GameMakers

Mayur Bhimjiyani is the CEO and co-founder of Hypernova, an India-based F2P games studio building a GTA-like game focusing on the Indian market. Mayur speaks about his background, the history behind Hypernova, and why they are building Mayanagari, a game Mayur hopes to become as successful as GTA. OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro 1:02 Why do so many Indian game devs call Hypernova the most exciting game studio in India? 4:45 Why build Mayanagari - the GTA for India? 16:33 The history behind Hypernova 22:07 Mayanagari stage and launch plans 26:10 Mayanagari monetization model 33:30 The evolution of the India games industry- RPGs 35:38 New game dev vs. liveops in India (Zynga vs. Hypernova) 40:07 Positive areas and areas of improvement for new game dev in India 44:30 What do you look forward to from India game dev market? 45:20 How to contact Mayur or find out more about Mayanagari?

OUTLINE: 0:00 Sequoia Capital India introduction 0:49 Intro to Shailesh Lakhani and Prachi Pawar 3:29 Type of investments and founders they seek 4:36 Surge pre-Series A program 5:30 Specific opportunities and trends in India 9:04 Gaming opportunity in India 13:51 Specific gaming investment opportunities they seek 14:59 Why did Sequoia India invest in Lila Games? 16:30 Current investment environment, macro factors 19:19 Advice to founders based on current trends 21:10 Outlook on Web3 22:51 Advice to founders who would pitch Sequoia India SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube:    / gamemakersstudio   👇 EPISODE LINKS: - Sequoia Capital India Website: https://www.sequoiacap.com/india/ - Shailesh Lakhani: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shailesh-... - Prachi Pawar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prachi-pa...

OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro  0:33 The "brutal" game dev environment   2:11 Current market environment vs. before  3:50 More about Funcraft and the business situation  8:15 Funcraft's biggest challenge  9:40 How do you determine what game to make?  11:52 Biggest lessons and challenges of startups vs. big companies to achieve success  14:54 Challenge of new game dev from big companies  17:20 Lessons for mobile gaming startups in current market environment  19:50 Focus vs. "don't bet the farm"  22:12 Keep going or do you tap out? When to pivot or quit?  26:55 The benefit of just being alive  28:20 Current primary challenges  31:45 Thoughts around selling your company   34:10 Advice to new entrepreneurs in F2P gaming  36:30 Thoughts on current marketing challenges  39:40 Future trends and opportunities  41:50 Final thoughts on state of market and overall market outlook  43:05 How to reach Michael 👇 EPISODE LINKS: - Michael Martinez, CEO of Funcraft: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinezmichaelj/ - FunCraft: https://www.funcraft.com/ SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio

OUTLINE: 0:00 Bloomberg article on stack ranking at Blizzard 1:01 Introduct to speakers: Matthew Kanterman, Drew Levin, and Brett Nowak 1:48 High level thoughts on stack ranking as a practice 5:33 Stack ranking poll results - Majority are against 7:30 JK hypothetical situations to use stack ranking 25:40 Character vs. cruelty in stack ranking during recruiting 36:30 Management rationale behind stack ranking 39:27 Should the Blizzard manager have been fired? 47:10 Stack ranking ties to capability of management layer 50:45 Stack ranking for performance evaluation 1:07:10 Why employees should get close to company value creation to avoid layoffs 1:08:40 JK's crazy stack ranking performance evaluation idea - investing virtual $ in co-workers 1:26:40 Final thoughts on getting canceled 👇 EPISODE LINKS: - Matthew's reference to The Office Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wqQXu13tLA - Matthew Kanterman, Director of Research at Roundhill Investments: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-kanterman-cfa-b6345133/ - Drew Levin, Director of Product at Riot Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drew-levin-7a225626/ - Brett Nowak, CEO at Liquid & Grit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-nowak-8920675/ SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio 😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! — • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1 • TWITTER → @jokim1 • LINKEDIN → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/ — POPULAR CONTENT — 🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies https://youtu.be/bkd2TOpKt4I 🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021 https://youtu.be/NejFzHtpiZI 🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming https://youtu.be/_QT7O3Wxi2s 🔴 Games Industry M&A https://youtu.be/65nyPk6WNrs 🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games https://youtu.be/tHq3PzmjhLw 🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact https://youtu.be/Ojec4wGKpso 🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score https://youtu.be/5egTSQ6AiRA 🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices https://youtu.be/tmzqqnYbjNY

OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro  0:50 Jordan Phang self intro  1:35 Mobile shooter game market size  2:53 Competitive concentration in mobile shooter and Asia  4:25 Success in China  5:40 US market and games to watch out for  6:50 Adapting games for specific markets like Japan and China  8:25 Naavik's shooter taxonomy and problems with classification  12:52 Explanation of extraction shooter sub-genre  14:15 Current extraction shooter games: Lost Light, Arena Breakout  15:22 The thesis behind extraction shooter as the next big subgenre in mobile shooters  17:18 Monetization of shooter games  21:50 The future mobile shooter games to watch out for  23:38 Warzone Mobile  24:38 Players looking for something new  27:00 Problems with Apex Legends Mobile (we recorded this in Jan 2023, before the shutdown announcement)  28:15 Outlook for 2023: Get excited! 👇 EPISODE LINKS: - Get the free Naavik Pro report on Mobile Shooters here: https://naavik.co/deep-dives/genre-report-shooter-preview?rq=mobile%20shooters - Jordan Phang: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-phang-8137b710/

Moritz Baier-Lentz is a partner at Lightspeed Gaming, heading up their gaming investment practice. Today we discuss viewing life as a game and how to optimize your own goals towards life by thinking about life as a game and how to break the meta. You won't want to miss this unique and interesting discussion, so check it out! SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio OUTLINE: 0:00 Introduction, the concept of life as a meta game 1:16 Explanation of "meta" and viewing life as a game 6:32 Moritz's background, career history 12:15 What are current metas for success in life? Breaking the meta 15:26 Breaking conventional wisdom, play as experimentation: work vs. play 23:00 Cross-combining different skills or industries to build a new meta 29:20 Approaching life as quest objectives, Moritz's framework for life 34:00 Details on Moritz's life framework 37:10 Examples of interesting life initiatives from Moritz, achievement by discipline 41:55 Using being "extreme" to accomplish goals, how to stand out 45:34 JK's weird dating example 46:45 How does someone pursue extremism? 52:30 The next chapter at Lightspeed Gaming for Moritz 55:55 What will become of Moritz's LA gaming parties? 👇 EPISODE LINKS: - Moritz Baier-Lentz: https://www.linkedin.com/in/moritzbaierlentz/ 😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! — • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1 • TWITTER → @jokim1 • LINKEDIN → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/ — POPULAR CONTENT — 🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies https://youtu.be/bkd2TOpKt4I 🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021 https://youtu.be/NejFzHtpiZI 🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming https://youtu.be/_QT7O3Wxi2s 🔴 Games Industry M&A https://youtu.be/65nyPk6WNrs 🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games https://youtu.be/tHq3PzmjhLw 🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact https://youtu.be/Ojec4wGKpso 🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score https://youtu.be/5egTSQ6AiRA 🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices https://youtu.be/tmzqqnYbjNY

Happy Thanksgiving!  I'm in India this year and had a Mexican burrito bowl in the office by myself. Lol. As I sat in the office late at night, I recorded another cringe and weird video for my kids. Too many people undervalue opportunity! I just wanted to let you know that I'm grateful this Thanksgiving for the opportunity to try to build something meaningful. It's not looking good right now, but that's what entrepreneurship is all about: how do we take a low-probability scenario and turn it into a high-probability outcome?  LFG!

We deep dive on eSports. Current market and growth projections, what kinds of games do well, business model, structure, prize pools, key trends, geographic differences, and more! Join us with our esteemed group of speakers: Ilaria Caputo (EA), Matthew Kanterman (Ball Metaverse Research Partners), and Hugo Tristao (Newzoo). Speaker links below. 👇 EPISODE LINKS: Ilaria Caputo, https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilaria-caputo/ Matthew Kanterman, https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-kanterman-cfa-b6345133/ Hugo Tristao, https://www.linkedin.com/in/tristaohugo/

Stoffer Touborg was a lead game designer on Eve Online at CCP, led Wild Rift at Riot, and currently acts as Executive Producer on Bitcraft Online for Clockwork Labs.   Stoffer is one of the most thoughtful game industry executives I know, and I regularly ask Stoffer for advice on leadership, organizational principles, and recruiting.   Today we talk about not just about coming up with a desired set of company values and culture, but how to actually implement or install these within a company.    SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS:  - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio  OUTLINE:  0:00 Intro  2:13 Stoffer Touborg Background  3:07 Definition of Company Culture and Warning for New Employees  6:06 Values vs. Culture Definition  9:10 Employees Need to Confirm Cultural Fit, Values Need to be Good, Given Context, and Fair  14:16 Installing Values/Culture in a Company, Communication vs. Implementation  16:47 Values Manifestation Board 20:45 Why is Company Culture Critical? Sometimes Values Don't Matter  25:40 How to Deal with Employee Cultural Misalignment  31:34 Executive Accountability for Culture Mismatches  32:15 Recruiting for Culture Fit 36:30 How to Deal with Culture Exceptions for a Specific Need - "The Dennis Rodman Rule"    👇 EPISODE LINKS:   Stoffer Touborg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristoffertouborg/ The Game Stoffer is Working on, Bitcraft Online: https://bitcraftonline.com/  😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! —   • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1  • TWITTER      → @jokim1  • LINKEDIN      → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/   

