
From Hobby Animations to Billion-View IPs: How Mob Entertainment’s Sibling Founders Are Rewriting The Rules Of Entertainment
Zach Belanger’s journey shows how persistence and bold risks turned a small animation studio into a global gaming success.
Most kids in the Midwest don’t grow up dreaming of building a transmedia empire, but then again, most kids don’t start companies with their 14-year-old brother.
For Zach Belanger, co-founder of Mob Entertainment, life has been anything but conventional. Born and raised in what he calls a “flyover state,” ambition wasn't always encouraged, but it was stubbornly cultivated.
“If I had to sum myself up in one word, it’d be persistence,” he says. “But that’s just the surface.”
At 17, inspired by the raw talent of his little brother Seth Belanger, who was already crafting animations on his own, he dove headfirst into what would eventually evolve into a global creative force. Mob Entertainment may now be best known for the viral gaming phenomenon Poppy Playtime, but the road there wasn’t paved in gold, it was more like midnight editing sessions, microscopic ad revenue, and a decade-long war of attrition against the platform’s algorithm.
The School Of Hard Knocks
Before Mob became a household name in horror gaming, it was EnchantedMob, a bootstrapped animation channel producing studio-quality visuals for a platform built to reward bedroom vloggers.
“We were working 10 to 12 hours a day, six or seven days a week, just to make a free product that might never go viral,” he recalls.
They were making three-minute music videos that took months to animate, to return about $1 RPM.
“Perhaps the hardest part was investing sometimes 1-2+ months in a single video in a world where we were competing with personality-based content creators who just turn on a camera in their bedroom and via their via their charisma these content creators seemingly get views for days easily,” he said. “Just like a film studio, you are not judged by a single video; you are judged by your batting average. The problem was how in the world are we supposed to somehow ensure that virtually every single video we make goes viral? Mind you, I’m not talking viral as in 1 million views, I am talking 10’s of millions or even 100 million+ views per video.”
But the madness paid off: after generating massive viewership, they’d cracked the code on storytelling in the digital age, and were ready to level up.
Betting The House On A Horror Game
When a business consultant told them to double down on their existing content strategy and ditch their speculative game project, the brothers faced a choice: stay comfortable, or bet everything on Poppy Playtime.
…..They bet big.
“99 out of 100 times, the consultant would have been right. But sometimes, when you’re an outlier, you have to bet on yourself,” he says.
The risk turned into one of the most lucrative and creatively freeing decisions they ever made. In turn, Mob Entertainment leapt from digital creators to IP powerbrokers.
Still, success didn’t come with a manual. “You can hire experts who will be wrong. Just because something should work doesn’t mean it will,” he says. “At the end of the day, the market does what it wants, and the only thing that matters is if the product is great.”
Leadership By Hiking Boots And Gut Instinct
When asked about pivotal leadership moments, Zach doesn’t point to a crisis or a viral moment. He talks about hiking boots.
“It’s about relentlessly exploring opportunities or ideas until you get to the end to see if there is or isn’t a pot of gold. To me, I find comfort in getting to the end of the rainbow to see what’s there. I hate only endlessly speculating that there could be gold. At some point, I am the crazy person who says “We’re going to the end of this rainbow, and we’re going now. Here are your snacks, here is your water bottle, and here are your hiking boots.”
For him, leadership is about turning over every rock, testing every theory, and never quitting just because someone says “no.” It’s why Mob is still making moves most gaming companies wouldn’t dare: blending film, TV, merch, and immersive experiences into their creative ecosystem.
"We want to be a once-in-a-generation creative powerhouse," he says.
Balancing Art And Commerce (Without Selling Out)
For all their creative edge, Mob isn't chasing art for art’s sake. They’re building IP that lives at the intersection of integrity and profitability.
“We believe you can have your cake and eat it too,” he insists. “At the end of the day, artists are creating something for themselves and potentially others to enjoy, but if the IP itself isn’t commercial, then very few people will ever enjoy the art. The creative and business sides are just two sides to the same coin in my book. They help each other.”
That duality, visionary and operator, is reflected in the sibling dynamic. Seth pushes the envelope artistically; Zach makes sure the ship stays on course. It's a yin-yang setup that fuels their ambition to go beyond Poppy Playtime and create a full-blown universe of original stories.
Culture Over Clout
As Mob expands, culture has become the make-or-break priority. “Team motivation typically comes down to liking the work itself and the people you are working with, it’s about making sure your people love their work and don’t dread their managers,” he says. “If you want to kill team morale fast, keep a toxic manager around.”
And while growth can strain even the best teams, he believes alignment comes from one thing: overcommunication.
On Success, Risk, And Finding The Right People
To him, success isn’t a flashy IPO or viral clip. It’s more personal than that: “Professionally, it’s building a company that outlives me. Personally, it’s being able to love the work and support the people I care about.”
His advice to young creators is just as grounded: “Find a partner. Someone who brings something to the table that you are missing.” And if you can’t find that person right away? Start building anyway and keep your options open for the right person to join you as you build.
“Life is too short and business is too hard to go it all alone,” he adds. “Just get your idea out there in the world and get feedback. Iterate, iterate, iterate.”
BDG Media newsroom and editorial staff were not involved in the creation of this content.