About Joost

Gerben Joost Rietveld born in 1983 in Utrecht (The Netherlands) has a profound interest in the video games industry. Joost holds a MSc. BA degree in Strategy & Innovation Management from which he graduated Cum Laude at the University of Groningen. Currently Joost is pursuing a PhD. thesis at the Cass Business School (United Kingdom) under the profound supervision of Professor Joseph Lampel. Joost’s practical experience is reflected in his young but rich field experience both as Strategic Advisor for video game developer Two Tribes and his strategic consultancy activities for amongst others MediaMonks. As an industry analyst Joost writes on a regular basis for online video game portals Bashers and Gamasutra as an Expert Blogger.

Joost’s other interests include practicing track and field, mainly sprints, music and social activities with friends and family.

Joost as an academic

“Joost Rietveld is an extraordinarily committed and bright individual and academic at the start of his career.” – Prof. Wilfred Dolfsma, Professor of Innovation, University of Groningen

In 2010 Joost Rietveld graduated Cum Laude (with effort) as a MSc. Business Administration at the University of Groningen in which he specialized in strategy and innovation management in creative industries. That same year Joost presented the findings of the research he conducted in order to graduate at the PREBEM conference at Nyenrode Business University. If presenting at such a conference was not enough, Joost’s paper got selected for publication in The Nature of the New Firm (forthcoming, 2011)”.

Joost’s paper ‘Profiting From Digitally Distributed Cultural Products: The Case of Content Producers in the Video Games Industry’ symbolizes the start of his academic career which continues in London at the Cass Business School. After having a personal meeting with London City University Professor and head of department for Film Media and Entertainment (FME) industry studies Joseph Lampel in which Joost presented his paper, Joost got accepted for a PhD. position at the FME department, starting October 2010.

At Cass Joost will conduct research towards the strategic implications of the advent of digital distribution channels in the video games industry. The PhD. thesis will be closely supervised by ‘Strategy Safari’ author Prof. Joseph Lampel securing a high level of quality and practical applicability. The latter is something Joost values into large degree, and which is understandable considering the close ties he holds with the industry and its practitioners.

Joost as a video game industry practitioner

“I can honestly say that having Joost on board made a difference in what Two Tribes has achieved and will achieve in the future.” – Collin van Ginkel, Creative Director and owner of Two Tribes

After writing a research paper about competition and innovation in the global video games industry in which Dutch videogame developer Two Tribes was taken as an illustrative case study, Joost got offered a job as Strategic Advisor at the company. Joost helped Two Tribes in its strategic transition towards a digital distribution oriented organization. To facilitate this transition a publishing organization, Two Tribes Publishing, has been established for which Joost wrote the business plan and attracted a substantial amount of credit.

Games in which Joost had a hand brining to the market include the highly successful Toki Tori for the iPhone and PC platforms, Ice Age 3 for iPhone and iPad licensed by Fox Interactive and published by digital publisher Chillingo, and Two Tribes’ latest yet unrevealed iPhone game for which marketing activities have begun. Within Two Tribes Joost has worked closely with the organization’s CEO (Martijn Reuvers) and Creative Director (Collin van Ginkel). Working activities included strategy formulation and implementation, IP acquisition and development, and leading and supervising the marketing department.

Joost’s practical experience and industry insights are further reflected in his strategic consultancy start-up Strategy Guide UK aimed at small and medium sized digital gaming companies. Strategic management, innovation to market, internal business processes and/or marketing ambiguities are examples of topics in which Strategy Guide UK is able to provide guidance. Currently Strategy Guide UK has provides services for MediaMonks, Sticky Game Studio’s, and Brightstar, a social gaming start-up. Furthermore, Joost is involved in a cooperation with market researcher Faxion to organise a games-in-marketing workshop to be held spring 2011 in the Netherlands. Lastly, besides coverage on Strategy Guide, Joost writes on a regular basis for online video game portals Bashers and Gamasutra as an Expert Blogger.

Click here for an overview of Strategy Guide’s consultancy services for digital game companies