CEO
John Linden | Mythical Games CEO
John Linden is the CEO of Mythical Games, a game company focused on building player-owned economies with top game developers and publishers in addition to their own portfolio of games (Blankos, NFL Rivals, Nitro Nation, Pudgy Penguins). Prior to Mythical Games, John was the President of Seismic Games (acquired by Niantic Labs), developer of Marvel Strike Force and Magic the Gathering: Valor's Reach. Prior to Seismic Games, he was a Studio Head at Activision Blizzard on the Call of Duty and Skylanders franchises. Before the gaming industry, John was the CoFounder / CTO at Adknowledge and at OpenX and built his own startups, Planet Alumni (acquired by Reunion.com) and Litmus Media (acquired by Think Partnership).
The evolution of fan engagement in sports is moving to more personalized, immersive and interactive experiences. Licensed merchandise has always gone beyond simply retail revenue by creating a strong emotional connection between fans and their favorite teams or players and driving fan engagement. Today, the gaming industry is deepening fan-sport connections, ensuring that community engagement continues long after the season ends. The future of gaming, where players have ownership of their digital assets and experiences and can participate in game economies, is not just about making money, but also about rewarding players for their contributions and social interactions as fans and participants. Connecting the physical and digital products and experiences around these communities provides a transformative economic paradigm for the retail industry and a customer relationship not possible with traditional social media. As the gaming industry evolves and embraces artificial intelligence and machine learning in building next-gen products, gametech will be ideally positioned to provide new ways of incentivizing behavior in multiplayer formats and creating applications that take player loyalty and monetization to the next level. Immersive fan engagement adds layers of excitement and involvement, drawing fans closer to their teams irrespective of their physical location.
