Dougal Shaw- 4 August 2025
Gina Jackson has a career spanning more than 30 years in the computer gaming industry. She has worked on around 300 titles in development and publishing roles, designed for consoles like the Nintendo SNES and PlayStation 5.
In 2023, she drew on her experience to co-found Pitchify, a marketplace built to speed up the funding process for developers and publishers.
Business Leader caught up with her earlier this year at the annual Games Finance Market conference in central London. It's a kind of speed dating event for video game makers to meet publishers and pitch ideas.
“As developers, we need to develop exactly what the audience wants and not the games we want to play,” warns Jackson.
Jackson encourages developers to scour game reviews and analyse sales data before pitching their ideas to publishers, however passionate they are about their concepts. Online customer reviews can be a very useful source of information, she points out, and you can now even use generative AI tools to summarise them for you.
“Don’t be afraid to really be vulnerable, really listen and be challenged by clients,” advises Jackson.
Related and recommended
Castore went ahead with its recent acquisition of Belstaff from Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos only when it was satisfied five key criteria had been met
The discipline it takes to be a top chef “also works well in the boardroom”, according to Chris Galvin, the chef patron of Galvin Restaurants
Raising the state pension age to save billions may seem attractive to a cash-strapped government but returns from earlier rises are dwindling
Roc Nation Sports International has a bold playbook for spotting and seizing global opportunities: be fearless and be comfortable being uncomfortable