Origin Story
I was born and raised in Iceland, a tiny country of only 330,000 people in the North Atlantic. We’re famous for the singer Björk, and more recently, an amazing soccer team that just played in their very first World Cup.
Early Inspirations
Growing up in the nineties, I was a bookish and a geeky teenager. I rode horses, played video games, board games, and pen and paper RPG’s, and I loved to read science fiction and fantasy novels. I helped run the drama club in high school, and I was also the editor of the school paper. These were formative experiences for me — it’s where I discovered my skill for organization and my talent for getting people to work together. I didn’t realize that this would become my job later in life.
I went to the University of Iceland to study Industrial Engineering. It combined my love of math and science with my skills in management and operations. I enjoyed university and I thought I would go into heavy industry when I graduated.
Iceland has a lot of renewable energy and a number of aluminum smelters. One was run by Rannveig Rist. Among a sea of men in suits, she stood out as a young woman running a massive factory — and I wanted to be like her. Later in life I realized how important she was. I saw her doing something cool and inspirational and I could see myself being like her. The power of role models can’t be underestimated.
After university, I applied to the smelter, but also to an airline, a pharmaceutical company and a prosthetics maker. I ended up as a project manager at that pharmaceutical company, managing development projects. I really loved it — I was doing something complex and challenging, and at 23, I enjoyed the feeling of organizing the work of people who were older and wiser than me and being able to bring them value.
Then I happened to go to a presentation by the CEO of an Icelandic game company called CCP — makers of the MMO EVE Online. That presentation changed my life. Six weeks later I started working for them as a producer.
When I joined CCP I had no idea how games were made. I was an absolute noob and I was thrown into an exciting world. Game and movie posters were everywhere, as well as figurines from Star Wars and other franchises. People played games during lunch and the dress code was t-shirts and jeans.
EVE Online launched in 2003 and is still going strong. It’s a game about space exploration and resource management, but it also has a deep and rich backstory. The 300,000 players have a real economy and a real shared history. It is harsh and brutal, and unique among games.
Mostly though — the difference I felt was the passion. People loved their jobs, they were passionate about EVE, passionate about CCP, and passionate about doing a good job. I was absolutely mesmerized and I felt like I had stepped into a new world. I had to pinch myself in the arm every morning as I went to work to ensure that this was real — that this was my job.
After five pretty spectacular years at CCP — I was offered a job as a senior producer running my own game at Ubisoft Massive in Malmö, in the south of Sweden. I was scared to leave my home in Iceland, and I said to a friend of mine: “I’m not sure I’m ready to take this on. Maybe I’ll wait a bit and the next time an offer like this comes, I’ll take it.” Her reply to me was simple. “Shut up and go. There might not be a next time.”
I will be eternally grateful to her for this sound advice. I have learned in my life that fear is never a great reason to not do something. My personal motto is
“I’d rather regret the things I do than the things I don’t.”
So my family and I packed up and moved to Malmö where I worked as the senior producer very early on The Division. Then I moved to DICE in Stockholm, to work first on Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, and then Star Wars: Battlefront.
Working on Star Wars: Battlefront was an amazing adventure. We worked closely with Lucasfilm, and I got to go to Skywalker Ranch and check out all the props and costumes from the original movies. I also got to visit the set of Rogue One. These were more moments where I had to pinch myself in the arm.
After we shipped Battlefront, I joined the development team for FIFA in Vancouver, Canada. It’s one of the biggest franchises of all time, and there’s a new release every year since 1992. For my American friends who might not appreciate soccer as much as the rest of the world, FIFA 17 was the biggest selling console game of 2017.
Making Sports video games was different than anything I’d done before. The yearly development cycle meant that project management is incredibly precise, and things go at a very rapid pace. It also meant that even after more than ten years in this business, I was still learning, still trying new things and getting pushed outside of my comfort zone.
I spent almost two years on FIFA, first defining the future strategy for FIFA and then working on FIFA 19, while leading a small and nimble advance team doing research and development for new features that will see the light of day in FIFA 20.
This job has taken me from Iceland to Sweden to Canada, from MMO’s to FPS to Sports. I’ve worked for Indie developers and massive companies, and I’ve definitely realized my childhood dream of having a cool job and getting to travel the world. Along the way I’ve had incredible experiences and made great friends and learned that it’s not about the destination, but the journey, and that what I treasure above all else are the relationships.
Joining Bonfire
When I met my new colleagues at Bonfire for the first time this summer, I felt as if I’d met my tribe. And so the next chapter of my adventure begins in sunny California, around a Bonfire, with like minded adventurers on an epic quest to build amazing games — and some friendships along the way.
