Meet Joe Ferencz

Joe Ferencz is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder at Gamefam, a leading metaverse game developer and publisher that creates connected experiences with the largest gaming communities and well-known brands. He has been a business and creative leader as an artist, strategist, marketer, and producer to pop culture and gaming’s biggest brands over the past two decades. Joe founded Gamefam in 2019 and has led the company’s growth and evolution as the world’s first professionally-managed, fully-dedicated metaverse gaming developer and publisher. 

In his executive role, Joe oversees strategy and production at Gamefam and has developed and evangelized the company’s vision and structure, driving 14 consecutive quarters of revenue growth. His leadership style is to set goals and then collaborate with leaders within the company to find the best ways to achieve those goals – including constantly raising the bar creatively by delivering the most delightful and well-produced live operated games in the metaverse. 

Joe began his career as an art director on sports licensed consumer products, including NFL, NCAA, and NHL merchandise before attending business school at the University of Michigan. In the years leading up to founding Gamefam, Joe leaned into his love for video games and dove head first into the industry, soon becoming a brand strategist and marketing executive, using his creativity and innovative ideas to benefit intellectual properties such as Assassin’s Creed, Subway Surfers, and Crayola. He helped each IP expand beyond its core platform into new forms of media, including tech-driven merchandising and revenue streams. Joe’s game design and producing credits include App Store Editors’ Choice winners He-Man: The Most Powerful Game in the Universe, Star Wars Rebels Recon Missions, and Hot Wheels Race Off, which has over 100 million downloads. 

As the consulting Executive Producer for Hot Wheels video games, Joe helped elevate the brand to one of the top toy IPs in gaming today, executing 15 successful product launches between 2015 and 2018, including the Forza Horizon 3: Hot Wheels Expansion Pack, named the “#1 Xbox Exclusive of 2017” by Metacritic and Hot Wheels Infinite Loop, nominated for “Best Mobile Game” and “Best Racing Game” at Gamescom 2019 and named a “Best of 2019 Games” by Apple. 

Joe is based in Los Angeles and enjoys a fulfilling life that includes close friends and family, and a blind dog whom he proudly serves as an obsessive caretaker. He spends his time outside of Gamefam playing jazz piano, volunteering at 826LA, and deepening his love of animation and anime.