Michael Zenke

Lead Loremaster, Lead Narrative Designer, Live Events Team PO at ZeniMax Online Studios

Washington DC-Baltimore Area

About

Hey there. I’m a writer in the video game industry. I'm a veteran storyteller with a decade of experience, a character-focused approach to interactive narratives, and an enthusiastic approach to collaboration.

Experience

  • ZeniMax Online Studios (United States)
    • Lead Narrative Designer / Lead Loremaster
      Jan 2026 - Present · 6 mos

    • Senior Writer and Loremaster
      Aug 2021 - Jan 2026 · 4 yrs 6 mos

  • Writer and Editor at The Grey Rooms
    Apr 2020 - Apr 2022 · 2 yrs 1 mo

    - Editor and narrative developer for a longform horror podcast. - Edits and develops submitted anthology scripts for freeform horror radioplay stories. - Writer, character and storyline developer for "frame story" IP that surrounds episode-by-episode anthology stories. - Collaborates with producers and casting director to ensure quality of end-to-end experience across multiple content types.

  • Senior Writer at ProbablyMonsters
    Oct 2019 - Aug 2021 · 1 yr 11 mos

    - Wrote extensive prose and worldbuilding documentation to take basic concepts for an in-development IP and expand them to support game development. - Wrote dialogue and collaborated with stakeholders to create a cast of characters and find their unique voices. - Provided narrative support and guidance for other disciplines in making core design choices to support and expand an in-development IP. - Acted as an area expert in collaboration with other disciplines to develop VO pipelines and best practices for recording VO.

  • Contract Writer at Various Game Studios
    Jun 2018 - Oct 2019 · 1 yr 5 mos

    • Wrote dialogue and prose narrative for AAA science-fiction franchise, live game support. • Wrote dialogue, prose and contributed world-building for in-development incubator project, genre fiction. • Wrote dialogue, and prose, contributed to world-building, edited and organized content for massive deliverable for in-development incubator project, genre fiction.

  • Senior Writer at Sucker Punch Productions
    Oct 2017 - Jun 2018 · 9 mos

    • Wrote mission dialogue for an original AAA franchise with tight constraints on historical accuracy, tone, and theme. • Strove to incorporate strong narrative themes into open-world mission structures while maintaining character voice, tone, and theme. • Collaborated with external consultants to ensure historical authenticity of narrative beats. • Worked closely with design partners to ideate and execute on engaging stealth and combat encounters with grounded narrative context.