Meet:

Kristine Helgeland

Producer
Copenhagen

Quick Questions

PC or console

PC

Go-to karaoke song

I’d rather triage 1000 bugs than sing karaoke!

Favorite Hitman map and why

Sapienza. I love the layout, the size and the ambience. It’s just spot on! 

Meal that reminds you of childhood

Ground beef with chips and Knorr’s bearnaise.

Your secret superpower

My former Executive Producer told me my superpower was “no bullshit”. I say things the way they are. I also have black belt in karate.

Most and least favorite items on your desk

For the favorite item, I’m torn between a Hama pearl heart and an old, wrinkled chestnut. Both are gifts from my 4-year-old, given with a lot of love. For the least favorite, it’s the toilet paper tube that previously mentioned 4-year-old insisted should decorate my work desk.

Something you wish you knew more about

Gameplay. I haven’t been that much involved in that part, but I would love to get a better understanding of that area. 

Recommend three books, games or movies

Three books: 
1. I highly recommend the “Song of the Lioness” quartet by Tamora Pierce if you have daughters and read to them or are into badass female protagonists and great fantasy stories. Absolute must-reads classics are:
2. Lord of the rings
3. Watership Down 

Deeper Questions

What do you do at IOI?

I’m a producer. I have produced tracks such as the Maldives, New York (the bank), Dubai, Rocky, HITMAN 2 Live content and I’ve run the HITMAN 3 Live project and produced its content along with Mikkel Dalfoss. I do budgets, planning, scoping, alignment, run syncs and keep an eye on team health. I have also worked with dialog and localization and have a fair share of knowledge about that as well. 

Can you tell us more about yourself?

Born and raised in Copenhagen. Happily married to a Norwegian viking (literally). I enjoy roleplaying (both tabletop and live), video games, board games, books (mostly fantasy), whisky and reenactment – but having small children now challenges the time allocated for all these things for now. 

What's your daily source of inspiration?

Frankly, having small children often makes the everyday quite chaotic. I think I find inspiration in that chaos and challenge. I am producing the hell out of my household to keep things together and ensure that everything runs smoothly. It’s not that different from running a project/track/team – expect maybe a little less crying from my co-workers. 

Why are you passionate about what you do?

I love challenges. I love overcoming them. Planning, scoping, clearing the path for the team and enable them to do their best and eventually seeing everything come together and release. Knowing I was part of it… nothing beats that. I never tire of it.

What projects do you work on outside of work?

My children are very young and leave me relatively little time for other projects besides them. But I do take the time to do karate 2-3 times a week and I’ve done so for a total of 16 years now. It’s a huge part of my life and I don’t imagine I will ever stop. I also teach a children’s class twice a week. 

What's your most memorable IOI moment?

Two moments stand out. The first was the big lay-off in 2017. I was 7 months pregnant, and my husband works at IOI as well. We both could have lost our jobs that day and my chances of getting a new one was nonexistent. Fortunately, we both got to stay, and it’s been an incredible journey to be part of IO Interactive since then. The second moment was when the Executive Producer for HITMAN 3 resigned. We were just kicking off HITMAN 3 Live and needed someone to run the project. Mikkel and I were offered the opportunity to act as stand-in Executive Producers with everything it includes (budgets, syncs and presentations with Studio Management, people management, surveying, HR, recruiting, etc.) This has been the most incredible, challenging and exciting experience in my career at IOI so far. 

What's the best bit of advice you've ever been given?

Be clear about your aspirations and what you want, do not subdue yourself. And work hard to achieve it. 

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