Kyle Smith

Twenty years shipping games.

I started in QA at EA and left having pitched and shipped new IP. Then I ran studios of my own.

  • EA Playground, 2007. Creator. New IP on Wii and DS that beat its sales targets and became a franchise.
  • Zuko Monsters, 2011–2013. Creative director at goodbeans, and the studio’s top-grossing mobile title.
  • Trolls Pop, 2018. Co-founder and CEO. DreamWorks IP, Google Play Best of Casual.
  • Meta Apes, 2022. CEO. Top 8 on BNB Chain, with 400K+ players.
  • FIFA, Need for Speed and Medal of Honor, 2004–2011. Electronic Arts, from QA to lead designer.

The whole story

The lab.

I also run an AI game lab, Discovery Permanence. What I learn there goes into client work: where AI speeds up making games, and how AI players change design.

  • Mob Machine. A studio run by AI agents. They build the studio and free games; the community funds what gets built next.
  • Thumb War. An RTS built for mobile, against AI agents that learn from their own matches and from human play.

More from the lab

Let’s build something people love.

Tell me what you’re building, where it’s at, and any date driving it. Write to kyle@clayhouse.studio.