I speak to Rahul Chowdhri, an investor at Stellaris Venture Partners, about the venture capital market in India, the current state of investment here, and his outlook on investments in gaming in India.   OUTLINE:  0:00 General landscape of venture capital in India  2:20 Specialist vs. generalist VCs, the definition of micro-VC  3:35 Sudden investment interest in gaming in India  4:48 Should investors invest early in gaming or wait for talent to emerge?  5:17 Info on Stellaris and what they look for from a pitch?  6:25 Typical funding for Seed vs. Series A in India  7:13 Expectations for Series A  8:09 What do you look for in an entrepreneur/CEO?  12:11 How should entrepreneurs consider the global economy in their fundraising?  14:36 Advice for entrepreneurs who want to pitch Stellaris    👇 EPISODE LINKS:   - Stellaris Venture Partners: https://www.stellarisvp.com/ - Rahul Chowdhri: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulchowdhri/  SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS:  - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio

Predicting a game's success during concept or development is an incredibly difficult problem. What are typical ways companies, especially big companies think about and manage their green light process?   What kinds of corporate nonsense occurs that hurts game outcomes? SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio 😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! — • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1 • TWITTER      → @jokim1 • LINKEDIN      → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/ — POPULAR CONTENT — 🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies https://youtu.be/bkd2TOpKt4I 🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021 https://youtu.be/NejFzHtpiZI 🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming https://youtu.be/_QT7O3Wxi2s 🔴 Games Industry M&A https://youtu.be/65nyPk6WNrs 🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games https://youtu.be/tHq3PzmjhLw 🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact https://youtu.be/Ojec4wGKpso 🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score https://youtu.be/5egTSQ6AiRA 🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices https://youtu.be/tmzqqnYbjNY

Today's focus will be on the F2P game design discipline. How it’s evolved, what does it take to be successful as a game designer, the tools and practice of a F2P game designer, and where does John think the future is headed for F2P game design. 👇 EPISODE LINKS:   - PlaySimple Games: https://playsimple.in/ - John Kelly LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-kelly-99b3966/  SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS:  - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio

I interview Matthew Emery aka "The Games Consultant" about what it means to build a F2P liveops "Playbook."   Listen to this Q&A between me and Matt!   SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS:  - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio  OUTLINE:  0:00 Intro  1:01 Matt's 19-Year Background & Current Business  2:24 High-Level Framework for Thinking About LiveOps: How to Survive? 7:10 How to Deal With Low KPI Metrics? ROI-First Approach  12:57 Coming Up With Improvement Initiatives  15:39 How to Gauge Initiative Impact Through Multi-Variate/Split Testing? Stat-sig or Not?  19:00 New Game Dev vs. Live Operated Games  21:50 What Should a Live-ops "Playbook" Include?  27:12 Biggest Mistakes & Learnings from Matt's Experience  30:10 Recommendations on Critical Best Practices / High ROI Areas  33:48 Why Aggressiveness is Critical in Multivariate Testing?  37:38 Final Recommendations - Need to Understand UA, Why CPI Goes Up?   👇 EPISODE LINKS:   - Matt Emery: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewemery/ - IAP Merchandising Playbook #1| Special Offers that Sizzle: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/iap-merchandising-playbook-part-1-special-offers-matthew/ - IAP Merchandising Playbook #2| Visual Hierarchy: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/iap-merchandising-playbook-part-2-visual-hierarchy-matthew/ - IAP Merchandising Playbook #3| MVP Store Design: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/iap-merchandising-playbook-part-3-mvp-store-design-matthew/?trackingId=vtcxmGEzQWK04H3PDuD2lw%3D%3D  😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! —   • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1  • TWITTER      → @jokim1  • LINKEDIN      → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/

