Duck Paradox is one of Midwest Games' discoveries.
Duck Paradox is one of Midwest Games' discoveries.
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How Midwest Games wants to spread the joy of game development

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 5 min

Ben Kvalo had a good run in the game industry, most recently in a role where he helped Netflix expand into the game business. His way of giving back and carving out a new path is starting Midwest Games.

After nearly five years at Netflix, Kvalo left California and started his company in Green Bay, Wisconsin, a state which has a growing community of game developers. He got it going at the end of 2022 as he was watching the indie space that he came to know well while working at Netflix.

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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.