Michael Crassweller, CSM

Michael Crassweller, CSM, has a diverse work experience in the gaming industry. Michael is currently the Director of Production at ForwardXP since July 2022. Previously, they served as the Senior Production Manager at ForwardXP from July 2019.

Prior to their role at ForwardXP, Michael worked at GameHouse as the Studio Lead/Producer from October 2016 to June 2019. Michael led game development teams in the Netherlands and Spain, overseeing the creation of premium mobile time management games and one of the company's first Free-to-Play games, My Original Stories. During their tenure, they focused on team development, clear processes, and well-articulated goals to ensure frequent and reliable releases of high-quality games without excessive stress or crunch.

Before GameHouse, Michael was the Studio Operations Manager at CoolGames from August 2014 to September 2016. Michael led a team responsible for managing project management, 3rd party developer support, game QA, game licensing, and served as the Product Owner for their HTML5 game services API. Additionally, they streamlined company operational work through initiatives such as hiring and digital contracts.

From November 2013 to July 2014, Michael worked at Spil Games as the Head of Studio Post Production. In this role, they oversaw areas of game production outside of development and art, including quality assurance, localization, and mobile games publishing. Michael aimed to deliver high-quality outputs at a fast pace for both internal studio teams and external development partners.

Michael also had a role at GameStop as the Manager of PC Digital Distribution & GameStop.com Content from May 2011 to October 2013. Michael managed the GameStop PC Downloads Release team and was responsible for delivering frequent, high-quality game releases, contributing to strong annual revenue growth. Eventually, their responsibilities expanded to overseeing all product content for GameStop.

Before GameStop, Michael worked at Stardock starting from July 2006. Michael held various roles, including Technical Relationship Manager from May 2008 to May 2011, Publishing Support from July 2006 to May 2011, and Community Website Manager from July 2006 to August 2008. As the Technical Relationship Manager, they worked with partner publishers and developers to place games and software on the Impulse Digital Distribution Platform. Michael also managed websites and communities connected to Stardock as the Community Website Manager.

Michael's early work experience includes a role as an Infrastructure Engineer - Security Products at CIGNA from August 2004 to June 2006.

Overall, Michael has demonstrated strong leadership skills, expertise in game development and production, and a focus on delivering high-quality outputs efficiently.

Michael Crassweller, CSM received a Bachelor of Science (B.S) degree in Information Sciences & Technology with a minor in IT Telecom from Penn State University, where they attended from 2000 to 2003. In addition to their academic qualification, Michael has completed the Learn Python 3 Course offered by Codecademy in January 2021 and became a Certified ScrumMaster through the Scrum Alliance in February 2017.