Andrey Ivashentsev: I will build relationships with platforms

In mid-April, the head of Microsoft’s technology evangelism department in Russia, Andrey Ivashentsev, left his post and joined Game Insight. We talked with Andrey about why this happened and what he will do in his new place.

Tell me, why did you leave Microsoft?

This question is the most popular among those that are being asked to me now, and I still don’t have an unambiguous answer to it. The decision to leave was not easy for me and was quite spontaneous: an interesting opportunity suddenly presented itself to me, and I decided to take advantage of it.

I’ve always wanted to do games, so I’ve been actively working with the GameDev community at Microsoft for the past few years, got acquainted with a huge number of interesting teams and games. Well, now I’ve moved to Game Insight, one of the brightest and most interesting companies in the industry.

What does the name of your position in GI sound like?

My position is called Chief Innovation Officer, and if in Russian – Director of innovation. A very beautiful trending name in modern Russian realities, I like it.

What exactly are you going to do?

First of all, I will be engaged in strategic partnerships with major platforms and ecosystems, including Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Unity and many others.

Each platform or ecosystem has its own innovative concepts and solutions, including technological ones, which need to be dealt with at the earliest stage. I will be directly responsible for the implementation of these innovations in Game Insight games, and in addition, I will tell the industry about the most interesting and successful cases of innovation.

Why is this Game Insight?

First of all, to deepen relations with strategic partners in the long term. To discuss technical issues with platforms, a person with a technological background is needed, which in this case I am.

Is it possible to say that, in fact, you will help GI implement the latest platform technologies into projects so that the platforms then feature GI projects?

This is one of the options for the development of events, but not everything in this life is measured by feathering. I will help build effective relationships with platforms, and this is a slightly broader view of the situation. Do not forget that to get a feature, you still need to make cool toys.

Wouldn‘t it be cheaper for a company to just buy traffic instead of hiring an individual employee and fiddling with technology?

This is not my topic at all, but with the purchase of traffic from Game Insight, everything is already fine, there are their own innovations (laughs). Working on strategic partnerships and platform relationships is also in some way marketing, but the effect is broader and longer—term.

Which features, if it’s not a secret, will you start implementing into GI projects in the first place?

It’s a secret for now.

It’s worth talking about features when they have been successfully implemented and their feasibility has been proven, and not when you are just starting to look in this direction. I am often asked if we will do something with VR and AR… let’s see.