Chris O'Kelly

Go-to-market, funding and product advice for the team behind Democracy Manifest.

Led a studio of 110 people working on a UE5 cross-platform cozy sandbox MMO, Into a Hearth Yonder, from incubation to Early Access readiness. Owned AA+ CAPEX P&L, roster, brand strategy and the relationship with HQ. Repositioned the game's USP after market review, a 30-point NPS swing from negative to positive.

Ran the European entity of the Cookie Run developer and publisher: OPEX, hiring, product and marketing strategy, working alongside the US team on the company's Western expansion. Led the European publishing side of a portfolio spanning mobile (Cookie Run: Kingdom, Witch's Castle, Tower of Adventures, Brixity), PC (Side Bullet, Oven Smash) and VR (The Darkest Night). Grew Cookie Run: Kingdom's share in Europe through ROI-positive campaigns and partnerships.

Ran a Games as a Service studio (pod) that went on to operate harvesting titles for the Embracer Group: 5+ live games across platforms, with Development, Game Design, Engineering, LiveOps and Monetisation under one roof. Built the pod's business development pipeline: third-party live games taken on for a trial period, then a larger revenue share or an outright acquisition. Led the relaunch and rebrand of Realm of the Mad God, the studio's biggest and most profitable PC title. Managed studio OPEX.

Ran LiveOps for the company's social casino titles, then took over as General Manager of the Berlin studio, a team focused on casual, card and board games. Ran studio operations: publishing pipeline for second and third-party titles, hiring, budget and delivery. Part of a company-wide push to diversify the portfolio beyond casino.

Built out Games as a Service capacity in Berlin for Nexon's European publishing, leading a team of product managers. Directed business and corporate development for publishing and live games across Europe, including the studio and title acquisition pipeline in Central and Northern Europe.

First hire in Berlin. Helped build the studio from zero to 75 people and set up its LiveOps infrastructure. Ran the mobile strategy portfolio: global revenue, LiveOps and EU publishing for new titles, including licensed games with Marvel, Disney and Universal. Three consecutive years of growth, over $300M cumulative revenue.

Set up LiveOps for the Berlin studio's first mobile strategy games. Global revenue ownership for four titles.

Owned monetisation for the European business of a top-tier MMO publisher: pricing, offers and payment flows across the EU. Part of the team that built the Founder's Packs for the Neverwinter launch with Cryptic Studios. Ran the payments, localisation, QA and customer support teams that sat behind it.

Led LiveOps and publishing for an MMO and a shooter franchise across multiple European territories, with full revenue responsibility: over $5M a year. Scouted, playtested and evaluated new titles for the publishing pipeline.