Midwest Games is expanding to Europe with a new Lisbon hub. Founder and CEO Ben Kvalo told us why he left Netflix to build a publisher in Wisconsin, the hard numbers behind indie publishing, and how Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb joined as an advisor.
Midwest Games keeps growing. In August 2026, the Wisconsin-based publisher announced Lisbon as its strategic hub for European growth, and founder Ben Kvalo has shared new partnerships this year, including a Korean publishing deal with Minimap for Moth Atlas’s Tombwater and publishing support on ProbablyMonsters’ Crimson Moon.
Ben’s resume reads like a tour of the industry: 2K, Blizzard esports, then Netflix, before he went home to Wisconsin to build something of his own. That makes it a great time to look back at our conversation with Ben, who had a lot to say: why 98% of Steam games go it alone, why he based a publisher in Green Bay, and how he brought on one of the most beloved names in Xbox history.
Answers below are lightly edited for length and readability.
What you need to know
- Who: Ben Kvalo, founder and CEO of Midwest Games.
- Background: 2K, Blizzard esports, Netflix film marketing operations and Netflix games.
- Company: Midwest Games, a publisher based in Green Bay, Wisconsin, now with a European hub in Lisbon.
- Length: 2:13:00.
- Highlights: the indie publishing math, why Wisconsin, building a team, his career path, and Major Nelson.
Why indie publishing matters
Ben Kvalo: “There’s over 14,000 games coming out on Steam alone, which is like 40 games a day… On Steam, about 98% of games are self-published, meaning they don’t have somebody like us that helps to put in marketing dollars, that helps with localization, QA, release management, community support, funding.”
“About 25% of total revenue goes to the 98%, and the 2% gets about 75% of the revenue… It doesn’t guarantee success, because there’s so many other games, but it gives you a chance.”
Why the indie space
Ben Kvalo: “The AAA space is such a risky space, because you’re spending 50 to 100 million dollars… If something flops, it is dead. That IP is dead… which is why I love the indie space, where it’s lower risk, but you can try a lot of really innovative things and potentially [get] really high rewards.”
Why he left Netflix
Ben Kvalo: “I did a lot of building for other people, and ultimately I wanted to build something that meant a little bit more to me and where I saw I could drive impact… There’s obviously a giant gap between what is happening in the indie space and the triple A space. There’s not really a middle ground.”
Why Green Bay
Context: Roundhouse Studios is a Bethesda studio, which makes it part of the Xbox family.
Ben Kvalo: “67% of the industry in the US is in three states historically… It’s been Seattle, San Francisco, LA and Austin, and that’s been the entire industry, and so it’s the same people making games. That’s why you see a lot of similarities between games.”
“Dungeons and Dragons was invented in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. In fact, Gen Con… that’s where the meaning comes from… Midway Games, from the arcade era… Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, NFL Blitz, Cruis’n USA… that was in Chicago.”
“Roundhouse, which is owned by Bethesda… There’s a number of big studios, and people don’t even realize those all exist right in Wisconsin.”
Why there aren’t more publishers
Ben Kvalo: “You’re not the rock star when you’re in that space. You are a support mechanism. A publisher is ultimately uplifting, supporting a developer and its game, not the center of the world.”
“It’s almost similar to baseball, where… the best baseball players in the world fail seven out of ten times.”
Building the team
Ben Kvalo: “I haven’t hired anybody from my previous companies. I want people from different experiences to come together, and sometimes there’s some friction with that, but I see that as healthy friction.”
“They can fail, they should fail, but you have to be loud about it when you do fail.”
From Green Bay to 2K
Ben Kvalo: “I grew up in Wisconsin, so I’d never in a million years thought I would go into video games as a career.”
A college M&A course changed that: “I chose Activision as the company… So then I actually learned what publishing was.”
“They were like, ‘Hey, you have a job. Can you move out to San Francisco in two weeks?’ And so then I had to completely change my life pretty much overnight.”
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How Major Nelson joined
Context: Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb was one of the most recognizable faces of Xbox for two decades, hosting the Official Xbox Podcast. He announced he was leaving Xbox on July 14, 2023, after 20 years, and Midwest brought him on as a communications advisor that December.
Ben Kvalo: “I had randomly met him many, many years ago when I was at 2K. I think we were showing off Borderlands 2… I have this photo of me, a younger version of me, I don’t even have a beard at the time.”
“I reached out to him and I said, ‘Hey, I noticed that you’re no longer at Xbox… I would love to get the opportunity to potentially collaborate in some way with you’… It just really resonated with him a ton, because that’s been a mission of his while he was at Xbox, was really supporting the indie scene.”
Why cozy games matter
Ben Kvalo: “I just feel like we need cozy right now. The world is all over the place, and cozy is a much-needed escape.”
OnPoint’s take
Ben’s pitch is simple and powerful: great games come from everywhere, so publishers should look everywhere. A Green Bay publisher that brought Major Nelson on as an advisor, now opening a door in Lisbon, is proof the plan is working. Larry spent years championing indies at Xbox, so it makes total sense that he’d back a company built on the same idea. We were proud to have Ben on, and we can’t wait to see which underserved studio Midwest helps break out next.
Watch the full interview
This was the very first episode of our show Her, Him, and a Dev, streamed in April 2024, so the lineup talk reflects that moment.
“Games Can Come From Anywhere”: Midwest Games CEO Ben Kvalo on Leaving Netflix, Building in Green Bay and Bringing On Major NelsonPhoto: Midwest Games. Graphic: OnPoint 4 Gamers
Sources
- OnPoint 4 Gamers interview with Ben Kvalo (YouTube): www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRfr4FoZzHA
- Midwest Games, “Midwest Games Chooses Lisbon as Strategic Hub for European Growth” (August 2026): www.midwestgames.com/news/midwest-games-chooses-lisbon-as-strategic-hub-for-european-growth
- Ben Kvalo on LinkedIn, Tombwater partnership post: www.linkedin.com/posts/benkvalo_very-excited-about-our-partnership-with-minimap-activity-7516713196263510016-W5nc
- Ben Kvalo on LinkedIn, ProbablyMonsters post: www.linkedin.com/posts/benkvalo_proud-to-work-with-the-amazing-folks-at-probablymonsters-activity-7495898721239330818-_816
- Midwest Games, leadership announcement (Larry Hryb joins as communications advisor, Dec 2023): www.midwestgames.com/news/midwest-games-leadership-announcement
- Midwest Games, Tombwater announcement (Moth Atlas): www.midwestgames.com/news/announcement-soulslike-rpg-tombwater
- The Verge, “Xbox’s Major Nelson is leaving Microsoft” (July 14, 2023): www.theverge.com/2023/7/14/23795326/xbox-major-nelson-larry-hryb-microsoft
- Midwest Games, About: www.midwestgames.com/about
