31-year-old Rebecca Ford started as an intern at the quite unfortunate MMO studio Digital Extremes in Canada in 2011. At that time, the studio was in such significant financial trouble that she had to record the AI “Lotus” for the MMO Warframe herself. Now Ford takes on the role of “Creative Director” at the SF MMO.
What is so exciting about Rebecca Ford? Ford started as an intern at the studio “Digital Extremes” in January 2011. Before that, she had completed a 4-month summer internship at the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. In her new job, she was supposed to handle Facebook and Twitter, deliver some internal presentations, and help wherever needed. Just an intern job.
The studio Digital Extremes was not in good shape at that time: Essentially, they were making ports or multiplayer parts of games and had to somehow get by with contract work.
A low point was reached when they released the action-adventure “Star Trek” in 2013: It received poor ratings of about 45% from the trade press.
The “own” baby, a Free2Play SF MMO called Warframe, had been in development since 2000, but when it came out on Steam in 2013, it only performed moderately for a Free2Play title: Warframe averaged about 10,000 players. That’s too little to live off, but too much to die.
The studio was in such a bad place that intern Rebecca Ford was used as the voice of the AI in the game, “Lotus”. As Ford explained in an interview years later (via gamesindustry-biz):
“When we started the game, we had to improvise so much and work with duct tape that they actually asked me if I could do a voiceover in the game – and the character is now called Space-Mom. She is a sort of Cortana figure, where it turns out that she saved you […]
Intern to Community Manager and Space Mom
What happened next? In April 2012, it was enough for Ford’s permanent employment at Digital Extremes.
In the following years, the Canadian earned the nickname “Space-Mama”, as she supported players as the voice of the AI in Warframe, worked as a community manager and PR assistant starting in April 2012, talked extensively with players, the press, and became the voice of the game.
In November 2016, Warframe made the leap into the top 3 on Steam with the expansion “The War Within – The Inner War” with almost 70,000 concurrent players. On Xbox One and PlayStation 4, the game had also always been a topic of conversation, especially as an alternative to Destiny, which had already come under criticism – and that PC players could not play anyway.
Suddenly, Warframe was considered the “showcase MMO”. It became clear that good things happen when you continually develop a game and listen to player feedback.
Ford was promoted from community manager and PR assistant to the head of “Live Operations and Community Producer” in 2016. In December 2017, she was made the head of Live Operations and Communication.
The central role Ford played in the development of Warframe could be seen when the magazine Forbes crowned her in 2020 as one of the “30 Under 30” in gaming: Here, it was highly acknowledged that she initiated TennCon, the convention for the game. Additionally, it was noted that the 50 million members of the Warframe community affectionately dubbed her “Space Mom”.
The new fantasy MMO Soulframe brought a career leap for Ford:
This is now the next step: Not only has Warframe continued to grow, but so has Digital Extremes. When the company announced a new fantasy MMO and the previous creative director, Steve Sinclair, switched from Warframe to the new game, the choice fell on Rebecca Ford to continue as “Creative Director” for Warframe.
A significant leap from intern and temporary voice actor to the “Voice of the Game” to the boss, which Ford has achieved in 10 years.
This is what she says:
In an interview with Venture Beat, Ford says she respects the new role, which comes with much more pressure. But she believes she can now translate the community’s ideas into updates and changes that will have a significant impact on the future of Warframe.
Ford hopes that the fans will show her a lot of understanding and respect as she finds her way in the new role.
Ford has already announced that to handle the additional burden of overseeing two large MMOs, Digital Extremes will hire new people. Now they have a science fiction and a fantasy branch.
Perhaps among the new people that Ford hires is another talented intern.
Warframe is known for its quests:
Second Dream – This quest changed the way I see Warframe
Ford couldn’t stop raving about how much fun she had playing Warframe and how much she enjoyed talking to the players, whom she still refers to as “Tennos” today.
Suddenly the Players Were There – Upswing in 2016
When did the upswing come? Rebecca Ford’s rise within the company coincided with the rise of Warframe.
In November 2016, three years after release, Warframe finally broke through on Steam: Suddenly, the players were there. In 2014 and 2015, the player numbers on Steam had been steadily climbing: Warframe regularly had about 40,000 to 50,000 players at the same time.
In November 2016, Warframe made the leap into the top 3 on Steam with the expansion “The War Within – The Inner War” with almost 70,000 concurrent players. On Xbox One and PlayStation 4, the game had also always been a topic of conversation, especially as an alternative to Destiny, which had already come under criticism – and that PC players could not play anyway.
Suddenly, Warframe was considered the “showcase MMO”. It became clear that good things happen when you continually develop a game and listen to player feedback.
Ford was promoted from community manager and PR assistant to the head of “Live Operations and Community Producer” in 2016. In December 2017, she was made the head of Live Operations and Communication.
The central role Ford played in the development of Warframe could be seen when the magazine Forbes crowned her in 2020 as one of the “30 Under 30” in gaming: Here, it was highly acknowledged that she initiated TennCon, the convention for the game. Additionally, it was noted that the 50 million members of the Warframe community affectionately dubbed her “Space Mom”.
The new fantasy MMO Soulframe brought a career leap for Ford:
This is now the next step: Not only has Warframe continued to grow, but so has Digital Extremes. When the company announced a new fantasy MMO and the previous creative director, Steve Sinclair, switched from Warframe to the new game, the choice fell on Rebecca Ford to continue as “Creative Director” for Warframe.
A significant leap from intern and temporary voice actor to the “Voice of the Game” to the boss, which Ford has achieved in 10 years.
This is what she says:
In an interview with Venture Beat, Ford says she respects the new role, which comes with much more pressure. But she believes she can now translate the community’s ideas into updates and changes that will have a significant impact on the future of Warframe.
Ford hopes that the fans will show her a lot of understanding and respect as she finds her way in the new role.
Ford has already announced that to handle the additional burden of overseeing two large MMOs, Digital Extremes will hire new people. Now they have a science fiction and a fantasy branch.
Perhaps among the new people that Ford hires is another talented intern.
Warframe is known for its quests:
