A conversation with Naz Amarchi-Cuevas, former Senior Vice-President &amp; GM of Stumble Guys at Scopely, former Chief Commercial Officer at SYBO, and former Executive Vice-President and Head of Global Consumer Products at Rovio; currently Head of Business Development for The Smiley Company.When I first met Naz, she was SVP &amp; General Manager of Stumble Guys at Scopely, leading one of the fastest-growing franchises in mobile gaming. We later had the opportunity to collaborate, and what stood out wasn't just her commercial expertise, but the way she thinks about building enduring franchises through brands, culture, consumer psychology, and long-term emotional value.Naz has built a career across some of gaming's most iconic franchises, from Angry Birds at Rovio, to Subway Surfers at SYBO, and Stumble Guys at Scopely, working at the intersection of gaming, licensing, and franchise building.What makes her perspective even more compelling is her path. Arriving in a new country as a child refugee, she learned early that opportunities are rarely given, they are created. That mindset has stayed with her throughout her career, shaping the way she approaches leadership, uncertainty, and franchise building. Her journey is a reminder that where you start does not define where you can go, and that perseverance, curiosity, and conviction can open doors, even in an industry that hasn't always made space for women at the top.In this edition of Gaming Voices, we explore building enduring franchises, leading through uncertainty, making better commercial decisions, and why the future of gaming depends on thinking beyond the next quarter.<img src="https://ezycourse.b-cdn.net/6017/cmr6i3lq4tfs7aupm8g7n3bci.jpg" alt="image" containerstyle="width: 100%; height: auto; cursor: pointer; " wrapperstyle="display: flex"><hr><h2 id="a1b2c3d4-1111-4a1a-9c1a-000000000001" data-toc-id="a1b2c3d4-1111-4a1a-9c1a-000000000001" style="text-align: left; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">From Games to Franchises</h2><h3 id="a1b2c3d4-1111-4a1a-9c1a-000000000002" data-toc-id="a1b2c3d4-1111-4a1a-9c1a-000000000002" style="text-align: left; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">You've built iconic franchises in gaming, Angry Birds, Subway Surfers, Stumble Guys and you've recently stepped outside the industry to grow brands in a different context. How would you describe what you do now, and what connects these two worlds for you?</h3>At the core, I build systems that help people connect emotionally, then I build the commercial architecture around that feeling so it can scale. Whether that's Angry Birds, Subway Surfers, or the leadership methodology I've spent years developing, the underlying question is always the same: how do you take something that resonates emotionally and turn it into a brand that earns loyalty at scale?To me, those worlds have always been deeply connected.<blockquote>The best entertainment companies understood before almost any other industry that you don't sell a product, you sell a transformation, a feeling of progression, mastery, belonging.</blockquote>That's exactly what the wellness industry is trying to do. The commercial toolkit I've developed in gaming translates remarkably well beyond it.<hr><img src="https://ezycourse.b-cdn.net/6017/cmr6j0ecttv75gmpgcndz765s.jpg" alt="image" containerstyle="width: 100%; height: auto; cursor: pointer; " wrapperstyle="display: flex"><h2 id="31ef0111-a635-49e4-a0e8-22dc3ab52557" data-toc-id="31ef0111-a635-49e4-a0e8-22dc3ab52557" style="text-align: left; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">When a Brand Becomes Part of People's Lives</h2><h3 id="a1b2c3d4-2222-4a1a-9c1a-000000000004" data-toc-id="a1b2c3d4-2222-4a1a-9c1a-000000000004" style="text-align: left; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">Licensing, consumer products, franchise building: what is it about that space that keeps pulling you in, regardless of the industry you're working in?</h3> Licensing is misunderstood. Folks think it's a logo on a t-shirt. What it actually is, at its best, is the art of extending emotional permission.<blockquote>Fans give you a franchise they love, and what you're asking them is: do you trust us enough to let this message, this lifestyle, this gaming character, this world, live in your physical life?</blockquote>On your shelf, in your child's bedroom, at the breakfast table? When you answer that question well, the commercial outcome is almost a by-product.What keeps pulling me in is that it's the purest test of whether a brand has actually earned cultural depth. You can have engagement metrics, awareness, DAUs, etc, but if the consumer products program falls flat, it tells you something true about the emotional ceiling of what you've built. And when it works, when you see a kid running through an airport with an Angry Birds backpack, or a Subway Surfers hoodie on a teenager in London, or a cool mom in São Paulo enjoying an afternoon with friends wearing a Smiley t-shirt, there's no metric that captures what that actually means for the life of a franchise. I find that tension endlessly compelling.<hr><h2 id="a1b2c3d4-3333-4a1a-9c1a-000000000005" data-toc-id="a1b2c3d4-3333-4a1a-9c1a-000000000005" style="text-align: left; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">Learning to Lead Through Uncertainty</h2><h3 id="a1b2c3d4-3333-4a1a-9c1a-000000000006" data-toc-id="a1b2c3d4-3333-4a1a-9c1a-000000000006" style="text-align: left; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">Your path to where you are today is one of the most remarkable I've encountered, professionally and personally. You've spoken openly about parts of your early life that most people in this industry would never have had to navigate. How has that shaped the way you lead, build, and face uncertainty? </h3>I grew up in contexts where uncertainty wasn't a concept, it was just "Tuesday." There was no roadmap, no safety net, no one telling me that the path I was on was the right one.<blockquote>What that gives you, if you're lucky, is a very early relationship with ambiguity. You learn that the feeling of not knowing what comes next is not the same as danger.</blockquote>That distinction has been one of the most useful things I carry into every leadership role.Those experiences also shaped how I approach people and complexity. Rather than rushing to conclusions, I've learned to listen carefully, ask better questions, and understand what motivates people before trying to solve a problem. Whether I'm building partnerships, leading teams, or navigating change, I try to bring clarity, empathy, and a long-term perspective to the conversation.Above all, my early life left me with an enduring belief in human potential. If you've worked with me, you know that I believe people are often capable of far more than they or their organizations realize. I build environments where resilience, curiosity, and trust help both people and businesses grow beyond what they thought was possible. It does take time but I still believe it's worth it.<hr><h2 id="7ac5dc54-8eef-4d6c-aff3-b92967b6ddf2" data-toc-id="7ac5dc54-8eef-4d6c-aff3-b92967b6ddf2" style="text-align: left; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">Looking at Gaming from the Outside</h2><h3 id="a1b2c3d4-4444-4a1a-9c1a-000000000008" data-toc-id="a1b2c3d4-4444-4a1a-9c1a-000000000008" style="text-align: left; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">Having built some of the biggest mobile franchises in the world, and now working outside the industry, what do you see more clearly from the outside that was harder to see from within? What does gaming do exceptionally well, and what does it still struggle with?