Matt graduated from his bachelors in Western Australia in 2012. Studying in the wake of the global financial crisis, he had seen numerous well-known and beloved Australian game studios shutting down, which threw into question the already slim odds he had of getting a career in the games industry.

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The following year, Matt would be awarded an IGDA Foundation Scholarship to attend the 2013 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. It was here he would meet his friend and mentor Keith Fuller, a leadership coach and producer with over a decade of experience working in studios like Raven Software.

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Matt returned from the Game Developer's Conference with a renewed determination to make a career work for himself in the games industry. In the years following he would work on numerous commercial games with Stirfire Studios, and a variety of applied games for clients such as Scitech Discovery Centre and Surf Lifesaving Western Australia.

 

After his partner Melissa passed away in 2019, Matt had experienced his share of challenges in the games industry. He turned his attention to two objectives: running his own team better than the ones he'd worked in, and teaching the next generation of game developers to do better. That same year he started teaching at the SAE University College and established EverySecond Studio with funding from Screenwest.

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Over 2021 to 2023, Matt would undertake research into games industry leadership as part of his Masters degree. Working with experienced developers and leaders in the games industry and beyond, he would turn this research into the book Great Games Need Great Leaders: Multiclassing to Lead Game Development Teams.

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Today Matt is focused on continuing his journey into understanding more about the circumstances the games industry finds itself in today, and the ways in which we can work to make it better.