Drew Levin is currently Director of Product at Riot Games and before that a Director of Product Management at Zynga.   Zynga vs. Riot: two companies with wildly different approaches to game development, decision-making, and a culture of debate and discussion. Even more, Drew worked as a political campaign manager before game development.   I believe Drew is uniquely experienced in speaking very deeply about different cultures and approaches to having constructive debates within a corporate context.  However, more broadly, in our talk today, we discuss the following:      - #1. The problem at many companies focused on winning vs. discussion and seeking truth      - #2. Impact of company culture       - #3. Specific techniques to facilitate more constructive discussions      - #4. Ideas and ways in which we can improve discussions 👇 EPISODE LINKS:   - Drew Levin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drew-levin-7a225626/ - Adam Grant, "How to Argue about Abortion": https://adamgrant.bulletin.com/how-to-argue-about-abortion/ - Paul Saffo on Strong Opinions, Weakly Held: https://www.saffo.com/02008/07/26/strong-opinions-weakly-held/ - AORs by Asana: https://wavelength.asana.com/workstyle-aors/  SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS:  - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio

I talk about why I'm sacrificing so much to try and make Lila Games a successful company. Also, how much of my thinking was influenced by the Clayton Christensen essay (there's a book as well, which I haven't read yet) "How Will You Measure Your Life?"

Get the data and read the more in-depth take here: https://gamemakers.substack.com/p/will-dislyte-be-liliths-next-big We talk about Lilith Games' latest mobile game: Dislyte. It's a "team battle" (game sub-genre) based mobile game that started strong but has recently slowed down. What are the chances of success?   We bring on two experts who recently covered Dislyte  #1. Harshal Karvande, Lead Game Designer at Rovio & Naavik Pro Contributor who wrote a deconstruction report on Dislyte and  #2. Teemu Palomaki, Chief Game Analyst at GameRefinery who recently hosted a webinar on Dislyte.  Finally, I asked Junde Yu from data.ai to show us the data associated with the game.   OUTLINE:  0:00 Intro  1:33 Dislyte Data Report  9:19 Performance Drivers  21:12 IP & Other Risks   29:02 Lilith Games Backstory   33:24 Tech & Battle Mechanics  38:42 PVE vs. PVP  44:38 Longer Term Outlook  50:00 Future Expectations    😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! —   • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1  • TWITTER      → @jokim1  • LINKEDIN      → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/

Coming off of one of the toughest months in my career, I reflect on how lucky I am to be faced with problems. It's only through problems and major challenges that you can learn how to get better. Adversity, therefore, is a gift!  As Ray Dalio wrote in Principles: Pain + Reflection = Progress  It's tough, but I hope you realize as I have that we are fortunate to have the challenges we face.    SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS:  - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersS... 😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! —  • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1 • TWITTER      → @jokim1 • LINKEDIN      → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/ — POPULAR CONTENT — 🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies https://youtu.be/bkd2TOpKt4I 🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021 https://youtu.be/NejFzHtpiZI 🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming https://youtu.be/_QT7O3Wxi2s 🔴 Games Industry M&A https://youtu.be/65nyPk6WNrs 🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games https://youtu.be/tHq3PzmjhLw 🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact https://youtu.be/Ojec4wGKpso 🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score https://youtu.be/5egTSQ6AiRA 🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices https://youtu.be/tmzqqnYbjNY

Oh damn, I actually made another Vlog. Well, today I talk about the importance of discipline, drive, and details in execution and achieving successful outcomes. Further, I talk about how mental strength magnifies the 3Ds and how you can train for mental strength like a muscle. SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio 😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! — • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1 • TWITTER      → @jokim1 • LINKEDIN      → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/ — POPULAR CONTENT — 🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies https://youtu.be/bkd2TOpKt4I 🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021 https://youtu.be/NejFzHtpiZI 🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming https://youtu.be/_QT7O3Wxi2s 🔴 Games Industry M&A https://youtu.be/65nyPk6WNrs 🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games https://youtu.be/tHq3PzmjhLw 🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact https://youtu.be/Ojec4wGKpso 🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score https://youtu.be/5egTSQ6AiRA 🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices https://youtu.be/tmzqqnYbjNY

Oliver Jones is an OG game maker in India having worked at 2 of India's biggest companies like Zynga and co-founded Moonfrog (sold to Stillfront for $100M). He has now co-founded a new games studio called Bombay Play focusing on a new breed of games called "hyper social" games.    Why did Oli come to India in the first place? How were companies like Zynga and Moonfrog like during the early days? How has the Indian game dev ecosystem evolved over the years? How and why did he found Bombay Play? And, what are hyper social games?   Find out RIGHT NOW! SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio 😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! — • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1 • TWITTER      → @jokim1 • LINKEDIN      → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/ — POPULAR CONTENT — 🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies https://youtu.be/bkd2TOpKt4I 🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021 https://youtu.be/NejFzHtpiZI 🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming https://youtu.be/_QT7O3Wxi2s 🔴 Games Industry M&A https://youtu.be/65nyPk6WNrs 🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games https://youtu.be/tHq3PzmjhLw 🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact https://youtu.be/Ojec4wGKpso 🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score https://youtu.be/5egTSQ6AiRA 🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices https://youtu.be/tmzqqnYbjNY

