The Dream Architects
Adventures in the Video Game Industry
Failed to add items
Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping cart is already at capacity.
Add to basket failed.
Please try again later
Add to wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Remove from wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Adding to library failed
Please try again
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Unlimited access to our all-you-can-listen catalogue of 15K+ audiobooks and podcasts
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.
The Dream Architects
Narrated by:
Matt Wolfe
Buy Now for £12.99
-
Narrated by:
-
Matt Wolfe
-
By:
-
David Polfeldt
About this listen
At Massive Entertainment, a Ubisoft studio, a key division of one of the largest, most influential companies in gaming, Managing Director Polfeldt has had a hand in some of the biggest video game franchises of today, from Assassin's Creed to Far Cry to Tom Clancy's The Division, the fastest-selling new series this generation which revitalized the Clancy brand in gaming.
In The Dream Architects, Polfeldt charts his course through a charmed, idiosyncratic career which began at the dawn of the Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox era -- from successfully pitching an Avatar game to James Cameron that will digitally create all of Pandora to enduring a week-long survivalist camp in the Scandinavian forest to better understand the post-apocalyptic future of The Division.
Along the way, Polfeldt ruminates on how the video game industry has grown and changed, how and when games became art, and the medium's expanding artistic and storytelling potential. He shares what it's like to manage a creative process that has ballooned from a low-six-figure expense with a team of a half dozen people to a transatlantic production of five hundred employees on a single project with a production budget of over a hundred million dollars.
A rare firsthand account of the golden age of game development told in vivid detail, The Dream Architects is a seminal work about the biggest entertainment medium of today.
Listeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
PRAISE FOR THE DREAM ARCHITECTS:
"An entertaining and nuanced look at the human side of digital media."
—Publishers Weekly
"An entertaining and nuanced look at the human side of digital media."
—Publishers Weekly
"Readers expecting a history of gaming will be pleased to discover this entertaining autobiography....A great storyteller, Polfeldt comes across as truthful and self-effacing...[He] is a dreamer indeed, and gamers are lucky to be invited into his creative worlds."—Booklist
"Detailed and witty autobiography."—Library Journal
"He saved Massive, he created The Division, and he became a Ubisoft hero. This book is indeed, a documentary of Massive dream architects in the tumultuous history of the game industry."—p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica}span.s1 {font-kerning: none}Hideo Kojima, creator of the Metal Gear Solid series and Death Stranding
"A compelling, insider's story of the video game industry and its journey from a suspicious activity for some and a dubious career choice for others in the late 1990s to the multi-billion-dollar celebrated artform and lifestyle we know today. Like a brilliant game that pulls you in and propels you forward, Polfeldt interweaves his personal story of setbacks and triumphs with a backdrop of legendary people and the games they created to define an industry."—p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'}Dr. Lisa Su, President and CEO of AMD
"Triple A quality and artistry -- the backbones of the video game industry. David Polfeldt and Massive Entertainment are among the very few who have managed to balance the two, and if either the video games or the artistry were lacking, neither Polfeldt nor Massive Entertainment would have achieved their great successes. Polfeldt's memoir is a guidepost for the industry on how to create both games and art in equal measure."—p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'}Fumito Ueda, award-winning creator of The Shadow of the Colossus, The Last Guardian, and ICO
"THE DREAM ARCHITECTS is a fascinating look at Swedish game development and a peek behind the curtain of one of the most interesting video game publishers in the world. Full of colorful characters and political machinations, this memoir is a charming collection of anecdotes that highlight the struggles of balancing artistic endeavors with financial realities -- and what it's like to spend a week eating bugs in the woods."—p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'}Jason Schreier, nationally bestselling author of Blood, Sweat, and Pixels
Worth reading, but mostly as a lesson about the kind of career anyone interested in making games should avoid.
Deeply narcissistic dive into corporate culture
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A fantastic story of starting from the bottom to being one of the greats in the games industry. I would highly recommend listening if you want to be inspired or if you want a peek inside the inner workings of massive corporations like Activision and Ubisoft.
A fantastic and inspirational story!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You see, I'm a Game Producer myself, facing some of the most important and hard times (yet) of my still young career. Before listening to this book, I considered myself to be in a trial by fire, craving for answers, tips and mentorship. I considered myself to be in such a painful crossroad, made even more painful by the aching agony of this pandemic... But then here I was, listening to David's career path and story, going from one failure to the other, until reaching tremendous success, which, from the outside, looks just like glamour and delight, but from the backstage, it's pain redefined.
This book gave me so much more perspective on this career path, provided by the amazing storytelling that unveils David's experiences, trials and outcomes. Getting to know behind the scenes stories from industry veterans is golden to me, especially in such a complex and ever changing industry, where nothing is set in stone, at least not for long.
I'm still processing what I've been through while listening to this, but I can say that I'm forever grateful for my mistaken Google Home Mini, which replied to me "Looks like you don't have any audiobooks on your library, here's a 30 minute sample from The Dream Architects: Adventures in the Video Game Industry" when I've politely asked "Ok, Google. Read me news from the games industry". A casual matter of chance, an error, randomness at its finest, which I've embraced happily after the 30 minute sample, not trying to change the circumstances, but accepting it, like the old paratrooper lesson.
Thanks, David.
A pleasant roller coaster ride
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.