People First. Always. Building Communities Where Everyone Wins.
Authentic, empathy-led community strategies that help teams, players, and brands thrive together.
You want a community that grows with your game, keeps players engaged, and becomes a business asset — I help studios and publishers do exactly that, using 17+ years of experience shaping player ecosystems for AAA and indie titles alike.
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About Me
I help game studios turn players into passionate communities.
I’m Sally Da Costa, a community strategist and leader with nearly 20 years in the games industry. I’ve worked with AAA franchises at Ubisoft, live game ecosystems, AA and indie publishing at Jagex, as well as with industry professionals, investors and UGC Game Creators at Raftur Games.
I understand the challenges studios face: building engagement from zero, managing community sentiment, and making player communities a real business driver. My approach combines:
- Listen First: Every strategy starts with understanding your players and your people.
- Align Strategy with Soul: Marrying data-driven decisions with authentic human insight.
- Collaborate Deeply: Partnering with your team to turn community vision into reality.
- Communicate Honestly: Transparency builds trust and trust builds loyalty.
- Focus on Longevity: Crafting communities designed to grow, adapt, and last.
Why Work With Me?
With 17+ years in gaming and 50+ game launches, I help studios and teams build communities that thrive, engage, and deliver results.
Here’s what I bring:
| People First: Strategies that start with your players and your team. | |
| Proven Impact: Experience across indie studios to global publishers. | |
| Ethical Growth: Engagement built on trust, transparency, and respect. | |
| Collaborative Approach: Partnering with your team to create shared success. | |
| Community as an Asset: Driving loyalty, retention, and real business value. |
The result: communities that are healthy, vibrant, and impactful — where everyone wins.
To put it simply, I wouldn't be in the Games Industry without Sally. Sally took a chance on me 10 years ago and gave me my start, and I've been forever inspired by her ethic, professionalism and drive in what she does.
She is always player driven and loves to learn new things to make things that much better.
Sally should always be in this industry.
Shaun Akerman
Live Service Producer, Call of Duty, | Activision Blizzard
Sally was instrumental to my success as a community manager at Ubisoft. As my manager, she inspired, uplifted and created room for growth with myself and everyone in her team.
She is very knowledgeable in the industry and this has been demonstrated through her time as a content strategist.
Sally is always on the lookout for things to be researching and getting stuck into as she has a very proactive attitude.
Her passion is something that many of us admire and she has been a core pillar of the community team for several years.
I’m very lucky to have had Sally as my manager during my time here!
Shauna Jones
Community Manager | Ubisoft
Sally bleeds passion and drive. She comes with a venerable expertise and she always seeks the betterment of her environment (and those within).
I had the pleasure of working with Sally in many capacities, including managing her. I watched someone who operated as a role model for others, helping guide and lead others to success. She is stalwart in her convictions, but always curious.
My time was immeasurably better for having had a chance to work with Sally and I will be always grateful to know her.
Morrigan Johnen
Sr Group Manager, COMDEV - Content Strategy | Ubisoft
Throughout my working relationship with Sally, I've come to know her as passionate, caring and overflowing with ideas. Her strategic mindset and ability to think ahead; set her teams up for success.
I've learnt a great deal about strategy and collaboration through Sally, and it's always been a great team learning experience whenever I've had the fortune to work alongside her.
She would be a great asset to any team, especially if thinking outside (and ahead) of the box is needed; her breadth and depth of industry experience alone is a rare and valuable resource.
Carina Nilsen
Freelance Community & Content Manager | Carina Nilsen Marketing
Sally is an incredible asset - she's a committed and hard-working colleague who is always thirsty to learn more and expand her skill set. Her willingness to go the extra mile for the business and for the customer are supremely valuable.
She has experience spanning influencer marketing through to eSports/competitive gaming. She's worked on products at all stages of their lifecycle, including launching key titles - which means she can adapt to any product or business type. Her understanding of how communities are formed, grown, and maintained is outstanding.
A credible manager, Sally has; displayed strong judgement to bring in fresh new talent to join the company, trained and coached team members, and provided the management they needed to flourish.
Sally's attitude, experience, and skill would make her an invaluable asset to any team, in any business, in any industry.
Tom Sweeny
Global Managing Partner | Brainlabs
One of the most dedicated and passionate Community Managers I have ever worked with. Sally has a great breadth of knowledge including eSports, streaming and social media. She is truly an asset to be cherished.
Mathew Kemp
Head of Product | Spark Universe