Are you a workaholic grinder like me? Well, it finally got the best of me and totally jacked up my back and face. Health is critical! I talk about a big problem, trying to fix my health, and the results of my plan to get better in this video. SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio 😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! — • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1 • TWITTER      → @jokim1 • LINKEDIN      → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/ — POPULAR CONTENT — 🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies https://youtu.be/bkd2TOpKt4I 🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021 https://youtu.be/NejFzHtpiZI 🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming https://youtu.be/_QT7O3Wxi2s 🔴 Games Industry M&A https://youtu.be/65nyPk6WNrs 🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games https://youtu.be/tHq3PzmjhLw 🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact https://youtu.be/Ojec4wGKpso 🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score https://youtu.be/5egTSQ6AiRA 🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices https://youtu.be/tmzqqnYbjNY

Today I speak to Seb Park regarding how startups should incorporate "Bayesian Thinking" into their strategic decision-making process. This means how to incorporate new information for a startup best and how to use that to gain a massive competitive advantage.   SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio 😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! — • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1 • TWITTER      → @jokim1 • LINKEDIN      → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/ — POPULAR CONTENT — 🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies https://youtu.be/bkd2TOpKt4I 🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021 https://youtu.be/NejFzHtpiZI 🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming https://youtu.be/_QT7O3Wxi2s 🔴 Games Industry M&A https://youtu.be/65nyPk6WNrs 🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games https://youtu.be/tHq3PzmjhLw 🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact https://youtu.be/Ojec4wGKpso 🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score https://youtu.be/5egTSQ6AiRA 🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices https://youtu.be/tmzqqnYbjNY

When you're at the office super late and hella tired, you do weird shit like starting a Vlog.   I'm Joseph Kim, CEO of Lila Games and we are trying to build a mobile gaming studio out of Bangalore, India.   SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS:  - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio 😃  —CONNECT WITH ME! —   • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1  • TWITTER      → @jokim1  • LINKEDIN      → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/    — POPULAR CONTENT —  🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies https://youtu.be/bkd2TOpKt4I 🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021 https://youtu.be/NejFzHtpiZI 🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming https://youtu.be/_QT7O3Wxi2s 🔴 Games Industry M&A https://youtu.be/65nyPk6WNrs 🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games https://youtu.be/tHq3PzmjhLw 🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact https://youtu.be/Ojec4wGKpso 🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score https://youtu.be/5egTSQ6AiRA 🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices https://youtu.be/tmzqqnYbjNY

Mobile free-to-play game design experts from Naavik - Thomas Baker (former lead game designer at Electronic Arts and lead on Real Racing 3) and Eva Grillova (former game designer from Wooga and SocialPoint) - have written a super in-depth analysis on Garena Free Fire.   Find out how Free Fire was able to achieve success to become the world's most downloaded shooter game of all time! Further, why has Free Fire dropped by over 30% since last year? What are the big risks and opportunities ahead for the game?   SPECIAL OFFER FROM NAAVIK:   🔥🔥🔥 Get the Garena Free Fire Pro report for FREE here: https://naavik.co/deep-dives/free-fire-world 🔥 🔥 🔥    SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS:  - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio  OUTLINE:  0:00 Intro  2:11 Secrets to Success  7:55 SEA Organization  11:45 Localization Focus  19:00 Competitive Landscape  25:25 Revenue Decline  26:47  Monetization Scheme  34:30 Biggest Risks  47:40 Impact of Free Fire Max  52:10 Future Expectations   👇 EPISODE LINKS:   - Thomas Baker, Consulting Partner, Naavik Consulting  - Eva Grillova, Game Design Consultant, Naavik Consulting  - Naavik: https://naavik.co/  😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! —   • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1  • TWITTER      → @jokim1  • LINKEDIN      → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/    — POPULAR CONTENT —  🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies https://youtu.be/bkd2TOpKt4I 🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021 https://youtu.be/NejFzHtpiZI 🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming https://youtu.be/_QT7O3Wxi2s 🔴 Games Industry M&A https://youtu.be/65nyPk6WNrs 🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games https://youtu.be/tHq3PzmjhLw 🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact https://youtu.be/Ojec4wGKpso 🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score https://youtu.be/5egTSQ6AiRA 🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices https://youtu.be/tmzqqnYbjNY

