Observed Signal · Oct 14, 2026 · Interview · Source: PocketGamer.biz · Impact: 2/5 · Sentiment: Positive
Holger Wurst on June's Journey UX, player research, AI
Holger Wurst, who leads UI/UX for Wooga's June's Journey, shares insights ahead of PGC Nordics. He emphasizes the importance of talking to players, citing a senior player who outperformed designers in understanding game economy. He discusses IP collaborations with Wicked and Agatha Christie, noting that players insisted June remain central. He warns against breaking 'mapping'—renaming or moving items confuses players. He advocates for reliable, consistent UI over novelty, comparing redesigns to OS updates. On AI, Wurst reports prototypes are 70% faster with AI tools, but he rejects synthetic players, calling them 'dangerous' as they remove human empathy from design. He advises designers to stay gamers and engage in continuous learning.
Offers insights into game UX and AI use in game design, relevant for mobile gaming and ad monetization strategies.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Holger Wurst joined Wooga in 2015 and leads UI/UX for June's Journey.
- June's Journey passed $1 billion in revenue in 2023 and has been live for nearly a decade.
- Wooga collaborated with Universal's Wicked and Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot for in-game events.
- AI tools speed up prototype creation by approximately 70%.
- Wurst states synthetic players are 'dangerous' and should not replace user research.
Ontology Mapping & Concepts
Related Market Signals & Shifts
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Wooga's Holger Wurst to Speak at PGC Nordics
Holger Wurst, lead UX designer at Wooga, has been announced as a speaker at Pocket Gamer Connects (PGC) Nordics, scheduled for October 20-21 in Helsinki. Wurst, who has been with Wooga for over a decade and worked on the studio's flagship title 'June's Journey,' will join a panel on the 'Practical AI' track titled 'How AI Agents Are Reshaping The Way We Make Games'. The panel will explore how AI agents are being integrated into game development pipelines, including prototyping and optimizing updates, while also addressing challenges such as reliability, creative control, IP concerns, and team workflows. Wurst previously spoke at PGC Helsinki 2025 on tackling legacy UX.
Zynga's Javi Digiorgio on Keeping Creatives Productive
Javi Digiorgio, associate creative director at Zynga, spoke at Pocket Gamer Connects Barcelona about sustaining creative-team performance under high UA volume and industry pressure. He framed his approach as 'something old, something new, something borrowed': reuse and upskill existing talent, filter and measure new opportunities, and learn from peers. Digiorgio urged teams to let data — not personal taste — decide creative direction, highlighted the growing necessity of playable ads and high-volume iteration, and described how seeding AI with early adopters turned fear into curiosity, leading to team-driven AI initiatives including a Gemini-based social-scouting tool.
AI Reveals What Design Lost and Can Reclaim
Alessandro Molinaro (UX Design / Medium) argues that AI is compressing and automating many UI and prototyping tasks, creating an opportunity for designers to refocus on systemic, service-level outcomes and true user empathy. The article contrasts the visible UI layer with broader experience and information-architecture responsibilities, warns against overreliance on synthetic users, and proposes a 'Design Twin'—a living, research-grounded synthetic model that preserves qualitative nuance. Risks discussed include 'Static Decay' (models aging and diverging from real users) and the 'Infinite Feedback Loop' where machines validate other machines. Practical recommendations include Continuous Discovery and Parallel Research Streams, faster AI-enabled prototyping, and maintaining direct human research to keep synthetic models fresh. Examples cited include Italy's CIE digital-ID process and Philips' pediatric MRI redesign.
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