Today we’d like to introduce you to Mario Kroll.
Hi Mario, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’m a first-generation immigrant who came to the U.S. from Germany at age 11, speaking very little English. A few years later, I was fluent — though I struggled with traditional schooling and dropped out in 10th grade.
In 1990, during Desert Shield, I joined the U.S. Army as a paralegal. At the time, I thought I might eventually pursue a career in law. After five years in that role, though, I realized it wasn’t the right long-term fit for me.
The Army taught me discipline, perseverance, and accountability — lessons I hadn’t learned in the classroom. It also taught me that everything changes: sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. I learned that while quitting something difficult might feel like the easier choice in the moment, perseverance builds resilience, and taking the easy way out often comes with a cost.
And, fun fact, I also learned to type — we had to meet strict typing-speed goals to earn weekend passes off base. It’s still one of the most valuable skills I use every day, even if I’m not quite as fast or error-free as I once was.
While still on active duty, I earned my GED and spent several years attending night school to build a foundation for what would come next. When I left the Army in 1995, I continued my education and completed a four-year Computer Science degree from the University of Maryland. The emerging world of web development immediately captured my imagination — this was the dawn of the World Wide Web, after all — and I quickly realized how much I enjoyed building things online.
That same year, I started my first “company,” Wargamer.com, a website devoted to strategy and military-themed video games. It was the perfect fusion of my love for gaming and my technical skills. I worked a full-time day job and ran Wargamer on nights and weekends, eventually growing it to about a million unique monthly visitors — no small feat in the pre-social-media era.
When my family relocated to North Carolina, I continued balancing a corporate tech career with running Wargamer. Eventually, I sold the site and stayed on for a year to manage advertising as part of the earn-out.
At E3 — the Electronic Entertainment Expo, then the video game industry’s largest global trade show — I met CDV Software Entertainment, which maintained its U.S. headquarters in Cary, North Carolina, as the American office of a larger German video game publisher. They appreciated my approach to relationship-building and sales during our conversations, and before long, they offered me my first role in the video game industry, supporting PR and marketing for their U.S. operations. It was a natural fit — I loved sharing stories about games, and my ability to bridge German and North American business cultures proved invaluable.
I advanced quickly at CDV, eventually overseeing all business development, PR, and marketing for the publisher’s U.S. office. A few years later, I was recruited by another German publisher, Kalypso Media, to rebuild their U.S. operations from scratch. I spent four years there as VP of North American Publishing, leading sales, licensing, and marketing across North America and Asia.
Then, just before Christmas 2013, I found myself on the receiving end of a layoff — one of those pivotal moments that force you to reassess your path. I’d been interviewing with major game companies, including Unity, but realized I didn’t want to go back to working for someone else. So, in January 2014, I founded UberStrategist Inc., a PR and marketing agency focused on video games and entertainment.
It was just me at first, then two of us for a while, and today we’re a global team of about 20 across six countries. We’ve been fortunate to work with amazing clients like Atari, Bungie, Tencent, Lilith, Gamigo, HoYoverse, and Nightdive Studios — and even made the Inc. 5000 list two years in a row.
We’re headquartered in Cary, NC, with a small local office, though most of our team works remotely — something we’ve done from day one.
Together, my team and I have spent decades helping shape how some of the world’s most iconic games and studios are seen — though my mom still isn’t entirely sure what it is we actually do. Most people assume I “get paid to play video games,” which always makes me laugh — if only it were that simple!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Definitely not all smooth sailing. In the early days, there were weeks when I had to dip into personal funds to cover payroll — a gut-check moment for any founder. Being responsible for the livelihoods of up to 30 people brings a level of pressure that’s hard to explain to anyone who hasn’t lived it.
We’ve lost clients we thought we’d have forever and spent weeks on proposals that didn’t pan out. But the highs have outweighed the lows. Ironically, our strongest growth came during COVID, because we were already remote-first and the world suddenly caught up to that model.
The last couple of years have been tougher across the gaming industry, and that’s affected service providers like us. Still, every challenge has been a learning experience — especially around hiring the right people and becoming a more intentional leader.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about UberStrategist Inc.?
ÜberStrategist Inc. is a multi-award-winning PR and marketing agency serving the entertainment and technology industries. We’ve been recognized twice on Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 5000 list, named an Inc. Power Partner, and nominated as Strategic Partner of the Year by MCV.
We’re proudly veteran-owned and deeply committed to diversity. Most of our leadership roles are held by women, veterans, and LGBTQ+ professionals. Giving back is part of our DNA — we regularly support charitable causes because we believe in leaving the world better than we found it.
Our work centers on public relations, influencer engagement, events, and select paid media placements for video game and tabletop clients.
Some of the highlights of my career have been the experiences that push creativity beyond the screen. Signing Atari as a client almost ten years ago was a personal milestone, since I grew up playing games on the original Atari 2600 as my first gaming system. Partnering with Bungie — the original creators of the Halo franchise and the Destiny series — and later expanding our work with them was another proud moment that underscored our reputation for delivering on our promises.
I’ve also had some once-in-a-lifetime opportunities — like bringing a German heavy metal band to San Diego Comic-Con for an in-game concert and organizing combat tank-driving adventures for journalists in Texas, Russia, and Long Island, and meeting the cast of Dexter and The Walking Dead at themed video game events. Those moments remind me how much storytelling, passion, and a sense of fun are at the heart of what we do.
Until recently, nearly all our business came through referrals and word of mouth. We’ve since added more structured outreach and brought on a fantastic head of business development based in Reykjavik, Iceland — one of my favorite places in the world.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
Nothing specific comes to mind, though I’m always happy to answer follow-up questions or provide clarification.
As for our services, we typically work on a retainer model, but also take on project-based clients. Pricing depends on each client’s goals and the effort required to achieve them.
Contact Info:
- Website: uberstrategist.com
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/
uberstrategist - Twitter: @uberstrategist
- Other: @uberstrategist.com
