Randy Pitchford believes gaming is still in the early stages of its evolution.
“We figured out a medium, as a species, where the audience is a participant in the experience, and is creating the story because they are it — they are the story,” Pitchford told during his conversation with Alex Lee, Lead News Writer at GamesBeat, at last month’s GamesBeat Next conference. “And that’s fucking beautiful, but we have not even come close to unlocking what that actually means.”
At GamesBeat Next, Pitchford sat down with GamesBeat to record an episode of the BIG Show, GamesBeat’s new podcast featuring candid perspectives and opinions from leaders across the industry. Today, we are proud to launch the first wave of BIG Show episodes, featuring a deep dive with Randy Pitchford about the past, present and future of game development.
This 30-minute episode is packed with insights, from Pitchford’s emphasis that the best investors are those who are willing to take risks on innovative and disruptive ideas, not just imitative or reductive ones, to his view that social media is is an “interactive entertainment medium” that is more similar to gaming than one think. We also got Randy — a former professional magician — to perform a magic trick on the show.
To check out the show, listen above — or click here to watch the full video.
This is the first of many BIG Show episodes to come, so stay tuned for more, including additional episodes recorded at GamesBeat Next and GamesBeat’s Hollywood & Gaming summit last week, as well as a full season rollout in early 2026.