Published Oct 9th, 2020

Digital Extremes has created a rich variety of hit games across 25 years – from co-creating the Unreal franchise with Epic Games to working on franchise hits such as The Darkness II, to developing original titles Dark Sector and Warframe. Based in London, Ontario, Canada, DE’s philosophy of creating a diverse, dynamic team is founded on hiring strong candidates, giving them direction and support, and creating a rich, inviting, creative environment in which to work.

Starting her job at Digital Extremes in February 2016, Product Marketing Manager Karina Bucio normally works out of the Irvine office. Like the rest of the DE staff, she now works from home. Two of her current housemates are her two pet dogs Sandy “the Protector”, a Cairn Terrier, and Lucas the “Cuddle Monster”, a Pomeranian-Chihuahua mix. Aside from taking care of her lovely pets, Karina’s hobbies range from painting Warhammer figures and playing RPGs like Fallout, to watching cult ‘80s films. Karina transitioned from a ho-hum orthodontist admin job to becoming an instrumental part of Digital Extremes’ marketing team. Here is an inside look inside her job and her story.

Digital Extremes (DE): What is your name and title?

Karina: My name is Karina Bucio and I am one of the Product Marketing Managers here at DE. I am responsible for managing and coordinating marketing campaigns for Warframe PC Updates and other big projects like the Twitch Prime & Discord Promotions, Warframe Comic Books and the Fortuna ARG. I work closely with all aspects of the Marketing team – multimedia, editorial, community, web, ads, PR - and the Dev Team to create a marketing campaign that will excite players.

DE: How did you get your job at Digital Extremes?

Karina: I graduated from Cal Poly Pomona in California, with a degree in business administration and a minor in marketing. When I graduated, I worked for an orthodontist’s office where I did some marketing and collections. I quickly discovered the world of “collections” wasn’t something I enjoyed!

I left the orthodontist office and began my search for a job in the Video Game Industry. Video games played a big role growing up with two brothers, so much so that I actually worked at GameStop for seven years (even managing my own store when I was 22)! I just knew I wanted to be in the industry. I applied for the job on Craig’s List and had a wonderful interview with Heidi (Flynn, HR Director) and Meredith (Braun, former VP, Publishing)!

DE: Why Digital Extremes?

Karina: Why not?! We are a huge family all working towards the same goal of creating an amazing game that players will enjoy.

DE: What are some standout moments for you at DE?

Karina: There are so many things to say, but in October 2018, handling the Discord ARG [Alternate Reality Game] for Fortuna was definitely one of them. There were so many mixed emotions about it. We ended up coming out with this campaign that we weren’t really prepared for. We didn’t know what to expect. We didn’t want to fail, and the campaign went on for a whole month.

Essentially, we ended up coming up with a marketing promotion where “The Business” was reaching out to people in order to recruit members to help and stand up against Nef Anyo. We created a Discord Server – that, at one point, hit 100k + members – where players had to solve puzzles to gather more information on the new Fortuna update.

DE: Did you throw away your script?

Karina: No, but we drastically altered it. For this campaign, it was meant to be more of an information campaign where we would tease things before the new update came out, but then it became a full-on Discord ARG where, all of a sudden, we had to create puzzles for the community to solve. That was a really fun experience, because it’s just you and two other co-workers looking online, researching and trying to come up with cool, interesting ways to engage the community and to persuade them to solve these puzzles. It was tough because we had never done anything like that before and we did not want to let people down. It ended up turning out great. Players engaged with the campaign and it really felt like the community came together to solve this ARG.

“I mean, we all lift together. For real. Whenever I hear that song, that’s how I feel. It’s rewarding. It’s nice to see people getting excited about their work and really taking ownership over what they do, and that motivates you to do the same for your work.”

DE: Is there a favorite thing you like about working at DE?

Karina: The fact that we are one big diverse family and we all want to see the best for Warframe and that brings us together. It’s nice to be a part of that. I mean, we all lift together. For real. Whenever I hear that song, that’s how I feel. It’s rewarding. It’s nice to see people getting excited about their work and really taking ownership over what they do, and that motivates you to do the same for your work.

DE: What are you most proud of doing here?

Karina: I’m super proud of the Discord ARG. It was like looking up this huge mountain and thinking, “I’m never going to be able to climb this mountain. There is no end to this.” I felt so down and stressed out. And then…it slowly got better. At some point I started thinking, “Hey, we’re getting there.” And then a couple of weeks in we reached this peak, and I remember thinking, “Wow, this is going amazingly well! Everyone is loving this. I cannot believe we just did this!” October 2018 will forever have a place in my heart. Oh, we also won awards for this marketing campaign.

The other proud moment is the work I have done on Twitch Prime. It’s such a cool program; it’s kind of like my baby. I worked on it from the beginning and it’s just gotten bigger and bigger. I have so much ownership over it, and now I am the point person on Twitch and Amazon, and it’s doing such good things for us as well.

DE: What else do you like about working for Digital Extremes?

Karina: It’s such a great feeling working for a company that is really well respected with the community itself. If you know Digital Extremes, and Warframe, you know that we are ‘good-guy DE.’ Our reputation is that we listen to our community, and that is such a motivator. It inspires me.

DE: Do you have a favorite Warframe?

Karina: Valkyr – Infinite Hysteria is best.

DE: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Karina: I love working here and everyone is amazing. This is not like working in a corporate environment, it is so much more than that. It’s a big dev family where you get to work with people who are as dedicated and as excited as you are. It’s a great experience and it’s one of the best companies I’ve ever worked for.