The DeanBeat: When real-life war intrudes on game development

Geopolitics has a way of intruding on gaming. Wars and crises make great fodder for video game storylines, but they’re also disruptive and scary to game development teams that are stuck in the middle of real-world hot spots. The frightening intrusion of the terrors of war and political crisis have taken a toll on Ukraine and Israel, and that was evident at the Casual Connect game conference this week in San Francisco, where more than 3,000 game makers gathered to talk about the craft and business of casual games.

Shai Magzimof, the chief executive of Nextpeer, a multiplayer mobile gaming network, viewed his visit to Casual Connect as a welcome relief. But he almost didn’t make it out. At the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, he saw a rocket attack overhead. While others headed to the bomb shelter, Magzimof decided to go up to the roof and film it with his smartphone. For those few minutes a day when those rocket attacks prompt air raid sirens and trips to bomb shelters, it’s scary. But it’s also part of life. Two of Magzimof’s employees have been called up as reservists in the Israeli armed forces.