Edward Zhang

Sr Game Designer (Econ & Combat Lead) @Firaxis Games

MD, US

I serve as the dual-system owner for both the empire-level economy and tactical combat on Civ VII, guiding design from late production into live-service balancing. Introduced Town Specialization to make the new City/Town split meaningful—now a fan-favorite feature. Re-imagined Happiness as a yield: low values trigger penalties, high values unlock Celebrations and global buffs. Set the pacing & weights for every core yield (Food, Production, Gold, Happiness, Science, Culture, Influence) across all eras. Founded the “Zealots” Deity-level playtest group, driving top survey scores for both Economics and Combat. Drove some of the most popular design changes: Isabella Ability rework, Growth Curve Adjustments. Led a mixed pod of engineers and created pipelines for a dozen artists; appeared in patch videos (1.2.0, 1.2.2) and global press tours, including IGN China.

Emory University

Bachelor's degree, Economics

Georgia Institute of Technology

Master's degree, Digital Media