We talk about a lot of hot topics people have been discussing in the games industry.  Topics: #1. The dramatic decline in user acquisition marketing - UA Apocalypse #2. Impact of global recession #3. Employee compensation SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS:  - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio  OUTLINE:  0:00 Intro  2:50 UA Apocalypse  16:35 Product Validation  35:10 Impact of Global Recession  1:01:10 Employee Compensation   😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! —   • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1  • TWITTER      → @jokim1  • LINKEDIN      → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/    — POPULAR CONTENT —  🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies https://youtu.be/bkd2TOpKt4I 🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021 https://youtu.be/NejFzHtpiZI 🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming https://youtu.be/_QT7O3Wxi2s 🔴 Games Industry M&A https://youtu.be/65nyPk6WNrs 🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games https://youtu.be/tHq3PzmjhLw 🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact https://youtu.be/Ojec4wGKpso 🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score https://youtu.be/5egTSQ6AiRA 🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices https://youtu.be/tmzqqnYbjNY

Joseph Kim and Brett Nowak talk about cultural installation (not just conveying or communicating culture) and about how to create incentive systems for employees.   SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS:  - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio  OUTLINE:  0:00 Intro  2:01 Installing Culture (Not Just Communication of Culture)  41:45 Employee Incentive Systems   😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! —   • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1  • TWITTER      → @jokim1  • LINKEDIN      → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/    — POPULAR CONTENT —  🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies https://youtu.be/bkd2TOpKt4I 🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021 https://youtu.be/NejFzHtpiZI 🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming https://youtu.be/_QT7O3Wxi2s 🔴 Games Industry M&A https://youtu.be/65nyPk6WNrs 🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games https://youtu.be/tHq3PzmjhLw 🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact https://youtu.be/Ojec4wGKpso 🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score https://youtu.be/5egTSQ6AiRA 🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices https://youtu.be/tmzqqnYbjNY

Will Harbin was CEO at Kixeye during the early 2010s when the company launched some of the most innovative games to the market at that time: Desktop Tower Defense, Backyard Monsters, War Commander, and Battle Pirates. The company was poised to become the next big gaming juggernaut but did not quite make the transition to mobile.    Today Will is making a comeback with Kixeye 2.0, his new company Global Worldwide which recently launched Kingdom Maker.  Don't miss this fascinating discussion, outlined below.   SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS:  - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio  OUTLINE:  0:00 Intro  0:46 Will on Kixeye's Controversial Past  3:05 Kixeye's Famous Recruitment Video  5:50 Social vs. Transitioning to Mobile  10:45 How Losers on Social Like Supercell Won on Mobile  15:25 The Early Mobile F2P Market 21:40 The F2P Gaming Market Today  24:24 "Full Economic Mastery"  25:15 The Story of Kingdom Maker and Global Worldwide aka Kixeye 2.0  33:20 On Kixeye Culture 38:00 Why Did Will Believe in Kingdom Maker for 6 Years?  42:25 Product Validation Approach 46:00 On Game Publishing and Scopely  51:10 View on Current F2P Gaming Landscape   👇 EPISODE LINKS:   - Will Harbin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willharbin/ 😃  —CONNECT WITH ME! —   • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1  • TWITTER      → @jokim1  • LINKEDIN      → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/    — POPULAR CONTENT —  🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies https://youtu.be/bkd2TOpKt4I 🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021 https://youtu.be/NejFzHtpiZI 🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming https://youtu.be/_QT7O3Wxi2s 🔴 Games Industry M&A https://youtu.be/65nyPk6WNrs 🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games https://youtu.be/tHq3PzmjhLw 🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact https://youtu.be/Ojec4wGKpso 🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score https://youtu.be/5egTSQ6AiRA 🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices https://youtu.be/tmzqqnYbjNY

Sebastian Park is a co-founder of the UGC publishing company Infinite Canvas and a venture partner at BITKRAFT Ventures. He was also formerly VP of eSports for the Houston Rockets and co-founded Clutch Gaming.   Seb talks about his beliefs on why user-generated gaming is the next frontier for the games industry.   SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS:  - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv  - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i  - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/  - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio   OUTLINE:  0:00 Context and Intro to Seb Park  3:45 Why User Generated Gaming is the Next Frontier?  9:35 How Does UGC Manifest in Games?   12:50 Biggest Opportunity in UGC?  19:25 Infinite Canvas Publishing Model  21:22 UGC Discovery  24:35 Value Proposition of a UGC Publisher  27:10 Examples of Good UGC Creators  33:25 Are UGC Platforms Winner-take-all?  👇 EPISODE LINKS:   • Seb Park on Twitter: @SebPark  😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! —   • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1  • TWITTER      → @jokim1  • LINKEDIN      → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/     — POPULAR CONTENT  — 🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw  ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies https://youtu.be/bkd2TOpKt4I  🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021 https://youtu.be/NejFzHtpiZI  🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming https://youtu.be/_QT7O3Wxi2s  🔴 Games Industry M&A https://youtu.be/65nyPk6WNrs  🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games https://youtu.be/tHq3PzmjhLw  🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact https://youtu.be/Ojec4wGKpso  🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score https://youtu.be/5egTSQ6AiRA  🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices https://youtu.be/tmzqqnYbjNY

