# John Linden

> John Linden is the co-founder and CEO of Mythical Games, which develops games and technology for player-owned digital economies. His background includes internet startups, studio leadership at Activision Blizzard and the presidency of Seismic Games. At Mythical, his work spans Blankos Block Party, NFL Rivals, FIFA Rivals and Pudgy Party, with an emphasis on accessible gameplay and trading digital collectibles.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Mythical Games
- **Organizations:** Mythical Games, Seismic Games, Activision Blizzard, Adknowledge, OpenX, Planet Alumni, Litmus Media, Oobit, Haibu Studios, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, BAFTA
- **Education:** University of Kansas
- **Known for:** Co-founded Mythical Games and led it through a 2021 Series C valuing the company at $1.25 billion., Led Mythical as NFL Rivals reached more than two million soft-launch downloads by August 2023., Oversaw the expansion of Mythical’s portfolio into FIFA Rivals and Pudgy Party in 2025.

## Career timeline

- **Before Mythical Games** — Built Planet Alumni and Litmus Media; held co-founder and CTO roles at Adknowledge and OpenX.
- **Before Seismic Games** — Served as a studio head at Activision Blizzard on Call of Duty and Skylanders.
- **Before Mythical Games** — Served as president of Seismic Games, later acquired by Niantic.
- **2018** — Co-founded Mythical Games; Struck Capital made its first seed investment in the company.
- **2020** — Blankos Block Party entered open beta in December.
- **2021** — Mythical raised a $150 million Series C at a $1.25 billion valuation.
- **2023** — NFL Rivals entered mobile early access in April; Quick Trades launched at the end of the year.
- **2023** — Oobit announced Linden’s appointment to its advisory board in October.
- **2025** — FIFA Rivals launched worldwide in June and Pudgy Party launched in August.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Mythical Games and led it through a 2021 Series C valuing the company at $1.25 billion.
- Led Mythical as NFL Rivals reached more than two million soft-launch downloads by August 2023.
- Oversaw the expansion of Mythical’s portfolio into FIFA Rivals and Pudgy Party in 2025.
- Named to the Los Angeles Business Journal LA500 in 2024.

## Latest updates

- **2026-05** — LeanScale published a podcast interview with Linden about player-owned economies, product-market fit and Mythical’s technology strategy; the page was updated in July 2026.
- **2025-08** — Mythical and Pudgy Penguins launched Pudgy Party globally on iOS and Android on August 29.
- **2025-06** — FIFA announced FIFA Rivals’ worldwide launch; Mythical also announced an adidas collaboration.

## Links

- Website: https://about.me/john.linden
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnlinden
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/johnwastaken
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnlinden/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.linden

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/john-linden
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-23