What does a Senior Producer do?

We’re excited to announce that we’re starting a developer blog to give our players an occasional peek behind the curtain as we work on Battlefield™ Mobile. 

Let’s kick this thing off with an interview!

Stephen MacDonald is our Senior Producer here at Industrial Toys and a sure, steady hand on the rudder of the studio. Now, producer is one of those roles in games that aren’t always clear to players. Folks understand art and music and coding, but where does a producer come in? Here we chat with Stephen to find out a little more about what producers do in games, and specifically what Stephen here does at the studio.

DOUG: Hey Stephen!

STEPHEN: Hey Doug, thanks for the chance to chat. 

DOUG: So tell us a little bit about being a producer. What do producers do in the games industry?

•   A producer is a role that's in service to the whole team. You are trying to help a group of highly talented and multi-disciplined individuals make a game that our players love. That primarily means developing and communicating project goals, helping drive milestones, and making sure everyone has what they need to make something amazing.
    For Battlefield Mobile, I spend a lot of time with each of our team leads to make sure our plans are clear and on track to build an authentic Battlefield experience for our players. 

DOUG:  In the world of film, a producer is often responsible for owning the budget and schedule, securing funds, and helping find the cast.  How similar is that to what a video game producer does? 

•   There is some overlap between those roles depending on the person and the studio. At iToys I partner with a lot of people at EA on budgeting and scheduling and spend most of my time focused on the vision of the product and its execution.  Are we making something great? What are the risks we see in front of us? What’s the audience telling us, and do our future plans take this into account? The connective tissue I see between film and games is that a producer is someone who is trying to help deliver a product to an audience and hopefully gives them something they love. 

DOUG: How much of the job is about worrying?

•   Hahaha, well…. We sometimes ask ourselves ‘What's keeping you awake right now on your project?’ I’d say my job involves a lot of caring deeply about all facets of development. How is development going on key features? How much time do we have before the next release? Do we have the resources we need to be successful? How do we make sure we are making the right stuff for the players? Is what’s supposed to be great actually feeling great? So, it’s less worrying and… more about caring is how I see it. 

DOUG: To be a Senior Producer it seems like you would need to be pretty familiar with all of the disciplines involved. How does one gain that breadth of knowledge and experience?

•   Most producers come through another discipline into production. Some are former designers, engineers, artists or QA. I was a 3D artist for the first eight years of my career. During that time I got to see a lot through the eyes of a developer and saw myself trying to help more disciplines connect the dots easier to make something better than we could alone.
    That really got me my start as a producer. After you are in the producer role for a while, you start to see development pitfalls and best practices from a different vantage point and are able to handle bigger teams and bigger projects. Do this a bunch of times and I think you get a lot of insight into what makes a great game great and what can make a possibly great game bad.

DOUG: What do you love about working on Battlefield Mobile?

•   I love so many things about it, but first: I have loved Battlefield since the release of Battlefield1942, so getting a chance to work on such an iconic franchise is incredible. My friends and I have put a lot of hours into Battlefield and I can't wait to give more people that opportunity to become immersed in the world of Battlefield At iToys I also get the chance to work with some real industry icons with the challenge of bringing one of the best first-person shooters in the world to a new platform. That's huge for me. 

If you have skills and would like to join a great team, check out our open positions at https://www.ea.com/ea-studios/industrial-toys/careers.