“Is this going to be my life for the next 30 years?” with Henri Bazire
(You can also watch this episode on YouTube.)
Today’s guest is Henri Bazire, who leads community work as Social Media Editor at ARTE, the French-German TV network with a dedicated video games division. Henri’s path into community management is far from traditional—he started in molecular biology before pivoting into marketing and eventually landing an internship at Ubisoft, where his passion for the games industry took root.
We talk about what it takes to enter the games industry from a non-gaming background, and the emotional, strategic challenges of working on games that tackle heavy subjects—like Wednesdays, a narrative game about recovery after sexual abuse. Henri shares how he handled potential backlash, navigated platform-specific audience reactions (X vs. Bluesky), and why authenticity matters when discussing taboo topics through games.
We also dive into how Henri stays sharp in his role: from Discord groups to free GDC talks on YouTube.
Games mentioned in this episode:
Find Henri on:
Transcription
Steve McLeod
Today I’m joined by Henri Bazire currently working as social media editor and content creator at ARTE, the French German TV channel, a TV channel that I discovered while researching this episode also has a video games division. Welcome to the show, Henry.
Henri Bazire
Hello Steve, thank you so much!
Steve McLeod
Before continuing, tell us how your name is really pronounced.
Henri Bazire
You can say Henry because, okay, I’m French, but everybody writes my name with a Y, instead of an I, I’m comfortable with having some British ascendance. And so for the family name, it’s Bazire, if you want to do the French way.
Steve McLeod
So part of living abroad, I’ve lived most of my adult life in non English speaking countries and I’m a native English speaker. Part of living abroad is just getting used to the fact that people can’t say your name properly. A German partner I had for a while, her mother always would have to whisper to her, her daughter, can you just tell me how to say his name again? Before she would call me. Okay. So this is a podcast for community managers about community management. But when I introduced you, your role was Social Media Editor and Content Creator. What’s going on there? Why does it not say community manager in your title?
Henri Bazire
Oopsie, busted. Well, in fact, Community Management is part of my mission because at ARTE, my official title is Social Media Editor, and I’m also a content creator on my free time. But within ARTE, I have several roles, several missions, and Community Management is, I would say, 80 % part of it.
Steve McLeod
Okay, that makes sense. 80%?
Henri Bazire
Yeah, yeah, you know, every day, it’s about how can I talk about this game in a funny, original way? And it’s, yeah, you know, 80 % of my time to think about what can I show in this game that is not too spoilery, that is interesting, that is understandable by someone who doesn’t play the game, who doesn’t have the game in their hands. So yeah, and I have many games that I’m working on at ARTE. Plus, I’m only three days a week at ARTE. So again, these are some very busy days.
Steve McLeod
Yeah. Where are you sharing these, this content that you created? Where you’re trying to get people into the game without spoiling. Where are you sharing this content?
Henri Bazire
Mainly on X and Blue Sky, we’ve created the special ARTE video games Blue Sky account because, as you said in the introduction, ARTE is a TV channel. We have some special places to talk exclusively about video games. It’s the ARTE interactive account on X and Blue Sky. We were only on X when I arrived at ARTE, which was in September 2024. About two or three months after my arrival, we have created the Blue Sky account.
Steve McLeod
How’s that going for you? I don’t think a lot of us have found that Twitter or X is really not the place it was and it’s hard to get traction and Bluesky hasn’t for me, hasn’t turned out to be a good replacement for Twitter or X yet. Well, how are you finding it?
Henri Bazire
Well, I wouldn’t say that Bluesky is a replacement because as you said, well, even if Bluesky is… How can I say that? I would say, it’s chiller than X regarding some violent content or violent opinions you can read on every subject. And as a gay man, I’m kind of sensitive about what’s going on X and well, maybe I’m more comfortable on Bluesky. But I think that this is kind of the key point, you are talking to different audiences. Some are staying on X and I’m not saying that everyone on X are pro-Musk, pro-Trump, a fascist, etc. Really, I’m not on that extreme point of view. But I think that the audiences of X and Bluesky can mix somehow, but they are also very different in some of the views and I could see that when I saw the reactions on some of the games I’ve been talking about through ARTE interactive accounts and some reactions were very different between X and Bluesky.
Steve McLeod
Can you give me an example of what the interaction reaction might be on Bluesky?
