Dan Pinchbeck is the co-founder of The Chinese Room, the award-winning studio behind many wonderful games including Dear Esther, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, Little Orpheus, Still Wakes The Deep and most recently Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2.

In this episode, we talk through Dan’s incredible journey with the studio. From its early days making Half-Life 2 mods to becoming one of the UK’s most distinctive storytelling studios. Dan opens up about the highs and lows of running a team and what really happened behind the scenes. He gives an honest insight into how he navigated creative burnout and what led him to leave the studio before Bloodlines 2 shipped.

We also get into some big industry topics: the AI hype sweeping game dev, what’s broken in the games industry and what gives him hope for the future of smaller studios.

Chapters:

00:00 The Origins of The Chinese Room

03:49 Starting with Mods: Conscientious Objector, Antilion Soccer, Dear Esther & Korsakovia

05:11 Moving to Commercial Games: Dear Esther and Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs

07:02 Shifting from Walking Simulators to Horror Games

12:39 The Formation of The Chinese Room as a Company

16:33 The Impact of Studio Size on Development

20:23 Funding Struggles and the Studio Downsizing in 2017

25:57 Recovery and the Sumo Group Acquisition

29:06 Little Orpheus and Maintaining Creative Control After Acquisition

34:01 The State of the Game Industry

39:26 The Impact of AI on Game Development

45:46 Challenges for Indie Developers

48:27 Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2

01:02:43 What's next for Dan

About Dan:

Dan Pinchbeck is a writer, creative director, and co-founder of the acclaimed UK studio The Chinese Room. With a background in academia and digital arts, he’s known for pioneering narrative-driven experiences that blur the line between storytelling, atmosphere, and player agency. Dan’s work has helped shape modern indie game storytelling and inspired a generation of developers to experiment with emotion and meaning in games. You can find him on:

Dan's Website: https://www.danpinchbeck.co.uk/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danpinchbeck/

About Me

Hi, I’m Cat Burton! I've built studios, raised funding and shipped games to millions of players. Now I help you do the same with expert games consultancy and advice. The Goth Boss Podcast dives into the real challenges of making games and running game studios by sharing honest stories and inspiring conversations with my industry friends.

You can connect with me on:

GothBoss (Games Consultancy & Coaching): https://www.GothBoss.co.uk

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catburton

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gothbosscat

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/gothbosscat.bsky.social

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gothbosscat

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