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Bianca Sarafian, community manager (Fall Guys) at Mediatonic talks about how Fall Guys inspired her move into community management and her childhood dream come true
How did you break into games?
I’ve always wanted to work in games, but felt it was perhaps too late for me after spending so long in other industries, such as healthcare and fintech. I couldn’t have been more wrong!
Following Fall Guys’ rise to social media stardom in August 2020, I remember checking out the game’s Twitter account and thinking, “hot dang, I wanna do that!” I began following vacancies for ‘videogames marketing’ on LinkedIn immediately.
A community manager role at Mediatonic was posted at the end of that month and I jumped at the chance as it felt like the perfect job for me. Since then, I have had an amazing time starting my career in the industry and have met so many awesome people both at Mediatonic and at other companies to learn from and that I admire endlessly.
What has been your proudest achievement so far?
Growing Fall Guys’ TikTok to over 400,000 jelly beans in the six months it’s been active has made me super proud. TikTok is a channel that brands are a little afraid to dip their toes into, but it’s one that I adore and know a lot about. The freedom that Mediatonic has given me and the trust I feel from my community management colleagues has made this journey a breeze and a joy!
What has been your biggest challenge to date?
With any game that relies on seasonal content releases, it can be difficult to keep your audience engaged through the quieter periods. And of course it can be challenging to manage community communications during bugs, fixes, and patches. But these challenges continue to teach me a lot about our community and their valuable feedback directly helps the development of the game—so there are always silver linings.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
Fall Guys is a fun, lighthearted game with an abundance of silliness—so that is the world I am immersed in and it’s just the best!
But beyond the game itself, community management really helps satisfy the empath in me; the role grants me the opportunity to guide players through fixes, point them to support, chat about the future of the game and generally make them happy wherever I possibly can! Fundamentally, I get to contribute to the development of a videogame which is genuinely a childhood dream come true.
What’s your biggest ambition in games?
Keep making big contributions to the games that I love. That is all. If I do that, then I am happy.
What advice would you give to an aspiring community manager?
Look at the social media pages of your favourite games and think about the breadth and variety of comments in there. They are always a real mixed bag. Understand that no matter what you do, some people will adore it, others not, and try not to take those responses personally. Most of all, take the time to truly understand the aspects of your game that makes people happy – and hold on to it!