</h3> From the outside, what becomes sharply visible is how much of gaming's commercial infrastructure was built in a particular window of time and hasn't fully evolved. The free-to-play model reshaped everything, but the habits it created around value exchange are now working against some of the industry's most important growth opportunities.When you've spent years outside gaming, watching how other consumer categories think about brand equity, customer lifetime value, and multi-touchpoint loyalty, you come back and see how much of the conversation in gaming is still dominated by short-cycle metrics at the expense of long-arc brand building.What gaming does exceptionally well is create relevance at extraordinary speed. The ability to build cultural moments, to go from zero to global phenomenon in months, no other industry that I've been a part of can do that. The franchise velocity is genuinely remarkable.<blockquote>What it still struggles with is treating its own IP with the long-term seriousness it deserves.</blockquote>There's sometimes a tendency to extract from a franchise rather than invest in it, to optimize the engagement funnel rather than ask what this world means to people, and what it could become over twenty years. The companies that get that right, and some are getting it very right, are the ones that will define what the next chapter of the industry looks like.<hr><img src="https://ezycourse.b-cdn.net/6017/cmr6j7o8qu4fxftpgd71cecmr.png" alt="image" containerstyle="width: 100%; height: auto; cursor: pointer; " wrapperstyle="display: flex"><h2 id="fb86a445-5677-422a-bcc9-b5fe50aa7183" data-toc-id="fb86a445-5677-422a-bcc9-b5fe50aa7183" style="text-align: left; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">Thinking Beyond the Next Quarter</h2><h3 id="a1b2c3d4-5555-4a1a-9c1a-000000000010" data-toc-id="a1b2c3d4-5555-4a1a-9c1a-000000000010" style="text-align: left; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">You've worked across premium and free-to-play models, Angry Birds started as a paid game before the industry shifted entirely. In your experience, what's the business knowledge that most teams are missing when they make those kinds of model decisions? The stuff that's rarely taught but costs the most when it's not understood?</h3>The model decision, premium, free-to-play, hybrid, subscription, is almost always made too early, and almost always made with the wrong data. Teams tend to optimize for what they can measure before launch, which means acquisition cost and conversion proxies. What they almost never adequately model is the effect of the monetization structure on the cultural life of the IP.Angry Birds going free-to-play wasn't just a pricing decision. It was a statement about who the franchise was for and what the relationship with the player would feel like. That has long-tail consequences that don't show up in a 90-day cohort analysis.<blockquote>The question I always push teams to ask is: a few years from now, when we're taking this franchise into consumer products, into entertainment, into new platforms, what does this model decision make possible, and what does it foreclose?</blockquote>The other piece that's rarely taught is the relationship between perceived value and price anchoring across the lifecycle. When you condition a player base to expect free, you don't just change what they pay, you change what they believe they're worth as a customer. Recovering that perception is one of the hardest things to do in franchise management. It's not impossible but it has to be planned for deliberately, not discovered by accident two years in. We can see similar cases in traditional consumer products deals where we may have a set royalty rate priced for a category or a specific MG for a territory.<hr><h2 id="a1b2c3d4-6666-4a1a-9c1a-000000000011" data-toc-id="a1b2c3d4-6666-4a1a-9c1a-000000000011" style="text-align: left; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">Judgment Over Certainty</h2><h3 id="a1b2c3d4-6666-4a1a-9c1a-000000000012" data-toc-id="a1b2c3d4-6666-4a1a-9c1a-000000000012" style="text-align: left; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">You've mentored many people across your career. What's the one thing you tell people who are stepping into a senior leadership role for the first time, especially women in an industry that wasn't always built for them?</h3><blockquote>Your judgment is your greatest asset.</blockquote>Experience, relationships, and expertise all matter but what distinguishes senior leaders is their ability to make sound decisions when the path isn't obvious. Leadership isn't about having perfect information; it's about being willing to decide, learn, and adapt as new information emerges.For women in particular, I'd say this: don't confuse confidence with certainty. Too many talented women feel they need to have every answer before taking a position because they're often judged more harshly when they're wrong. But leadership isn't about never making mistakes—it's about making thoughtful decisions, communicating them clearly, and having the confidence to adjust when the facts change. That's not weakness; it's maturity.And finally, protect your energy as deliberately as you protect your calendar. Time can be managed. Energy is what fuels your judgment, your creativity, and your ability to lead others through complexity. It's one of the most valuable resources you'll ever have.<hr><img src="https://ezycourse.b-cdn.net/6017/cmr6jc7vkunjaopplbiww2jbv.jpg" alt="image" containerstyle="width: 100%; height: auto; cursor: pointer; " wrapperstyle="display: flex"><h2 id="a1b2c3d4-7777-4a1a-9c1a-000000000013" data-toc-id="a1b2c3d4-7777-4a1a-9c1a-000000000013" style="text-align: left; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">What Comes Next</h2><h3 id="a1b2c3d4-7777-4a1a-9c1a-000000000014" data-toc-id="a1b2c3d4-7777-4a1a-9c1a-000000000014" style="text-align: left; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.2;">If you look at the gaming industry today from where you sit now, what gives you hope? And what worries you?</h3>What gives me hope is that we're entering an era where industries no longer grow in isolation. The most exciting opportunities sit at the intersection of gaming, wellness, entertainment, technology, fashion, and community.The next generation of leaders understands this instinctively. They don't just build products, they build ecosystems, brands, and cultures that people genuinely want to belong to. That's where enduring enterprise value is created.What excites me most is the opportunity to build partnerships across those worlds. The companies that will define the next decade won't simply have the best products; they'll create the strongest relationships, the most trusted communities, and the most meaningful experiences. That's where I believe the greatest commercial opportunities still exist.<blockquote>What concerns me is that short-term pressure can sometimes crowd out long-term thinking.</blockquote>Innovation rarely emerges from playing it safe. It comes from having the conviction to invest in bold ideas, exceptional people, and partnerships that may not fit neatly into today's metrics but have the potential to define tomorrow's categories. The organizations that get that balance right won't just grow, they'll shape the future.<hr><h2 id="a1b2c3d4-8888-4a1a-9c1a-000000000015" data-toc-id="a1b2c3d4-8888-4a1a-9c1a-000000000015" style="text-align: left; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.2;">What this conversation left me with</h2>Some conversations stay with you long after they end. What stood out most in this one with Naz is the consistency of her thinking.Whether she's speaking about licensing, leadership, monetization, or team building, the same idea keeps resurfacing: enduring franchises are built on long-lasting emotional value, not short-term optimisation.As the gaming industry continues to evolve, perspectives like this matter more than ever. They remind us that behind every successful franchise are hundreds of decisions that shape how players connect, stay, and care over time.Thank you, Naz, for sharing your experience with clarity and honesty.<hr>Naz Amarchi-Cuevas is Head of Business Development at The Smiley Company. You can follow her work on LinkedIn.Next conversation coming soon. Subscribe to the blog to catch it.

