A conversation with Adrien Bacchi, CEO &amp; Founder of ChibiPhoenix.I met Adrien at a Barcelona Gamesforum event. Blue hair, blue beard. Not exactly someone you forget.As we kept talking, and later through LinkedIn, I discovered the rest: guitar player, singer, founder, builder of worlds. But what struck me most was the coherence behind it all.In an industry where many founders carefully manage their image, Adrien feels rarer: someone completely at ease with who he is, building exactly what he wants to build, and saying so out loud. On LinkedIn, on stage, or in conversation, he sounds exactly the same. The way he talks about ChibiPhoenix, Amilova, and transmedia all comes from the same place. No performance. Just conviction.He's been building for almost twenty years through web, mobile, global platforms, and now AI-augmented production. ChibiPhoenix today is 50+ people, 100+ monthly freelancers, and over $100M in gross sales generated, all from Sofia, Bulgaria, which he'll tell you is not a disadvantage.I wanted to understand how someone builds like that for that long without losing the thread. This is that conversation.<img src="https://ezycourse.b-cdn.net/6017/cmppne0eua3s3c0p9cmo88fo9.jpg" alt="Adrien Bacchi - CEO &amp; Founder of ChibiPhoenix" containerstyle="width: 100%; height: auto;" wrapperstyle="display: flex"><hr><h2 id="edded2ea-7685-4e4d-9509-f1a5a4f45b88" data-toc-id="edded2ea-7685-4e4d-9509-f1a5a4f45b88" style="font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">The Operator</h2><h3 id="0e402db3-3560-4df1-b79d-74e83deb706e" data-toc-id="0e402db3-3560-4df1-b79d-74e83deb706e" style="font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">What does your role look like today, and what are you focused on?</h3>I run ChibiPhoenix, a private transmedia company based in Sofia, with 50+ people, 100+ monthly freelancers, and over $100M in gross sales generated.We make anime-style games like MangaRPG and AmourAgent, and we are expanding our universes across games, comics, communities, and new formats.My role in 2026 is to protect what works, scale what can become much bigger, and prepare the company for fundraising with real evidence behind the story.The mission is simple: turn ChibiPhoenix from a successful studio into a transmedia powerhouse.<hr><h2 id="0282e50b-a664-46f0-90ee-b2ea3f2910ee" data-toc-id="0282e50b-a664-46f0-90ee-b2ea3f2910ee" style="font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">Building for the Long Game</h2><h3 id="3825d0b0-aa37-4005-b937-046fe1f6cf48" data-toc-id="3825d0b0-aa37-4005-b937-046fe1f6cf48" style="font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">What does it really take to build and sustain a studio today?</h3>It takes discipline before inspiration.After almost twenty years building through web, mobile, global platforms, and now AI-augmented production, I've learned that ideas are never the rare part.The rare part is surviving long enough, learning fast enough, and killing the wrong directions before they consume the team.<blockquote>A real studio is not built on dreams alone. It is built on profitable execution.</blockquote><h3 id="be7e4873-0423-48b7-85b9-883753a5dbdb" data-toc-id="be7e4873-0423-48b7-85b9-883753a5dbdb" style="font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">What are you particularly passionate about right now?</h3>Amilova. Connecting games and mangas into a coherent transmedia experience. It started in 2010 as both a creative universe and a creator platform, before many of our current games, and it will continue long after them.<img src="https://ezycourse.b-cdn.net/6017/cmppnhuxgamz55dqm9xc45bxv.png" alt="Amilova" containerstyle="width: 100%; height: auto;" wrapperstyle="display: flex">What excites me now is connecting the comic roots, the platform, the games, the characters, and the community into one living universe.<blockquote>We are not just making content. We are building worlds.</blockquote>I see it as a fan myself. I've been into manga, comics, and gaming for over 40 years. And when I'm a fan of something, I love to consume every aspect of it, every media, every creation. Game, manga, books, figurines, posters, mugs, shirts. That's the experience I want to give our fans.<hr><h2 id="f78e7da3-b326-4140-b752-3bede454a29a" data-toc-id="f78e7da3-b326-4140-b752-3bede454a29a" style="font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">Focus, Identity &amp; Constraints</h2><h3 id="cb8603db-8d62-4350-be3c-cee7f2d2c528" data-toc-id="cb8603db-8d62-4350-be3c-cee7f2d2c528" style="font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">What's the biggest challenge you're navigating at the moment?</h3>Sequencing. We have many strong directions: new games, new universes, production tools, platform layers, partnerships, fundraising.The danger is not lack of ambition. We have more than enough ambition.The danger is dispersion. My job is to keep the company focused on the few moves that matter now.<h3 id="3a2bc32c-0d28-49a5-ae5a-1c1314de5682" data-toc-id="3a2bc32c-0d28-49a5-ae5a-1c1314de5682" style="font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">In an industry where visibility is a real challenge, you stand out very clearly. Do you see personal identity as part of how you build a studio or a brand?</h3>Yes, but not as personal branding theatre. Personal identity must genuinely amplify your studio's voice.It's all about authenticity and being able to back up your words with action.When you build for 20+ years around the same creative direction, people eventually see the pattern. Amilova, ChibiPhoenix, our games, our community, my own voice. They all come from the same place: this genuine desire to create great entertainment.