Storytelling in AAA Games | Cameron Dayton
ABOUT Cameron:
Cameron Dayton is a creative and narrative director whose career spans more than twenty years across gaming, film, publishing, and interactive entertainment. His work includes contributions to major franchises such as Overwatch, World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Infinity Blade, and NBA 2K. He co-founded Chair Entertainment, worked on Blizzard's Project Titan, helped shape narrative experiences across multiple AAA studios, and is the author of the bestselling cyberpunk novel Etherwalker, which has since been expanded into a trilogy.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
Cameron's journey from pre-med to game development
Founding Chair Entertainment with Donald Mustard
The making of Infinity Blade and its impact on mobile gaming
Behind the scenes of Blizzard's Project Titan and the birth of Overwatch
What makes storytelling in games unique
How player agency transforms narrative design
Environmental storytelling in AAA games
Creating memorable stories within established franchises
Why production constraints can fuel creativity
The importance of collaboration across art, design, music, and narrative
Lessons from Call of Duty: Nazi Zombies
Advice for aspiring game developers and storytellers
In This Episode…
Carl sits down with Cameron Dayton, acclaimed creative and narrative director whose career spans more than two decades across some of the most influential franchises in gaming, including Overwatch, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, NBA 2K, and Infinity Blade. From helping found Chair Entertainment alongside future Fortnite creative director Donald Mustard to shaping narrative experiences at Blizzard, Activision, Scopely, and 2K, Cameron offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at how great game stories are actually built.
Together, they explore why storytelling in games is fundamentally different from film, television, and books. Cameron shares lessons from working on Blizzard's ambitious Project Titan (which eventually evolved into Overwatch), developing stories for Call of Duty Nazi Zombies, collaborating with legendary creators, and navigating the unique challenges of building narratives inside massive AAA franchises.
The conversation dives deep into player agency, collaborative creativity, world building, game design, team culture, and why some of gaming's most memorable moments happen because of constraints rather than despite them. Cameron also explains why the best game stories aren't written by a single person, but emerge from passionate teams working together across design, art, music, engineering, and narrative.
Whether you're a game developer, writer, designer, creative leader, or simply someone who loves great games, this episode offers valuable insights into the art and craft of interactive storytelling.
Resources Mentioned in this episode:
📚 Etherwalker: Available through major book retailers
Sponsor for this episode...
This episode is brought to you by Epic Made.
Epic Made creates entertainment-quality animation, digital art, and graphic design to elevate brands and build fandom.
We are a collective of senior-level artists across multiple disciplines, producing trailers, key art, social campaigns, branded storytelling, and motion systems for entertainment, gaming, and pop culture brands. Our work has supported major networks and studios, including SYFY and Nickelodeon.
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