It's been a busy year for gaming, as the billion dollar industry's undergone transformative mergers and acquisitions and unnerving scandals. You've seen the stories and the reports, but how does someone on the inside see these changes?

In the latest episode of Visionaries, Lightforge Games co-founder and CEO Matt Schembari breaks down the intricate layers of his career, from his roots at Blizzard to his time at Epic Games and the departure to create his own studio.

Matt shared his insight on game design principles and how Lightforge is attempting to bend gaming's programming rules to create a choose your own adventure style RPG, inspired by tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons. Matt discussed his hopes for Microsoft's impact on the culture at Activision Blizzard after that developer's tumultuous two and a half years of labor disputes and sexual harassment lawsuits. And Matt talked about Epic Games scaling back and the broader issues around consolidation in gaming.

"I want to make a studio that lasts. I want to make a studio that's, yes, profitable so we can stay in business and keep doing what we're doing, but I want to make a game that brings people lots of joy. And so that's really what the focus is. I do truly believe that if you make a good game and then all the other things happen right."

You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattSchembari.

To support Visionaries and gain access to exclusive content, subscribe to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JacobWolfMikhailKlimentov