On this week's Faces behind the Fun interview, I interview CEO of Creative Mobile, Vladimir Funtikov about his role at Creative Mobile, advice for his younger self and keeping players engaged.

Vladimir Funtikov, tell us a bit about yourself and your role at Creative Mobile

I co-founded CM in 2010 and have been acting as CEO since then. My primary focus is on our culture, making sure we live by our values, aim high but stay humble.

What does a typical day in the life of CEO at a major games company look like?

I'm a "slow morning" person. I wake up before the alarm, then take it really slow with my morning rituals. I like to start my day with some reading to slowly engage myself before jumping into meetings or creative work. 

I typically pre-plan my weeks, blocking time for routine things like reading, writing, eating, working out, catching up with my teams, playtesting, and other activities I consider critical to my work and well-being. In-between the blocked slots, I allow myself to get side-tracked, either browsing my reading list or chatting with colleagues and friends. I believe that there's a balance to be found between rigid hardcore schedules and acting like a human being. 

I once heard an airline pilot say that they are massively overpaid 99% of the time, and it's the 1% where they earn it. I believe the same is true about running a business. You have to be present, but you don't have to be busy. The goal is to be prepared to deal with any crisis and make good calls when it matters.

Huge congratulations on 10 years of Creative Mobile! If you could go back to 2010, what bit of advice would you give yourself – and you can’t say buy bitcoin?

I think that overall, starting a company at 23 and surviving a decade has been more rewarding than any investment I could've made. Of course, I sold 90% of my crypto on 8 May 2021, so it's easy for me to say that 😊

I would tell myself to spend more time seeking out awesome mentors. During the early years of CM, I was extremely shy and socially awkward. Instead of accepting this as part of my personality, I should've put more effort into developing crucial skills that my job required, and leveraging these to become smarter, earlier.

How have you adapted to managing a team remotely?

We were a semi-remote team with multiple locations before the pandemic, so our day-to-day operations weren't disrupted in a major way. We focused our efforts on negating the effects of social isolation by tripling the number of online events, offering free psychological help and coaching to employees, and helping teammates set up their home offices in a way that's safe and comfortable.

Drag Racing and Nitro Nation are great games now over 5 years old. How have you kept your players engaged over such a lengthy time?

I'm convinced that any game that's fun at the core and is receiving consistent updates can live forever. Our contract with a player is a relationship. As long as we appreciate and respect them, and show our love in the form of new content, QoL updates, and new events, they will reward us with their attention. 

What trends in mobile gaming are you most enthusiastic about for the future?

If we stretch the definition of mobile to include standalone VR devices, I'm really hyped about the class of 2023. If we focus on the smartphone as the medium, I haven't seen anything ground-breaking in a while. The existing ecosystems have certain parameters that dictate what kind of games work as a business, and I don't think we'll see any major deviations from proven formulas.

What was your favourite game growing up and what are you playing now?

Hands down Half-Life. I think I burnt through my family phone bill cap while downloading the 25MB demo over 56k in chunks over multiple days. Only to realize I could run it in 320x240. I read the walkthrough like fiction while sick at the hospital. And when I finally got my hands on the full game and a Voodoo 2 card, it's no surprise I spent the next 4 or 5 years making maps for HL, CS, and CS: Source.

Vladimir Funtikov, thanks very much for taking the time to speak to Gamesforum today