Henri Bazire
Yeah, well, I would say the most striking games about this would be Wednesdays, which is, in a few words, is a narrative game about healing and recovering after child sexual abuse, and especially incest. So very sensitive subject, very difficult to talk about, especially when you are a victim of incest. And something that surprised me, but in a good way, is that on Bluesky, people were much more enthusiastic to see a video game talking about such a sensitive subject, such a subject that, well, we don’t really heard of, whether it is in the gaming industry, but also in general, because it’s a very taboo subject, especially in France, you have some frightening numbers about the subject. On Twitter, I had the feeling that the audience were, I would not say insensitive, but less interested by it compared to Blue Sky, where we have much more likes, reposts, testimonies about, oh, this is great to have such a game on this subject, cetera, et cetera.
Steve McLeod
Oh, I’m kind of blown away with the whole topic there. I had no idea of this game nor the topic. It’s really astounding to hear and the differences and the reactions. We’ve kind of gone away from where we were planning to talk with this conversation, but you really got my attention already. Let’s go back to your background. So why and how did you become a community manager? Before you answer that, I just need to say that I put out a call on LinkedIn a week or two ago asking for people who were very new at community management to come on the show for especially people who haven’t had the chance to talk about it publicly before. And Henri you’re one of the people who answered to that. So you are new at community management, you started in September last year, you just said. So given that, tell us the story of how you became a community manager.
Henri Bazire
I hope you have two or three hours. Just joking. In fact, have quite, I would say, unusual way to become a community manager because originally I have a scientific background. I have a master’s degree in cellular and molecular biology because I’ve done 90% of my studies at Sorbonne University in Paris. And, well, you know, I was the scientist cliché. You can think about it. I was in a laboratory with Petri boxes. I was managing with bacteria, microorganisms, cells, of course. And, well, it was kind complicated because I always wanted to work within the video game industry, even when I was in high school. But I was not in a family that was really into gaming. For them, gaming is just a hobby. Quite a silly one, to be honest. So I’m not in a gamer family. And well, that’s fine. Everyone has its own hobbies, et cetera. But gaming has always been much more than a hobby for me. It’s a passion. It’s what I’m living through. It’s what I’m breathing. And I know it can sound very exaggerating, but gaming is part of my identity now, especially now that I’m working with it. So I was in this scientific background. And the more I was into it, the less I was, well, into it. Because I understand something is that I was not good at science, was not good at experimentation. I loved the theoretical aspects of science. I was in love during the courses, doing all the, you know, in the theater to hear the teachers talking about, well, you know, about HIV, about Listeria. Well, everybody was related to, you know, microbes, immune system, etcetera, etcetera. But when I was in a laboratory, it was rather catastrophic, I would say. And so I figured out that I needed to find another way to get out of here. But in France, it’s kind of complicated because once you’re in the field, especially when you’re still a student, it’s very difficult to get out of that field through a professional way without doing another kind of studies before that. especially when you just have a scientific background, well, companies are not very fond of, you know, just a science nerd, a rat laboratory, when you want to go to more commercial positions such as marketing or communication. So, the first step was to complete my master’s degree. To be sure that I have a sort of security, sort of a solid background.
Steve McLeod
So this is still your master’s degree in science and biology, right? So you completed that.
Henri Bazire
Yeah, I’ve completed that and it went well because, I sucked at experimentation, but the major part of the exams were theoretical. So I could manage to pass them. But after that, I’ve gone to a business school, is ESCP, so École Supérieure de Commerce de Paris, if I’m not wrong. But they are across all Europe, so it’s hard to consider it as a French business school, but it is a French business school. And so it was a marketing master of science, like we said in France. But it was still in the pharmaceutical industry because it was complicated to go from science to general business. So in order to make my profile more appealing, I started to stay in the scientific field, but in a commercial point of view. So this was a first step. And after that, this is where it’s going to be funny. I had my first ever job, was I was a consultant in a consulting firm specialized again in pharmaceutical industry. So I’ve worked, for example, for Sanofi, et cetera, within this consulting firm. And well, I have lasted six months, if I’m not wrong, because what I saw was…
Steve McLeod
Like this is the life you realized this life you didn’t want. You could see the future.
Henri Bazire
Exactly, exactly. You know, I quite remember well, this is the time when I think I cannot do it. I cannot do it for my whole life. I was in front of my computer redoing for, I think, six times a PowerPoint because my manager was never happy with it, etc.
Steve McLeod
Uh-huh.
Henri Bazire
I was in front of my screen and I was like, what am I doing? Is this going to be my life for the 30, 40, 50 years in the future? I couldn’t accept that. It was impossible. So I break my contract and for the record, it was quite a really well-paid job, especially in France. I know that…
I guess an American would say this is underpaid job. How could you accept that? But in France, are lower, but for many reasons.
Steve McLeod
Yep. Yep. And then you entered into the very overpaid world of gaming. I don’t think anybody says the video games industry pays well.