Three of the greatest experts on Entertainment IP in Games give perhaps the most in-depth discussion on impact, deal structure, issues, and advice.  You don't want to miss this if you have any interest of licensing IP in your game!   SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS:  - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio  OUTLINE:  0:00 Intro  1:26 Speaker Backgrounds  14:15 Impact of IP on Games  32:52 Fitting Gameplay and IP  39:45 Big Problems with IP  45:47 Licensor Objectives  48:44 Terms & Deal Structure  57:10 Exclusivity  1:00:34 Other IP Considerations  1:04:28 Licenses Gone Wrong  1:14:05 IP vs. Integration Deals  1:22:48 Advice to Secure Deal   👇 SPEAKER LINKS:   - Ames Kirshen. VP, Studio General Manager & Creative Director at Atomic Arcade: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ameskirshen/ - Pete Wanat, Chief Creative Officer at Nifty Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pete-wanat-468089176/ - Ed Zobrist. USC Lecturer, Former Head of Publishing at Fortnite: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edzobrist/  😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! —   • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1  • TWITTER      → @jokim1  • LINKEDIN      → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/    — POPULAR CONTENT —  🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies https://youtu.be/bkd2TOpKt4I 🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021 https://youtu.be/NejFzHtpiZI 🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming https://youtu.be/_QT7O3Wxi2s 🔴 Games Industry M&A https://youtu.be/65nyPk6WNrs 🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games https://youtu.be/tHq3PzmjhLw 🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact https://youtu.be/Ojec4wGKpso 🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score https://youtu.be/5egTSQ6AiRA 🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices https://youtu.be/tmzqqnYbjNY

After a career in product management at places like Zynga Natural Motion and Digital Chocolate, Akash Senapaty founded e-learning startup Vah Vah with 3 others from Zynga India.    What are the lessons learned? What was he able to translate from being a games PM at Zynga to entrepreneurship? What are his thoughts on the gaming companies and the opportunities in India?   SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS:  - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio  👇 EPISODE LINKS:   - Akash Senapaty, Co-founder at Vah Vah: https://www.linkedin.com/in/senapaty/  😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! —   • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1  • TWITTER      → @jokim1  • LINKEDIN      → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/    — POPULAR CONTENT —  🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies https://youtu.be/bkd2TOpKt4I 🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021 https://youtu.be/NejFzHtpiZI 🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming https://youtu.be/_QT7O3Wxi2s 🔴 Games Industry M&A https://youtu.be/65nyPk6WNrs 🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games https://youtu.be/tHq3PzmjhLw 🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact https://youtu.be/Ojec4wGKpso 🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score https://youtu.be/5egTSQ6AiRA 🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices https://youtu.be/tmzqqnYbjNY

We discuss the current opportunity space for traditional game developers around Web3.    SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS:  - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio  OUTLINE:  0:00 Introduction  1:51 Why Web3?  6:20 What Does Web3 Mean?  24:37 Axie Hack & Big Risks  39:27 Emotional Web3 Devs  46:08 Areas of Innovation  1:00:49 Investment & Valuations   1:06:42 Companies to Watch  1:13:07 Community in Web3  1:18:00 Last Word & Prediction   🎤 SPEAKERS:   - Jeremy Horn, VP of Innovation at FunPlus: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyhorn/ - Joseph Kim, CEO of LILA Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/ - Niko Vuori, CEO of Blockstars: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikovuori/ - Chris Ye, CEO at UKEN Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cye/  😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! —   • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1 • TWITTER      → @jokim1  • LINKEDIN      → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/    — POPULAR CONTENT —  🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies https://youtu.be/bkd2TOpKt4I 🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021 https://youtu.be/NejFzHtpiZI 🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming https://youtu.be/_QT7O3Wxi2s 🔴 Games Industry M&A https://youtu.be/65nyPk6WNrs 🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games https://youtu.be/tHq3PzmjhLw 🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact https://youtu.be/Ojec4wGKpso 🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score https://youtu.be/5egTSQ6AiRA 🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices https://youtu.be/tmzqqnYbjNY

