Chris Swain (professor)

Chris Swain is a USC professor and startup founder. He has co-founded three venture-backed companies and led 50+ products and business initiatives for companies that include Disney, Intel, Sony, IBM, RAND Corporation, NASDAQ, Activision, and many others. He teaches disruptive innovation, product validation, and venture development at the USC Iovine and Young Academy (IYA).[1] He developed the school's IYA Venture Pyramid scoring system and is a leader of the school's student ventures program Innovation Quest.[2] In addition, Swain is a leader of IYA's Business of Innovation curriculum pathway, and joint Bachelor of Science degree (BUIN) with the USC Marshall School of Business[3]. Chris serves on Figma's Education Advisory Board.[4]

Prior to IYA, Swain co-founded/directed the Electronic Arts Game Innovation Lab at USC and was a founding faculty member in the USC Games program.[5] Through his lab, Swain researched methodologies for user engagement using playable systems and the principles of intrinsic motivation. His lab benefactors included the National Science Foundation,[6] the National Insitutes of Health, the Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Annenberg Foundation,[7] the U.S. State Dept, and others.

Early in his career, Chris was a founding member of R/GA Interactive. He helped the company grow from 4 to over 300 people and $0 to over $50 million in revenue during his time there. Chris led hundreds of interactive projects as a team lead and designer.

Swain speaks about startups and innovation in the press and at events around the world. Past venues include MIT, Harvard, University of Cambridge, Columbia University, DARPA, University of Tokyo, Sorbonne, City U of Hong Kong, SIGGRAPH, Game Developer's Conference, others. He has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post,[7] Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, CNN, NPR, Forbes, Wired, and many other publications.

Career

Swain started his career in at Robert Abel's interactive software company Synapse Technologies. The company was funded by IBM and created groundbreaking interactive media programs including Columbus: Discovery Encounter, and Beyond, which is in permanent display at the Library of Congress. He was a founding member of R/GA Interactive which grew from 4 to 300+ people and over $50 million in annual revenue during his time with the company.[8]Swain co-founded the Electronic Arts Game Innovation Lab at USC and served as the director of the USC Games Institute.[8] His award-winning lab project, The Redistricting Game, generated over 20 million plays and was used widely in U.S. high schools and colleges to teach techniques for redistricting reform. Swain co-authored the first edition of Game Design Workshop: Designing, Prototyping, & Playtesting Games in 2004. The book is a leading college textbook.[9] Chris was VP of Programming at Spiderdance, Inc, - which raised $8 million in venture capital. Spiderdance created mass-audience participatory television projects produced for NBC, Viacom, Turner, and other broadcasting companies. He was cofounder of Proof of Learn which raised $16 million in venture capital to create a Web3 education platform. The company mission was to unlock accessible, high quality education across the world through blockchain and a learn-to-earn protocol. Swain serves on the Education Advisory Board for Figma.

Notable projects in his early career include: Netwits for the Microsoft Network,[10] Multiplayer Jeopardy![11] and Multiplayer Wheel of Fortune[12] for Sony Online, Stickerworld for Children's Television Workshop,[13] and Poetry of Structure, the interactive companion to Ken Burns' documentary about Frank Lloyd Wright.[14]

Swain served on the board of directors of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (Emmy's) from 2000 to 2004.[8] While a board member, Swain co-led the initiative that developed and awarded the Emmy for achievement in interactive television.

The games SurgeWorld and Immune Attack (2006) address health topics.[8][15] The Redistricting Game (2006) models gerrymandering, aimed at informing voters.[7][16][17] Enhanced Learning with Creative Technologies (ELECT) is a project funded by the US Military which produced a game on urbanism,[8] as well as a game about bi-lateral negotiation.[18]

Swain is also known for his mentorship of students at USC. Several projects by his students, for which he was their advisor, have gone on to become published games. These include fl0w (Sony PlayStation), Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom (2K Games), and Reflection (Konami).[19]

In 2010, Swain founded the games studio Talkie for story-driven social games. They created the Facebook game Ecotopia to promote environmental conservation, launched in 2011.[20][21]

References

  1. ^ "Faculty – Chris Swain". USC Iovine and Young Academy. Retrieved August 17, 2025.
  2. ^ "Iovine and Young Academy's Innovation Quest". USC Iovine and Young Academy. Retrieved August 17, 2025.
  3. ^ "why Marshall". USC Marshall School of Business. Retrieved August 17, 2025.
  4. ^ "Chris Swain – Education Advisory Board at Figma". The Org. Retrieved August 17, 2025.
  5. ^ Sydell, Laura. "Video Game Programs Look for New Ways to Use Games". NPR. Retrieved August 17, 2025.
  6. ^ Carless, Simon. "USC Gets 'Serious' With ImmuneAttack Game". Game Developer. Retrieved August 17, 2025.
  7. ^ a b c Musgrove, Mike (June 10, 2007). "The New Political Games Make a Point". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 17, 2025.
  8. ^ a b c d e Karen, Schrier; David, Gibson (2010-02-28). Ethics and Game Design: Teaching Values through Play: Teaching Values through Play. IGI Global. p. 358. ISBN 978-1-61520-846-3.
  9. ^ "Game Design Workshop". Bookverdict. Retrieved 2022-03-12.
  10. ^ "NetWits for Windows (1996)". MobyGames.
  11. ^ "lost page". Sony Pictures. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  12. ^ "Sony Pictures Games | Wheel of Fortune 2". Sony Pictures. March 17, 2007. Archived from the original on 17 March 2007.
  13. ^ "Sesame Workshop - Sticker World". Children's Television Workshop. March 12, 2007. Archived from the original on 12 March 2007.
  14. ^ "Watch Frank Lloyd Wright | Ken Burns". Frank Lloyd Wright | Ken Burns. PBS.
  15. ^ "Video Games: Medicine For The Body". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2022-03-12.
  16. ^ "New video games play to serious objectives". USA Today. Retrieved 2022-03-12.
  17. ^ "A Gamer's Guide to Redistricting". The New York Times. 2007-06-14. ProQuest 2223197439.
  18. ^ Maryann Lawlor (February 2007). "Military Humanizes Virtual Population". Signal. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 2022-03-12.
  19. ^ "Chris Swain, Director USC Games Institute, to Give 2nd Keynote for IGC West". Business Wire. 2009-10-28. ProQuest 443824334.
  20. ^ "Talkie Teams with Conservation International, Sets out to Save the Environment One Facebook Gamer at a Time with Ecotopia". Business Wire. 2011-03-11. ProQuest 855443476.
  21. ^ "Talkie rolls out green social game Ecotopia on Facebook". VentureBeat. 2011-04-04. Retrieved 2022-03-12.
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