Henri Bazire
Well, I knew that my salary would be very lower and for another very good reason, you because at this time I was in a permanent contract, but I break it to go to, well, to do an internship at Ubisoft.
Steve McLeod
Ubisoft, the massive French based games company.
Henri Bazire
Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Well, you know, Ubisoft was kind of a dream for me because it’s, you know, the biggest French studios, one of the biggest studios in the world when you think about it.
Steve McLeod
And you must’ve been a little bit older than most of the other interns there. Most people were coming in in their first degree and you’re.
Henri Bazire
Yeah, about two or three years older
Steve McLeod
Okay, that’s not too bad.
Henri Bazire
But it was not that bad because in marketing, they only hired masters students, so people that have done at least five years of study. I was not that older compared to the other one. So it was not especially a problem or what.
Steve McLeod
So you’re doing your internship at Ubisoft. Well, you told me in advance, it was the best six months of your life. That’s not exaggeration. It was really that good.
Henri Bazire
Yeah, yeah, clearly. I think it’s… I especially want to say it today when you see all that Ubi bashing on the internet, on the social media, that’s kind of infuriating me because it’s very unfair, very unfair. Yes, they have been some issues regarding, you know, internal bullying, harassment, etcetera. But Ubisoft is, I would say, tentacular company. It’s across, I don’t know how many countries in the world. So there are more than 20,000 people. So yeah, I think statistically speaking, yeah, you’re going to make some jerks. But in my case, in my team, it was the best people I ever met. And sometimes I have some doubts when I think about my choices. Sometimes, well, I’m asking myself, was it a good thing to quit a really well-paid job and to go to the video game industry, even if my first job wasn’t interesting, etcetera. But when I think about that, I’m telling myself, well, if I have been staying in my first job, I would never have met the Ubisoft people. And well, I’m so grateful to have
to have met them because they have been the first people to be able to give me confidence in myself, in my work, in my choices. And so my manager at Ubisoft, which is Victor Droin, was exceptional. So yeah, really no regrets to have been working at Ubisoft because it was exceptional.
Steve McLeod
So from Ubisoft you then went to ARTE?
Henri Bazire
Ah well, there is a several months gap between Ubisoft and ARTE because you know Ubisoft has, still has financial issues, etc. It’s kind of heartbreaking. At the end of my internship, I couldn’t be kept within Ubisoft. And so I spent several months looking for jobs, etc. I even went back to consulting because, well, I needed the money. But again, I lasted one month in a consulting firm. And well, I would say that was the final trial, the final test for me because it was clear that consulting will never be good for me. So several months after Ubisoft, I finally found, well, it was not me that found the offer because it was one of my ex-colleagues at Ubisoft that showed me m a job offer at ARTE to be a Community Manager on their games. So yeah, it was a long journey to become a first-time community manager, but I’ve done it.
Steve McLeod
I admire your bravery for realizing you were in the wrong career path. It’s a very frightening thing to do to quit a well-paid job that you’ve worked hard to get into and to admit to yourself. And often people around you don’t understand why you’re doing this, right?
Henri Bazire
Yeah, well, to be honest, first, thank you for the compliment because it’s a hard for me to hear that. But to be honest, there are two aspects that we have to take into account. The first one is that I am privileged because I have parents that could support me, support my career changes, etcetera. And I think if I had to pay
to pay for everything. Well, I don’t think it would have the luxury to change this path of career that early. But on the other side, yeah, it’s true that it wasn’t an easy exercise to figure out that I didn’t want to this my whole life, that I wanted to follow my heart. In this case, I wanted to follow what was really animating me, which was here, the video game industry. And so it was difficult to, like you said, to live a really well-paid job to, well, very uncertain past. Yeah, uncertain past. Because I was not sure that I could have been, I was going to be happy at Ubisoft because, you never know. You never know what people you’re going to meet. You never know if you’re beyond the gaming passion. Well, maybe I would have figured out that working into gaming wasn’t just doing it for me. So it was uncertain, but to be honest, zero regrets. Or maybe…
Steve McLeod
I’ll tell you briefly why I can empathize with this story so much. Way back at the beginning of my career, I was working for a small IT consulting company. One day, I was just working on something and I just got overcome with this feeling. I don’t want to do this. And, and I just stared into space and my, my manager walked by and saw me and said, Steve, is everything okay? And these words unplanned came out of my mouth. I don’t know where they came from. I just said to him, “If I was to resign, how much notice do I need to give you? If I was to quit?” And he said, “Should we go and talk?” And I realized then how unhappy I wasn’t that job and how I didn’t want to do it. I completely understand where you’re coming from. Seeing yourself in a job that outside everybody thinks he’s doing well and inside feeling like this is not for me.
