hear how to build a focused 30-day learning agenda, summarize insights each week, and turn observation into clear next steps without breaking momentum.

Context matters, so we unpack the STARS model—Startup, Turnaround, Accelerated Growth, Realignment, Sustaining Success—and show how each situation demands a different tempo and tone. We share how to diagnose your environment in two weeks, align your 90-day plan, and communicate your read to senior leadership to stop effort from leaking into mismatched priorities. From there, we dig into early wins: choosing visible, solvable targets like review flow fixes, clearer sprint goals, or cross-discipline syncs that raise morale and output. We also map the relationships that become your safety net—executives, department heads, senior ICs, and unsung heroes like QA leads—so trust compounds through small promises kept.

To keep progress alive, we outline alignment rituals and a one-page vision with priorities, success metrics, and non-negotiables. We highlight the habits that build culture—modeling transparency, elevating rising leaders, and celebrating collaboration over heroics—and we close with a quarterly cadence to review outcomes, reset 30-60-90 plans, and keep learning. If you’re stepping into a new leadership role in the video game industry, this guide helps you start strong, navigate complexity, and turn the first three months into a foundation for lasting impact.

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