Title:GEMA Alumni Spotlight – Kevin Scharff (C’94), Executive Producer, Riot Games

Kevin Scharff (C’94) is currently an Executive Producer at Riot Games in Los Angeles, where he works in the studio’s R&D division in search of new opportunities to make it better to be a player. He has worked for over 25 years in interactive entertainment as an artist, production director, and product leader. Prior to Riot, he worked on such franchises as Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, and God of War.

What was your first “big break”? Or, what is the most significant experience you have had that has made your success possible?

While I would describe my journey as a series of opportunities, I think the two times I joined startups were true“level up” moments in my career. The second time was early in my games career after leaving the animation industry. In 2002, I left Electronic Arts to join several colleagues to form an independent third party studio, where I was offered my first leadership role. We all left nice studio positions working on a highly successful franchise, Medal of Honor, for a small crowded temporary office space with nothing set up—no computers, networking, or even more than fold out desks, just crazy ideas and an opportunity to build a new franchise for a competing publisher.   

Start ups taught me to be scrappy, but it also exposed me to the larger picture of game development. As an independent studio, I was exposed to the full process, and our new company valued high transparency, for better or worse. I felt every bump and thrill of the roller coaster ride in ways that large studios generally feel insulated from experiencing. As a result, I was over the years able to fill all sorts of roles—animation director, development director, and eventually lead producer—while being exposed to every stage of development, from ideation and initial pitch to publishers through final ship and release of our games. I also learned to appreciate the possibility of starting something unbaked. That first franchise we were developing, it turned out to be Call of Duty. Those lessons informed so much of my willingness to chase after opportunities, whether jumping in to lead production on the God of War (2018) reboot at Sony Santa Monica or bringing an augmented reality dragon to land on the stage at Beijing National Stadium at the League of Legends World Championship.

What is the most challenging part of your job? What is the most rewarding part?

It is actually the same thing, which may say something about my tolerance for working in entrepreneurial spaces. The games industry is incredibly dynamic. It is always evolving, never static. The relationship between evolving technology and platforms and craft of game-making is always a puzzle to crack. As a result, the landscape is always shifting, often well in advance of your ongoing product’s completion.

The rapid growth and trajectory of the industry during my life has been astounding. My teenage days at the local arcade and first generation consoles feel antiquated, having witnessed 9 generations of consoles, the expansion of gaming to cover every available platform, region, and lifestyle, now with over 3.3 billion active gamers on the planet.

Additionally, players have highly evolving and sophisticated tastes. As a fundamentally interactive medium, your audience has a very close, authentic relationship to the product itself once it is released. It’s very much an ongoing relationship. Players are active engagers of your product, which is quite a departure from my experiences in the film and TV space. As a result, understanding and consistently engaging with your audience is a necessity.

This is ultimately what led me to work at Riot. The company has such a heavy investment in understanding the player experience. Ultimately, this is what makes the work both so incredibly difficult yet uniquely rewarding. It feels like a miracle each and every time a product reaches our players but does so in a way that surprises and delights them over time.

What is something current you are working on that you are excited about?

Oh, I wish I could talk about it, but unfortunately I can’t. I work in our R&D division, where we are incubating new product opportunities. As a result, I can’t share anything about what we are cooking. If it helps soften the answer, please know I can’t even talk about it with most of Riot.

How is the ever-changing media landscape affecting your industry?

As I mentioned, game development is endlessly evolving. I tell my teams that making games is a real test of your entrepreneurial grit. From my perspective, the industry is currently at an interesting inflection point, having recently achieved so much unparalleled growth that was turbo charged during the pandemic, where a combination of artificially spiked player hours combined with a flood of access to cheaper available capital investment led to an outsized amount of content development pursuits within a tightened labor market. As a result, the industry is both reacting to some normalization of anticipated growth post-pandemic and reaching a threshold in which years of distribution, technology, and content innovation have dissipated. However, as the market stabilizes, I believe this is a real opportunity to build more differentiated products and find new and exciting ways to reach players.  

Are there any ways that you feel Georgetown especially prepared you for your career?

After many years, I have come to the conclusion that Georgetown really prepares you for the career you aspire to chase. It prepares you not just for your first job, but really your last. Georgetown taught me to value a life of learning, which has fueled endless curiosity in my pursuits and in engaging with the community around me.

Georgetown also taught me to be fearless and think independently, but always with a lens of empathy and appreciation, both to the teams I work alongside and the players we serve.  

What is your best advice to those who are starting out in your field?

Be tenacious and have perseverance. Always come with a desire to learn, to make and create new ideas, but with a hungry yet humble approach.

Find a studio that reflects values you believe will make you be your best self, that give you opportunities to grow.

Don’t be afraid of failure. It is often the best chance to learn.

Be patient in the process. It is often a non-linear path to where you want to go. Look for ways you can acquire and apply adjacent experiences. I have seen many people enter into gaming careers from seemingly unrelated fields—law, finance, marine biology—all of which find ways to be applicable when built around a love of games.

Best Business Advice Received:

Three principles that have stuck with me that I will pass along:

1. Focus on what you uniquely can offer others. As for the rest, find ways to delegate and empower those around you. You will win by understanding how to balance leadership with trust.
2. Judge your success by how often people seek you out to solve problems. You know you are having an impact when you are seen as part of the solution.
3. Don’t make decisions based on a fear of failure. Choosing the ambitious and challenging path will be more rewarding, and it is always a learning opportunity no matter the outcome.

Trait You Most Admire in People: 

I always look for leaders who do so with empathy. Relationships matter so much in this industry. I have always connected with leaders that do not just hold a high bar, but they build the trust to want to achieve it. They will also often reward curiosity and risk-taking over playing it safe.

Favorite App, Website, Podcast or Social Platform (other than related to your own company):

My favorite current podcasts at the moment are Game Craft, which is a history of the games business by two well regarded VCs that really breaks down macro trends in the industry, and Deconstructor of Fun’s This Week in Games (TWIG), which gives a great weekly snapshot of the market. As for games, I currently am playing Helldivers, Destiny, and Balatro. I am hoping to tackle the Blue Prince soon!

Favorite Georgetown Professor:

I am going to spread the appreciation a bit here. I absolutely loved Diana Owen’s “Politics of Film” class. It solidified my decision to go to film school over law school in following my career trajectory. Gay Gibson Cima gave me the opportunity to direct a Friday Afternoon Theater play, where I had the chance to test out my creative decision making. John Glavin taught me the importance of critical thinking in the Freshman Honors seminar, and then later challenged me to how to push storytelling beyond conventional thinking. Maureen Corrigan gave me the chance to fall in love with mysteries in her Detective Fiction class, and I still actively listen to her book reviews! They all took time to invest in me, often outside the classroom, which is such a unique quality to Georgetown’s approach to learning.

Favorite Georgetown Restaurant or Bar:

Au Pied du Cochon—many memories and fantastic late night desserts…oh, to not be able taste their chocolate mousse again is tragic.

Favorite Georgetown Memory:

How about a three-way tie? Directing Miss Maragarita’s Way for FAT, co-hosting a Wednesday 1am-3am punk rock radio show known as “The Bad People’s Party” for WGTB in the Copley basement, and organizing (with now lifelong friends) a campaign known as The Challenge that offered students the option to vote to disband the student government in favor of redirecting funds to the financial aid office, which was actually endorsed by The Georgetown Voice.

To read other Alumni Spotlights, click here.