Interview with Poornima Seetharaman

For this podcast, we sat down with Poornima Seetharaman who has been part of the gaming industry since 2006 and has worked with some of the best names in the Indian gaming industry. She is currently the Director of Design at Zynga. She is a ‘Women in Games’ Ambassador at WIGJ and also in the process of setting up a Womxn in Games community for India. She has also been inducted into the Women in Games – Global Hall of Fame in 2020, making her the first Indian to receive such an honour.
We talked about her first brush with videogames and what made her eventually choose a career in the gaming industry. We spoke at length about sexism in the industry and how things can be made better for the next generation of women game designers. Poornima believes in using the power of gaming to create a meaningful and impactful change in thinking. She also strives to make the industry more diverse and safe.
When asked if she is working on any games at the moment, she spoke to us about her dream project “Madhuram” which is a tribute to her late aunt who was a Carnatic music teacher. A poet at heart, she wants to marry a modern form of Carnatic music with gameplay and take the players through a journey of navarasa (nine emotions). She ends the podcast with an important advice for young impressionable gamers: “Pace yourself. Games are here to stay.”

– Poonam Chowdhury