Right now, though, Smith is in his home office trying to mediate a dispute between Molly – his boisterous, beloved border collie – and their local postman. Eventually, Smith left Activision to join EA, where his proven talent for sporting titles led to him stepping up as creative director for the revival of scrappy arcade basketball game NBA Jam, which Smith reveals was originally planned as a new, “very kiddy” game for the Wii called Bounce. On his journey from quality assurance tester to creative director, Smith has seen the industry’s ugliest realities