<h3 id="c822f451-a9a1-41ad-bfde-833901e4dcbf" data-toc-id="c822f451-a9a1-41ad-bfde-833901e4dcbf" style="font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">How do constraints shape your decisions?</h3>Constraints force you to confront reality and see the best of everything in every situation, especially in the bad ones.Being based in Sofia gives us resilience, cost discipline, and creative independence that are extremely valuable in this industry. At the same time, it's a constraint: the gaming industry community is small, the talent pool limited, and access to capital limited too.But I see a bigger opportunity in having a focused team building systems instead of bureaucracy, and making decisions faster.<blockquote>Constraints are the shape of the strategy.</blockquote><hr><h2 id="14af0f64-bf81-4b76-bf6f-168eb9073bb3" data-toc-id="14af0f64-bf81-4b76-bf6f-168eb9073bb3" style="font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">Proof Over Vision</h2><h3 id="ff9787ac-732d-4a47-9f4d-f94c3dfc9712" data-toc-id="ff9787ac-732d-4a47-9f4d-f94c3dfc9712" style="font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">What's one thing you know now that you wish you'd known earlier?</h3>Proof beats vision. I love big ambition, but ambition only becomes powerful when the world can see it working.Earlier, I would have measured faster, killed faster, and treated every launch as evidence for the next one.<blockquote>Vision opens the door. But proof makes people believe.</blockquote><hr><h2 id="fc608579-debd-4b08-a233-eebfd9a9f5be" data-toc-id="fc608579-debd-4b08-a233-eebfd9a9f5be" style="font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">Leading with Clarity &amp; Building Through Waves</h2><h3 id="5252f7ce-c658-41c7-a6c5-12e8eabbdf78" data-toc-id="5252f7ce-c658-41c7-a6c5-12e8eabbdf78" style="font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">What's the best piece of advice you'd give to someone leading a team today?</h3>Decide what matters, then protect it with everything you have.A team does not need ten priorities, permanent noise, and heroic confusion. It needs direction, trust, ownership, and a leader who does not panic every time a new opportunity appears.<blockquote>Clarity is not a soft skill. It is leadership.</blockquote><h3 id="ccd9c92a-4c1a-4eda-a22a-3fa8bac01b54" data-toc-id="ccd9c92a-4c1a-4eda-a22a-3fa8bac01b54" style="font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">Is there a book or experience that has shaped the way you lead?</h3>Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull shaped me a lot, especially the idea that fragile creative ideas need protection before they become obvious.But the strongest teacher has been almost twenty years of building through technology waves: web, mobile, platforms, and now AI changing production itself.Every wave teaches the same lesson: adapt fast, stay disciplined, and keep building things people actually want to experience.That is how you move from products to universes.<h2 id="c944f41b-4c56-48c5-bf61-51e2b6c16e9f" data-toc-id="c944f41b-4c56-48c5-bf61-51e2b6c16e9f" style="font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">What this conversation confirmed for me</h2>What strikes me most about Adrien is the consistency. Not just of vision, but of identity. The blue hair, the guitar, the direct language, the conviction. None of it feels constructed. It's the same person on LinkedIn, on stage, and in conversation.And after twenty years of building, that consistency has become one of his most durable competitive advantages.In my coaching work, I often see leaders spending enormous energy managing how they're perceived: calibrating their image, softening their edges, adjusting their message depending on the room. Adrien does the opposite. He doubles down on who he is, and lets the work speak for whether it's working."Proof beats vision." It sounds simple. But it asks something very specific of you: the discipline to measure what matters, the courage to kill what doesn't, and the patience to let results accumulate into something people can actually believe in.After twenty years, it feels less like a strategy than a way of operating. And watching someone sustain that over time is a good reminder of what long-term conviction actually looks like.Adrien Bacchi is CEO and Founder of ChibiPhoenix. You can follow his work on LinkedIn.Gaming Voices is a series where I share conversations with people working in and around the gaming industry across Europe. Real people, real challenges, real perspectives.Next conversation coming soon. Subscribe to the blog to catch it.

A conversation with Adrien Bacchi, CEO & Founder of ChibiPhoenix, on building transmedia universes, staying true to your identity, and why proof always beats vision.

A real studio is not built on dreams alone. It is built on profitable execution. Gaming Voices #02

What does your role look like today, and what are you focused on?

What does it really take to build and sustain a studio today?

What are you particularly passionate about right now?

What's the biggest challenge you're navigating at the moment?

In an industry where visibility is a real challenge, you stand out very clearly. Do you see personal identity as part of how you build a studio or a brand?

What's one thing you know now that you wish you'd known earlier?

Leading with Clarity & Building Through Waves

What's the best piece of advice you'd give to someone leading a team today?

Is there a book or experience that has shaped the way you lead?

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A real studio is not built on dreams alone. It is built on profitable execution. Gaming Voices #02

A real studio is not built on dreams alone. It is built on profitable execution. Gaming Voices #02

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