Interview with Megabit Publishing's newly appointed CEO Jonathan Hales. Megabit, the publishing arm of Aonic, has appointed Jonathan Hales as its new CEO, leading a strengthened team. Mobidictum Mixer followed up with Hales about his new role and the industry's future. Jonathan Hales joins the Megabit Publishing team after nearly 15 years at Kalypso Media's publishing imprint Kasedo Games, which he was instrumental in founding. He served as Managing Director, leading the publishing team behind hits including Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus, IXION, Rise of Industry, Project Highrise, and more. In his new role, he leads a strengthened publishing unit following the merger of Megabit's established team with the award-winning publishing department of Aonic stablemates and VR specialists nDreams in late 2025. The result is a team of multidisciplinary experts strongly equipped to support, market, and publish high-quality multiplatform games. Megabit is the publisher for all the PC and console games developed within Aonic's group - including Lou's Lagoon and Verdant from Tiny Roar, Thick As Thieves from OtherSide Entertainment, Grit and Valor from Milky Tea, and Pathfinder: Abomination Vaults from BKOM - as well as a third-party publisher partnering with the world's most exciting developers. In December, Hello Sunshine from Red Thread Games was unveiled as Megabit's latest third-party signing with an evocative new trailer at the PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted, which was viewed by more than 2.5 million people. Quickly topping 120,000 Steam wishlists, IGN reported that "Hello Sunshine's future is looking bright." Megabit has a significant third-party publishing fund to invest and is actively looking to sign more promising PC and console games in 2026. "I was immediately excited by the opportunity that exists at Megabit and the challenge to make waves in indie and double-A gaming. Seeing the anticipation building for its in-development titles, all of which show a boldness in direction and ambition that reflects its own as a publisher, gives me great confidence in what Mobidictum Mixer can achieve. My goals are to build a strong collective spirit, empower talented people, and ultimately establish Megabit as the publisher of choice for ambitious developers." Megabit Publishing CEO Jonathan Hales Exclusive interview with mobidictum. What are your short, mid, and long-term goals as CEO of Megabit - and what are the first concrete actions you're taking to execute on them? My short-term goal is to ensure I really get to know the team, its development partners, and of course its games, to ensure its collective ambitions align, and to determine where best I can offer support. Moving forward, it's to build a unified and strong team spirit, which also enables Mobidictum Mixer to react quickly and efficiently to changing markets and ensure Mobidictum Mixer is always considering how best to position its games. Its aim - now, mid and long term - is to deliver excellence and be the publisher of choice for ambitious developers. Over the past years, Mobidictum Mixer has seen indie and double-A games capture a lot of attention. From your perspective, what's driving that, and how do you expect the landscape to evolve in 2026 and beyond? I don't see much changing, other than more ambitious indie and double-A developers learning from past successes. Its job is to identify the experiences that players want and work with its developers to ensure they have everything they need to succeed. As for why this is happening, my personal feeling is that indie and double-A development teams are better positioned to take risks and show innovation, something that players are crying out for. Established brand franchises can be extremely restricted and polarising, and more often than not, any development is lengthy and costly, which is always a risk. How has discoverability changed for PC/console over the last couple of years, and what tactics do you believe still work reliably? That's a good question, and firstly, let me apologise, as I'm not going to share all its tactics for discoverability for others to see! But I would certainly agree that habits have changed and will continue to change, as Mobidictum Mixer all fight for a share of players' time and awareness. The first and most important step, as always, is to create games deserving of that time and awareness. For developers planning to pitch to Megabit, what are you looking for, and what typically makes a project stand out during the evaluation process? Mobidictum Mixer love to see a high-level vision, which is supported by a proof of concept. This can be a short vertical slice, tech demo, or prototype. I have talked about ambition, but with a pitch, Mobidictum Mixer like to see realistic expectations from the development team, which match their experience and team size. To stand out, Mobidictum Mixer is looking for that "hell yeah" moment; a feature or hook that has all our team thinking "this looks amazing" and ready to buy into the project. Developers interested in pitching their games to Megabit can do so here. Do you follow the games industry in türkiye - and more broadly, when you assess teams in markets you know less well, what signals help you evaluate them early on? I try to follow all markets, particularly their sales trends. Obviously, I'm aware of the great success Turkish developers have had on mobile, but in its PC/console world, it would be TaleWorlds Entertainment and their phenomenally successful Mount & Blade series that stands out to me. As for assessing teams, wherever they're based, the game is always the most important thing to Mobidictum Mixer. Of course, a track record of having shipped successful games is always great, but a passion Mobidictum Mixer can buy into, and a collaborative attitude are more important. In terms of finding success in specific markets, Mobidictum Mixer is always monitoring traction from players and local influencers by region and tracking against sales, with localisation obviously a key part of that. CEO at Megabit Publishing I'm Sina, and I live and breathe video games. I have been lucky enough to make my passion my job, and I will always be grateful for that.