Henri Bazire
Yeah, it’s kind of… Well, it can be very, you know, kind of desperate situation. And it’s paradoxical when you think about it because you’re in a job, you are paid for it, you are well paid even for it. But sort of you cannot be happy if you’re doing something that is just, you know, doesn’t move you, doesn’t… I don’t know how to say it, but…
I think you know what I mean, even if I’m terrible at explaining it. But yeah, if you don’t have something that is interesting in what represents, I don’t know, 80 % of your day, how can you be happy? Well, I’m very, you know, I’m kind of a admirative of people that are able to stay in a job that does not interest them. But I know that I can’t do it. I can’t stay in a job that is boring even if there is a lot of money in the end.
Steve McLeod
Moving on, I want to ask you about your experiences as a Community Manager. Perhaps you have a story or a challenge you can share about something you faced as a Community Manager that really stands out in your memory.
Henri Bazire
Yeah, well, I’ve kind of talked about it at the beginning of our talk. I would say it’s Wednesdays. Well, the reaction of audience, you know, when you’re talking about sexual assault in a game, especially when you talk about incest. Well, it’s a taboo subject. Many people do not react well when you’re speaking about incest. And especially when you’re doing this within the game, because, well, let’s be honest, some people could have been shocked that we’re going to play with such a subject, with rape victims, with sexual assault victims, etc. But for one part, the game has been so well made by its creators, which are the Pixel Hunt and Pierre Corbinet, who have also been doing Haven, or The Wreck, or Bury Me My Love. So, very author-driven games, and they are used to talk about difficult subjects. And so they have been doing it so well that you cannot feel offended by the way the game is dealing with the subject. But there is never a 0 % risk when you’re talking about such a difficult subject. So, well, we were backing up against potential backfire on it. But in the end, everyone was really kind with Wednesdays. Everyone was so happy to see that gaming can talk about difficult subjects as well. I did not need to have a proof about that because games can talk about everything basically. But sexual assault is not a very usual subject within the gaming industry. I was so happy to see that people were giving Wednesdays a chance, were giving Wednesdays a lot of compliments. We have very positive reviews on Steam, very positive reviews in the press. And I’m talking about generalists, but also, of course, specialists, gaming press. But even in general journals, Wednesdays have been talked about and I felt very happy for the games, for the creators, for the victims. And also, I’m kind of proud to have been oh part of such a project because I’ve never seen a project of a sexual assault, especially incest, elsewhere. Working on it was an incredible experience.
Steve McLeod
That’s a big change from having to do the sixth revision of a PowerPoint document, isn’t it?
Henri Bazire
Exactly. Well, I’ve told myself this is why I’ve changed my career. I wanted to work on projects that were really moving for me and when they were.
Steve McLeod
I think in the wider society outside of the gaming, in the games world, games are seen as frivolous. I think you used the word earlier. They’re seen as, you’re going around killing monsters or shooting aliens or, you know, matching three things of the same color or whatever. And it’s really good for the wider community to see that games can actually be touching on such topics and have a story to tell. And there’s a lot of games that have, especially short games that have a really important story they tell, but it’s not often they get heard off in the wider community.
Henri Bazire
Yeah, exactly. When you think about it, independent games are so talented to tell stories that are going to move you way more than blockbuster games or blockbuster movies. Well, Wednesdays is an example I’ve been working on. But when I think about Gris, for example, which was, I think, one of the most beautiful games I ever played in my gamer life. It’s a game from Nomada Studio. I think it’s a Spanish one, if I’m correct. And well, it’s incredible. It’s the same studio that recently released Neva. It was last year, I think. Well, there are so many games that can tell heartbreaking but also very beautiful stories. The most recent one I played would be Claire Obscure about speaking about stories, etcetera.
Steve McLeod
So we’re getting short of time. Let’s see this one. What question do we have time to fit in? Yeah. How do you learn to do your job as a Community Manager better? What are the resources you’ve learned to tap into?
Henri Bazire
Well, I would say speaking with other Community Managers. I have some friends that are Community Managers in the gaming industry, and they’ve been so good to me, so kind to me, and they have given me many advices. I think one good option is also to see what are the others doing. How are they talking about a game? What were their original ideas, their funny memes, their GIFs, their videos, etcetera, etcetera. I think being a Community Manager is also accepting that the ideas can not only come from you, but also from the industry, from your peers. And I think it’s kind of, it’s an exercise of humility. You have to understand that you are not the best and there are also so many talented people around you. And I think what’s the most beautiful thing in the job of a Community Manager is that everybody is so talented, there are so many good ideas.
