Natalia Agafonova

Executive Producer Bohemia Interactive

Speaker Interview | The Producer’s Dilemma: Balancing Ambition, Scope & Sustainability – Insights from Natalia Agafonova

Conference Day 1

10:45 AM INTERACTIVE CASE STUDY AND OPEN DISCUSSION: Restarting a Franchise: Product, People and Process in the Age of New Technology

Question: How do you reboot a beloved franchise on entirely new technology when most of the team is new, legacy processes no longer scale, and expectations from players and shareholders are higher than ever?

In this session, Natalia Agafonova, Executive Producer at Bohemia Interactive, uses Arma Reforger as a case study to explore one of the most complex challenges in modern game development: rebuilding a franchise while simultaneously reinventing the way you make games.

At Bohemia, the journey began with a clear product vision which establishing the core identity of Arma as an authentic, multiplayer military sandbox. Translating that vision to a new generation of developers required fast-failing prototypes, iterative sprints, and ongoing alignment. Along the way, the team encountered challenges including engine limitations that required rework and new developers interpreting franchise concepts differently,

Following this case study example, the session becomes an interactive discussion, where delegates will form small groups to share experiences on how product, people, and process challenges shape franchise restarts in their own studios.

4:15 PM PANEL DISCUSSION: Ship or Slip: Turning Production Processes into a Business Strategy to Crush Bottlenecks

Modern game production must evolve from task coordination into a true business strategy to avoid cross-discipline bottlenecks, ensuring games are delivered on time and on budget. As teams scale, production heads are increasingly required to manage technologists and creatives who work, communicate, and prioritise very differently.

Join this discussion as we focus on how production can fluently translate goals, constraints, and priorities across departments, aligning teams that speak very different professional languages. Panellists will examine how to manage engineering, creative, and support functions without forcing a one-size-fits-all approach, while still driving shared outcomes and accountability through dotted-line management structures.

Rather than focusing solely on shipping a single title, this session emphasises repeatable processes, sustainable workflows, and production as a business function within mass game development. Attendees will gain insight into how to run technology-driven production with business discipline, without stifling creativity and how to build communication and management practices that prevent bottlenecks.

Key discussion themes include:

Managing cross-discipline teams as a business strategy
Avoiding bottlenecks through process, not micromanagement
Driving alignment and accountability across dotted-line structures

Check out the incredible speaker line-up to see who will be joining Natalia.

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