February 2007. Four months until my diploma. I hadn’t even started it. What to do? Right, look for a job.
And I got hired! Straight into a major player in the GameDev industry of that time — Akella.
An ultra-cool loft office in the center near Savyolovskaya. A young team of professionals and gaming fanatics. The vibe, playing games after work, endless pre-release deadlines. It was unreal.
The best part — they hired me straight into a manager position, skipping the specialist level. Why? Maybe management liked the promotion ideas I dumped on them during the interview. Or maybe they just liked my drive. Or maybe I was lucky. Either way — I was in.
I handled projects I still remember fondly: EverQuest 2 (that very MMORPG where people lived a second life), Hotel “At the Dead Mountaineer’s” (rated 7.4 by PlayGround.ru), and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen on the Moon. And some others.
I was involved not only in promotion, building PR campaigns and SMM, but also in production. Good thing my creativity has been leveled up since childhood — I can come up with something that doesn’t exist yet. And I can explain why it will work (sometimes :)).
I think Akella didn’t miss by choosing me for this role.
For me — an incredible experience, a rush, and the understanding that marketing in games is about emotions, not dry metrics.
For Akella — awards in the media and copies sold.
The perfect start. Thanks, 2007.