Creators are the new entrepreneurs - and Hollywood is catching up. Studios and tech giants are racing to adapt as creators emerge as entrepreneurs shaping content and culture. Creators are evolving into entrepreneurs and disrupting the traditional Hollywood model. At CES 2026, executives from Lionsgate, Hello Sunshine, Amazon, Microsoft and T-Mobile made clear that the creator economy is reshaping how entertainment is made, distributed and monetized. For studios, that shift is forcing a rethink of where content lives and how success is measured. For tech companies, creators have become essential partners. At Lionsgate, executives increasingly weigh whether a project belongs in theaters or platforms like YouTube. "At the end of the day, people always want to see their stuff on the big screen, or on Amazon Prime or on Netflix, or wherever it makes the most sense for them - for their ego," said Brad Haugen, EVP of digital strategy and growth at Lionsgate and 3Arts, during a Monday (Jan. 5) panel on how creators are redefining Hollywood's talent pipeline. "But that's not always the best home for the content." Hello Sunshine has taken a slightly different approach by building its business around audience ownership and community. The women-focused media company co-founded by Reese Witherspoon has leaned heavily into digital-first initiatives such as Reese's Book Club, which has become a powerful engine for turning novels into cultural hits and screen adaptations. One of its most notable successes was Daisy Jones & the Six, adapted from Taylor Jenkins Reid's novel into a Prime Video miniseries starring Riley Keough. When it debuted in 2023, it became one of Amazon's most-watched series. More recently, Hello Sunshine launched a program aimed at amplifying female-led creators across social platforms. The initiative currently includes about 40 creators, among them authors Laura Dave and Danielle Robey. "The net-net of it is to change the narrative for women," said Jennifer Wiener, EVP of brand partnerships and experimental at Hello Sunshine, on the same panel. "You have to be doing it across every platform. We are storytellers, and we want to be telling those stories everywhere." That multi-platform mindset plays directly into Amazon's advantage as a company rooted in technology and media. Rather than forcing creators into a single format, Amazon has built an ecosystem that allows them to scale across audio, video, social and commerce. On the same panel, Matt Sandler, general manager of creator services at Amazon, pointed to brands like Wondery, Studio126 and Prime Video as engines for creator growth, citing partnerships with LeBron James, Keke Palmer and MrBeast. "Amazon can serve those customers in a really material way," Sandler said. "What we've done is create this new creator services business to super-serve the content at the center - which is largely digital or social content." While media companies are adapting to creator-led models, tech giants are increasingly baking creators directly into their core business strategies. Over the past year, Microsoft has hired more producers, editors and scriptwriters with backgrounds in the creator economy, according to Marcus Frieske, the tech giant's general manager of social and creative marketing. "They come from YouTube and Snapchat," Frieske said during a separate panel Monday on why creators have become brands' most valuable media channel. "They're used to, 'Hey, we've got to make a video, and it needs to go live in the next couple of days.' Having fast-paced individuals who understand that rhythm has been really critical to our success." T-Mobile, meanwhile, is leaning into creators as collaborators rather than spokespeople. Kimberley Hand, senior creator manager at the telecom company, said T-Mobile is developing an advisory board made up of creators to shape campaigns and ensure authenticity. She also highlighted Club Magenta, the brand's experiential activation that has appeared at music festivals and events such as Lollapalooza. The pop-up features charging stations, lounges, and social spaces - designed not just for fans, but also for creators to document and share their experiences in real-time. Creator Jazmyn Smith, for example, helped bring the activation to life for her audience. "[Smith] is able to bring it alive in a way that we can't through our own storytelling," Hand said. "It fits very naturally into her content and her experience at Lolla."

On June 24, 2025, Witherspoon's media company Hello Sunshine is partnering with iHeartRadio to launch a weekly podcast, "Book Marked by Reese's Book Club."