Xbox Undercover:

Making an Xbox game
Part 1: The Account Managers

How do Xbox® games get made? You can read about programmers and artists and producers here on Xbox.com or in the Official Xbox Magazine or a bunch of other places in print and online. But how does it all start? We went to Xbox Account Manager Kelly Tofte, whose accounts include THQ, Rockstar Games, and 2K Games, for some answers.

Kelly and her dog, Jem.

Say you're a game publisher and you've got an idea for a new game that would be perfect, no, better, on the Xbox console, I asked. How do you go about making that happen?

"If you're already an Xbox publisher, the first step is to fill out a Concept Submission Form," Kelly told me. "If your game is a sequel, you'd fill out a Franchise Submission Form."

What kind of stuff goes into the form?

A summary of the game play, description of game modes, features, anticipated ESRB rating, and street date, among other things. Once this is locked and loaded, publishers who already have been making games for the Xbox go ahead and work their magic. If it's a new publisher, there is some paperwork to take care of; namely, both the publisher and the developer sign licensing agreements. This covers stuff like Xbox branding, packaging approval, how to get through certification and replication, etc.

Publishers and developers get Xbox Development Kits, or XDKs (which will be covered in Part Two of this Xbox Undercover series), and start cranking on their games.

So the paperwork is signed, sealed, and delivered; the code monkeys are coding; the artists are rendering; the wheels are turning. What is the role of the account manager from there? Are they done? Not by a long shot.

"We take care of our publishing partners through the whole process. We try really hard to be responsible, proactive partners. When J Allard hired us five years ago, he told us 'Microsoft® will pay your salary, but you really work for the publishers.' And that's true. I'm their advocate. I have to know their business: If they're a public company, what their fiscal year is, their product line-ups. I keep them informed about Xbox press releases and marketing plans, new feature releases. I don't want them to be surprised by anything. We schedule certification dates and performance reviews, and hold their hands through certification." [Certification will be covered in Part Three of this Xbox Undercover series.]

"I'm also extremely proud of the worldwide coordination our AM team has to support our publishing partners. We present a worldwide face to our customers—I communicate every day with the AMs responsible for managing my publishing partners' international offices in other territories."

I have seen Kelly in action: She hangs out with her publishers at industry conferences, she visits them at their offices two or three times a quarter, she's always in phone contact, and she keeps in touch with "her" accounts even if another account manager has taken them over. I asked how important the personal relationships are in her work.

"Personal relationships are critical. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, and each publisher has a different business style. I've known some of these guys for fifteen years—before they got married, before they had kids. I really enjoy that part, and I'd like to think that that relationship makes a difference. Because in this job, you need trust and credibility. You have to be able to fight battles for your partners."

More About Kelly
Kelly grew up in Seattle, Wash., and worked as an elementary school teacher for a couple years before she got into the games industry. She was an account manager at Nintendo for 12 years, starting right after the NES shipped. Her favorite film is To Kill a Mockingbird (she named her dog after one of the characters), and if she could go on tour with any band, it would be Radiohead or Green Day. Her Gamertag is Clownh8ter, and you can usually find her playing Midnight Club™ 3: DUB® Edition, Destroy All Humans!™, or Burnout™.

Stay tuned for the rest of our Xbox Undercover series on making an Xbox game.