An in-depth conversation with Naz Amarchi-Cuevas on franchise building, licensing, leadership, mobile gaming, consumer products, and building brands that create lasting emotional value.

GAMING VOICES #03 "You don't sell a product. You sell a transformation."

You've built iconic franchises in gaming, Angry Birds, Subway Surfers, Stumble Guys and you've recently stepped outside the industry to grow brands in a different context. How would you describe what you do now, and what connects these two worlds for you?

When a Brand Becomes Part of People's Lives

Licensing, consumer products, franchise building: what is it about that space that keeps pulling you in, regardless of the industry you're working in?

Your path to where you are today is one of the most remarkable I've encountered, professionally and personally. You've spoken openly about parts of your early life that most people in this industry would never have had to navigate. How has that shaped the way you lead, build, and face uncertainty?

Having built some of the biggest mobile franchises in the world, and now working outside the industry, what do you see more clearly from the outside that was harder to see from within? What does gaming do exceptionally well, and what does it still struggle with?

You've worked across premium and free-to-play models, Angry Birds started as a paid game before the industry shifted entirely. In your experience, what's the business knowledge that most teams are missing when they make those kinds of model decisions? The stuff that's rarely taught but costs the most when it's not understood?

You've mentored many people across your career. What's the one thing you tell people who are stepping into a senior leadership role for the first time, especially women in an industry that wasn't always built for them?

If you look at the gaming industry today from where you sit now, what gives you hope? And what worries you?

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GAMING VOICES #03 "You don't sell a product. You sell a transformation."

GAMING VOICES #03 "You don't sell a product. You sell a transformation."

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