Artwork from Game of Thrones Ascent.
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Hey, no pressure: This game developer has to please fans of Game of Thrones and Star Trek simultaneously (interview)

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 12 min

Jon Radoff is carrying some heavy responsibilities these days. He has to keep fans of Game of Thrones and Star Trek happy, and he’s going to have to do it at the same time.

Radoff is the chief executive of Boston-based Disruptor Beam, the game studio that negotiated to get the license for Game of Thrones before it took off as an acclaimed series on HBO. His team toiled on its social game based on the franchise and finally debuted Game of Thrones Ascent on Facebook in early 2013. By that time, Game of Thrones and the “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series were enormous hits. Radoff’s social mobile title has been played by 9 million people, and his team is continuously updating the game to keep fans happy.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.