Our Story
After over 25 years of working in both video games & management consulting, I saw that there was an huge unmet need in the games industry for the professional advice on strategy, operations and marketing that other industries took for granted.
It was clear that gaming’s massive growth in scale had not been matched by its supporting business ecosystem.
I saw that as a result, industry leaders were getting very little good external advice to help maximise their growth, adapt to industry challenges or develop new revenue streams. In the absence of a better alternative, decisions were being made with only internal perspectives or informal suggestions from personal networks.
I resolved to change this and set up Player One Consulting with the aim of being the definitive source of advice on business, marketing & operational strategy for games companies.
We’ve already helped many companies on their way to success, but the task is really just beginning. With more experts being brought into our team and our constantly improving methods being implemented, we believe the future is a bright one.
The games industry continue to be hugely dynamic and challenging. More than almost any other, it needs both clear-eyed strategy & operations excellence to succeed.
Bringing the external perspective, industry best-practice and client value focus of Player One Consulting to your challenges & goals is the way to make that success happen.
Dr. Chris Bain,
Founder & CEO
How we work
We believe that every client is unique, and deserves a solution that meets their specific needs.
We also understand that there are common challenges faced by companies across the industry, and that there are corresponding best practices that can be used to address them.
Our project teams are skilled at managing this balance, combining their extensive & varied industry experience with our structured & proven project approach. We have a very practical focus, and we reject the politics, platitudes and lazy “hot takes” that make up so much of the advice offered in the marketplace today.
The projects we deliver vary in scale and duration, but are always 100% focused on client value. We always begin with an initial intro call to truly understand what the client is looking for, before coming back with our proposal to deliver on the client’s objectives.
We work with our clients to build a coherent, effective project team combining our “best-of-breed” experts in their disciplines, with the relevant client personnel, and manage the project until the value has been delivered.
Our Team
Dr. Chris Bain
Since 2018, Chris has been advising games developers, publishers and investors, enabling them to maximize their business growth though better strategy.
Before founding Player One, Chris was an executive at Xbox for over a decade,
During his extensive time in the industry, Chris has been involved in the release of over 100 games and has worked with numerous developers & publishers across all major platforms.
Prior to Microsoft, Chris was a management consultant for Accenture, running business transformations projects for major companies.
He also holds a science PhD and has published several academic papers.
Chris specialises in scenario planning, operating model design & marketing strategy. Currently, he is particularly passionate about optimising games company business models to succeed in the changing market environment.
Leonor Duarte
Leonor is a central part in the successful working of Player One Consulting.
As someone who loves to plan & organise, she perfectly manages our project scheduling & resourcing activities, as well as ensuring our clients are kept updated and happy.
With a 1st-class degree in Game Design and Animation (she topped her class) she has a great understanding of game fundamentals. This ensures she can always bring a gamedev (and Gen Z) perspective to our team project discussion sessions.
Rob Bartholemew
With 20 years in games, Rob was most recently part of the senior leadership team at Creative Assembly. As Chief Product Officer, he was instrumental in shaping the trajectory of one of the industry's most iconic strategy franchises and has overseen the launch and ongoing support of a decade of titles from the UK's largest studio.
His focus on the expansion of the Total War series, establishment of multi-title strategic partnerships, and successful implementation of live support strategies, resulted in record-breaking revenues and millions of engaged players worldwide. With a background at Bethesda, SEGA and Take 2, Rob has built a career in connecting game teams with their audiences, enhancing player experiences and driving long-term franchise growth.
Karl Kontus
Karl started his career as a strategy consultant, working across industries. His games sector experience started with a move to 2K where he was a Commercial Director for the NBA 2K series. He was leading the growth plans for EMEA and Asia as well as played an instrumental part in defining the 5-year global growth plan for the franchise. His experience covers everything from forecasting, budgeting, market sizing, competitive analysis, pricing & promotions planning to defining a franchise long-term strategy.
He has since founded Video Game Insights, a market and competitive intelligence platform, providing data in the video games space. He works with some of the largest publishers and developers in the world to help them make better informed decisions.
Our Experience
