For me, good business development always starts with trust. Trust between our partners and us. Trust between the game and its players. The value of a partnership is not just revenue or reach. It is whether the deal makes the brand stronger and the game better, without breaking what made it special in the first place.
Hi, I’m Elizaveta Savenkova, Chief Business Development Officer at ZiMAD (Magic Jigsaw Puzzles), where I build partnerships that protect a game millions of players trust.
ZiMAD has worked with Disney, Marvel, and National Geographic. We have partnered with ZeptoLab and with environmental groups like Evertreen. That is an unusual range for a puzzle game, and people often ask how we choose. The answer is simple. Before any deal, I ask one question: What will our players think?
Players Are the Focus
It is incredible to think that I was there when Magic Jigsaw Puzzles celebrated its 10th anniversary. Today, it is 15 years old. On mobile, that kind of lifespan is rare. Most games never reach it.
When you run business development for a game this old, the job changes. With a new product, you have more room to experiment. You can try things, fail, and try again. With a game that players have loved for more than a decade, every choice carries more weight. You are not only chasing growth. You are protecting a brand that millions of people know and trust.
That responsibility shapes everything I do. So I want to share a few honest lessons from the work, in case they help you protect what you are building, too.
A famous brand is exciting. A partnership that makes headlines feels good. But if it does not connect with the people playing the game, it will not create real results. We spend a lot of time learning what our audience cares about, what they enjoy, and what content pulls them in. If a partnership fits that, it is worth exploring. If it only looks good in a press release, it is a distraction.