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Tentacle Zone Incubator, Mentor Q&A

Interview with Helen Churchill, Green Man Gaming (Incubator Partner)

About Helen

Helen is the SVP of Publishing at Green Man Gaming. She is a passionate, commercially focused global franchise / brand marketing expert. A true marketing all-rounder, at the forefront of the ever-changing digital media world, with highly transferable skills spanning product, brand and communications.

Q1. Helen, can tell us more about yourself and your role at Green Man Gaming?

I have spent most of my career in the games industry, beginning with Psygnosis and going on to hold senior marketing positions at Eidos and Sega. Over the past few years I took a break from games and ventured into book publishing as well as roles at Guinness World Records and Chelsea FC. My heart has always been in games and last year I was thrilled to take a role which brought me back into the industry at Green Man Gaming.

I came onboard at Green Man Gaming in 2020 to lead the Publishing division and leverage the investment the company has made in this area over the past year. I oversee the whole publishing process from acquisition through to production, marketing and distribution.

Working closely with developers has been the most rewarding part of the publishing process. My role at GMG as SVP Publishing gives me the opportunity to work with independent studios on a daily basis.

I am consistently inspired by the passion, creativity and fresh ideas these developers bring to their projects, being able to support them, bring their visions to reality is a wonderful job to have.

Q2. Can you give us a flavour of the learnings you will share during your mentoring session?

I will take the founders through the process of getting a game to market, from pitching for funding to building communities.

I am a big believer that to give a game the best chance to succeed in this competitive market, you need to put proposition at the heart of the game, this will shape not just the launch strategy and marketing, but also the game itself. You can develop the best game in the world but without an appealing proposition and idea of how to communicate this, the chance of discovery is slim.

In my sessions, I intend to share knowledge on how to: make sure the game has a strong proposition, stand out from competitors with the feature set as well as how these can be used as tools throughout the process to gain exposure and build traction.

I also want to be a resource for mentees, a shoulder to lean on and talk them through pain points they are experiencing and support in the areas they need the most help.

Q3. Can you tell us more about why you are involved in the Tentacle Zone Incubator programme and what it means to you?

When Green Man Gaming became a partner of the Tentacle Zone, I jumped at the opportunity to be involved from a mentoring perspective.

The indie games market has changed significantly over the past few years. For one thing, it has become so much easier to publish a game which is great but also brings with it more competition. More competition in an already competitive marketplace results in more difficulty getting noticed and that is before you factor in the challenges faced by founders from underrepresented groups.

The indie scene thrives on originality and imagination, the next gem can come from absolutely anyone. It is so important that we as an industry nurture the widest set of talent possible so the games that come to market are representative, inclusive and reflect diverse experiences.

The Tentacle Zone Incubator levels the playing field and creates better opportunities for founders from underrepresented backgrounds, so no one is held back from lack of information and resources.

Games are for everyone, and everyone should have the opportunity to create them. I’m thrilled to be able to support this programme that drives this forward.