A Different Person in Every Game

Cody Germain spent seven years at Riot - leading competitive games on League of Legends, with the Valorant and Legends of Runeterra launches in between - then moved to San Diego in 2022 for Psyonix and Epic. Now he’s co-founder and CEO of Bear Infinite Games, building Spark, a personalization layer for competitive play, and Project Grizzly, a game designed so no player can buy an advantage. He and Neal get into why the industry’s walled gardens strip players of identity, why San Diego’s gaming talent stayed invisible for so long, and the Barrio Logan tacos that catered his wedding.Key topics* Why you’re a different person in every game you play* 700 million competitive players, two to three titles a week* Spark: personalization that learns as you play* Project Grizzly and the “action sport” format* Designing a game where nobody can buy an edge* From QA analyst to leading League’s competitive* Why San Diego’s gaming talent stayed invisible* Shutting down Prio App when it stopped solving a problemLinks & resources* Bear Infinite Games (playtest signup)Connect on LinkedIn* Neal Bloom* Cody Germain This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit risingtidepartners.substack.com/subscribe