Sally Blake
Silent Games
Sally Blake is the founder and CEO of Silent Games, a game development studio she co-founded after a successful career in both AAA and indie development. She began her journey at Ubisoft Reflections, where she worked on globally recognised franchises such as Just Dance, Watch Dogs and The Division. She has over 15 years experience in game development giving her a deep understanding of high-stakes project delivery and effective collaboration across multiple studios.
At Silent Games she leads teams with a focus on ambitious, high quality games and long-term growth. She guides her projects with a strong commitment to building motivated, supported and happy teams. Her leadership has earned recognition across the games industry, including the Women in Games Business Impact Award in 2023, as well as several shortlistings and commendations for mentorship, advocacy and her contribution to the wider games community.
Sally has also done many talks, panels and workshops at high profile game industry events. She uses her professional experience to support and inspire the next generation of game developers, offering practical insight into the realities of production, teamwork and creative problem solving.
Sally’s work spans large-scale AAA development, publishing and indie games, giving her a unique perspective on both creative ambition and practical delivery. She is passionate about games as a medium, and is an avid gamer herself.
Games: Just Dance 4, Just Dance 2014, Watch Dogs, The Division, The Division: Underground DLC, The Division 2, Yes Your Grace, Descenders, Hypnospace Outlaw, Spirittea, Empyreal and more.
Sally Blake is speaking at the following session/s
This Is Fine: Managing Crisis in Game Production
Game development rarely goes exactly to plan. Technical challenges, slipping milestones, scope changes, and sudden priority shifts, often under pressure. Producers are there to monitor and mitigate risks, but what can you do when a crisis situation develops regardless of your efforts?
This roundtable brings producers and other game development leaders together to talk honestly about how crises can be navigated without destroying the game or the teams that make them. The session explores how to deal with chaotic situations and what actually helps when a team is behind or faces serious technical, team, or financial issues.
Through shared experiences, participants unpack how to communicate under pressure, make hard calls, and learn from real-world examples of games that had to delay or pivot.
This is a practical, experience-driven conversation aimed at producers, project leads, studio heads, and publisher teams who want healthier and more resilient collaborations.
Session Takeaway
Learn about different types of crisis situations you might face during development and how peers have dealt with them
How to effectively communicate during high pressure situations
How to handle tension such as disagreements, shifting priorities, and unmet deadlines
How to deal with stakeholders such as publishers during a crisis situation
Session speakers
