In their weekly interview series Womenize! features inspirational, diverse people who work in the games and tech industry, to share their experiences, give valuable advice and talk about their projects. In cooperation with Womenize! and Madeleine Egger, GamesMarkt is republishing these inspirations.
Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational individuals from games and tech. For this edition, we talked to Karoliina Korppoo, Creative Director at Day Off Interactive. She speaks about her evolution as a games industry leader, emphasizing a shift from individual creative control to collaborative, transparent, and people-centered leadership focused on building safe, thriving teams that create meaningful games with positive impact. Read more about Karoliina here:
Hi Karoliina! You’ve worn many hats, from artist and designer to producer and agile leader. Over nearly two decades in games, how has your definition of success evolved? And what does “creative fulfillment” mean to you now, compared to when you first started out?
What has not changed is that I want to create games and products that have a wide audience and fit a need. I do value transparency and clear processes much more in a production, as they help with creating a feeling of safety, that then allows for much more creativity. When I started out, I felt like I want to ram my ideas through and create the product I have on my mind. That has changed, I have found the love for team work and understood how valuable it is for all team members to have ownership of what we are buildings together. I listen more, talk less, and want to make sure we as a team have clarity on what are we making. Success looks like a well rounded team that operated smoothly, where everyone feels they can do great work. Great games come from people who collaborate, and well-being comes from belonging and trusting and being trusted.
You’ve often spoken about building strong team cultures and helping people bring their ideas to life. When you think about your impact as a leader, what strategies or approaches have been most effective in helping your teams deliver their best work?
Listening, plain and simple! I want to hear what my team members think, what they struggle with and what their aspirations are. Creating safety allows people to open up and give time for creativity and problem solving. Clear design pillars, roadmaps and product definitions allow us all to ideate within the same constraints, to collaborate rather that work alone on a challenge. I believe one of the key things a leader must do is to make sure there is transparency. When I was running a startup, we had our budget and runway in a shared folder for any team member to see. I like documentation and processes, that give visibility to both what has been done and what is planned to be done. I see a combination of making information available and listening to team members as the key to success.
When you think about your journey so far and the impact you want to have moving forward, what kind of legacy do you hope to leave, both in the games you create and the people you’ve guided? What inspires you most as you look toward the next chapter of your career?
I always say I’m an optimist and a little bit of a dreamer. I want to create games that do good. I want to build teams where people thrive. I’m a supporter of four day work week and feel that for people to do their best job, they need to have time away from work also. I work with games, but my hobbies are outside of gaming, and I feel they keep my mind active and open. I hope the projects I work with make the world a little bit better place for everyone.
