Unknown.GD🎮🕹️

I have stepped down as CEO of @Mazerance. Mazerance began with an idea I had early last year. Together with friends who loved puzzles and escape rooms, we set out to build a story-driven co-op strategy game, and to show what a game studio out of Africa could look like on the world stage. That idea became a studio registered in Australia, Nigeria and the United States, with a team that brought everything they had to building the game and the company behind it. Eighteen months ago, none of this existed. No company, no team, no community, no world to build a game in. There is now, because of everyone who made it possible: the team, family, friends, my co-founders and the people who backed us from the start. We built a community of roughly 20,000 people and generated over 8 million impressions on this app alone. Through Project 9, Rancers Remix and Pass It On, we became one of the most talked-about budding game studios in Africa, earned more than five press features and made our presence felt at Moonshot, one of Nigeria's largest tech conferences. More than 25 people across three continents have worked on Mazerance, and in the first eight months alone that team produced over 600 pieces of brand, world and community work, from characters and lore to artwork, videos and campaign content. That is close to three assets produced a day, every single day; working closely with these talented individuals has been the highlight of my career. The studio is also set up on Steam and Kickstarter, which as a company registered across three countries is harder than it sounds. None of this was one person. It was everyone who has put something into Mazerance, and leading that team every day for eighteen months has been nothing short of a privilege. There is still a lot of work ahead. I do not count any of this as the finish line, but the effort and the outcomes deserve recognition. The game is still in development, and delivering it would be the best outcome for me, the team, the community and our stakeholders. The foundation is there, and whoever leads the business next has something substantial to work with. I have poured almost everything I have into this company for eighteen months. I need to step back, look after myself, and go back to the work I love. I am a designer and storyteller before anything else. Leading Mazerance has been one of the most difficult and beautiful things I have ever been in service of. I believe I did it well, and I am grateful for every moment of it. But design is where I do my best work, and what I build next will reflect that: experiences that transform how physical products understand human interaction and change how people live with them. As for who takes the seat, the company has chosen an interim successor. To the team (past and present) and my co-founders, thank you. To the Rancers, our investors and everyone who backed us early, thank you for believing in what we set out to build. I remain on the board, and will continue to support Mazerance in whatever capacity it needs me. This is my child and I have its best interest at heart. More on what is next for me soon.