Steve McLeod
And passionate, right?
Henri Bazire
Yeah, and passionate.
Steve McLeod
If we go back a little bit, you said that you, talked to other Community Managers. So these are in other studios and publishers, I guess you meant. Do you meet with them in person or do you meet with them on an online situation?
Henri Bazire
Mainly online. One of my closest friends is, well, I know him in real life, he’s working at Ishtar Games, which is a French studio slash publishers in Lille. So I’ve met him, but you know, I’m still at the very beginning of my career as Community Manager. So the other ones would be especially online.
Steve McLeod
You have a discord or a forum?
Henri Bazire
Yeah, there is a special French marketing and Community Manager Discord. So it’s very useful to grab some advices to share also some victories. Well, when I released my first game, which was not Wednesday, it was 30 birds. And when I released it for the first time, it was the first game with my name, you know, it’s a credit at the end. Well, it’s why it was kind of wonderful.
Steve McLeod
A friend of mine here runs a small business similar to my own. it has, you’ve got to celebrate everything, celebrate every achievement, you know, and it’s great to have a place where you can share it privately with some people to do that. So you learn to do your job better by you said, by talking with other Community Managers, looking at what other people are doing… Anything else you wanted to add?
Henri Bazire
I don’t think so. Yeah, to me, oh, yes, yes, yes. Another thing, the GDC talk, the Game Developer Conference talks, it can be very, it’s a treasure. You have a lot of free videos on YouTube. You have a whole playlist by the GDC account. And honestly, if you are looking for inspiration, new ideas or just a fresh views on something or study cases on, for example, Among Us with Victoria Tran. I know you’ve interviewed her recently. Well, it’s incredible to have such resources online and totally free.
Steve McLeod
Great. I am here in Barcelona, Spain, I haven’t yet been to GDC. A mentor tells me I really have to get there because it’s where business happens in the games industry. But the jet lag going from Barcelona to West Coast USA. So yeah, I try to stay to local events, but I’m going to have to go and look up the GDC talks because I don’t think I’ve actually watched any of them. I’m going to see what I can find. So thank you for that very, very useful advice.
Steve McLeod
We’ve completely run out of time, but I do have one very important question still to ask you. I think you kind of gave us a clue already. What game have you been playing lately?
Henri Bazire
Claire Obscur Expedition 33. I say it’s a French way because it’s a French game. So yeah, Claire Obscur.
Steve McLeod
I think the French media are very, proud of this game, right?
Henri Bazire
Well, they can be, they can be because…
Steve McLeod
Tell me about it. I know nothing about it. I’m so busy at the moment. And when I interviewed Victoria Tran and I asked her what she’s playing, she told me Blue Prince. And I wish I hadn’t asked her that because I went and bought it and now I’m addicted to this game and I have no time for other games. But tell me about Clear Obscur. Tell me about it.
Henri Bazire
Well, Clear Obscur is an RPG which is mixing turn-based combat, also real-time combat. The combat system is excellent. It’s very good. But what I love the most is this universe. The idea of Claire Obscur is that you’re in a world, well, it’s kind of a post-apocalyptic version of Paris, which is called Lumière, because you know Paris is la ville Lumière, the city of light, etcetera. You can say the Oui Oui Baguette vibe in here. But the idea is that you have Lumière, which is kind of broken. And in the landscape, you can see the monolith, a huge stone with a number painted on it. And each year, a creature called the Paintress is risen from a deep sleep and she is painting a new number of the monolith. Each time she is painting a number, each people whose age is corresponding to this number dies during what they call the gommage, which is well, kind of a disappearance. Very artistic with this disappearance, in fact, but it’s still, well, a death. And the problem is the number is going down every year. So, and the complete title of the game, Clear Obscure Expedition 33, it’s because you are in the year that there is a 33 painting of the monolith.
Steve McLeod
Okay, sounds fantastic. Look, it’s all we’ve got time for today. So we need to finish up. Thanks for coming on the show.
Henri Bazire
Thank you so much Steve, it was so great!
Steve McLeod
And where can people get in touch or find out more about you?
Henri Bazire
Mainly on LinkedIn because you know I’m creating some content on TikTok, but it’s only in French. I’m not confident enough in my English accent to start English content, but maybe it will come in the next future.
Steve McLeod
Okay, but we have a lot of listeners who are in Europe, who can probably speak French, so, or at least would like to hear it out. So I’ll get that link from you from the TikTok account. We’ll put in the show notes too. Okay, bye Henry. Bye everyone.
Henri Bazire
Bye Steve, bye everyone!