We talk about game studio fundraising and specifically Series A funding - what that means - and lessons, best practices, and mistakes based on my own experience with this current financing round.   Understand the difference between Seed and Series A.   Make sure you don't make the same mistakes I did. Don't be a lame CEO and make sure you take funding seriously!   SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS:  - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio  OUTLINE:  0:00 Introduction  1:43 Funding Environment  13:13 What is a Series A?   21:16 Investment Models  34:59 Ideal Startup Profile  44:01 Amount of Funding  56:07 Investor Value Add  59:16 Post vs. Pre-Money  1:04:44 Investor Communication   1:13:45 Having a Defined Process  1:26:49 Biggest Mistake & Advice  1:31:15 Wrap-Up & Contact   👇 EPISODE LINKS:   - Jobs at LILA Games: https://www.lilagames.com/jobs/ 💰  LOOKING FOR FUNDING?:  - BITKRAFT: https://www.bitkraft.vc/ (Led LILA's Seed and invested in Series A)  - Galaxy Interactive: https://www.galaxyinteractive.io/ (invested in LILA's Seed and Series A)  - Rainfall Ventures: https://www.rainfall.com/ (Led LILA's Series A)   😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! —   • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1  • TWITTER      → @jokim1  • LINKEDIN      → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/

Mr. Product Growth Guy himself Aakash Gupta and I discuss the details behind our recent report on the growth and Rise of Gaming in India.   Check out the full written analysis here: https://gamemakers.substack.com/p/the-rise-of-the-indian-gaming-market  SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio  😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! —   • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1  • TWITTER           → @jokim1  • LINKEDIN           → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/

How should companies think about retaining employees?  1. How much to invest in employees when they may wind up just leaving?  2. How to retain employees besides just wage escalation?  3. What should the attitude of employers be regarding the loss of employees?  4. How to think about matching competitive compensation vs. letting employees go?  5. Thinking about redundancy or building an anti-fragile company?  SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS:  - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio  😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! —   • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1  • TWITTER      → @jokim1  • LINKEDIN      → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/    — POPULAR CONTENT —  🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies https://youtu.be/bkd2TOpKt4I 🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021 https://youtu.be/NejFzHtpiZI 🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming https://youtu.be/_QT7O3Wxi2s 🔴 Games Industry M&A https://youtu.be/65nyPk6WNrs 🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games https://youtu.be/tHq3PzmjhLw 🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact https://youtu.be/Ojec4wGKpso 🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score https://youtu.be/5egTSQ6AiRA 🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices https://youtu.be/tmzqqnYbjNY

The Russia Ukraine war has had a dramatic impact on many people’s lives. Huge impact to society, to our economies, and to various industries in different ways.   How has video game development been impacted by the war?   Boris Kalmykov, CEO of Hypemasters is a Russian living in the UK but with most of his company formerly located in St. Petersberg.  - How have his company and other companies with employees in Russia and Ukraine been impacted?  - What about the impact on big companies with employees in Russia and Ukraine like Playrix and Plarium?  - What is the impact of sanctions and how much worse can it get?  - What is the potential for Ukrainians and Russians to work together in the future?  - What is the outlook for Ukrainian and Russian game development companies?   SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS:  - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio  👇 EPISODE LINKS:   Crisis Management at Hypemasters: https://medium.com/hypemasters/crisis-management-at-hypemasters-eb80518c1f74  🤝 GOOD NEWS! LILA Games just hired our first Ukrainian, hired by our Russian Art Director.  If you are Ukrainian or Russian apply to LILA: https://www.lilagames.com/jobs/ 😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! —  •  MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1  • TWITTER      → @jokim1  • LINKEDIN      → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/

Today I’m here with my co-founder and CTO of LILA Games, Avinash Pandey.  Having a frank discussion about the games industry here in India and what it’s going to take for India to become a place where world-leading games studios emerge.   If China and Turkey can do it, why not India? SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS:  - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/  - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio

We breakdown the mobile marketing activities of both Garena Free Fire Max and PUBG: New State, comparing and contrasting the user acquisition initiatives deployed in both games.    We first start with a high-level overview of the top 3 mobile shooter games: PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty Mobile, and Garena Free Fire.   Joining to review, discuss, and add meaningful insights to the presentation from SocialPeta we have 2 of the best mobile marketers in the world.   SPEAKERS:  - Matej Lancaric, current UA consultant but formerly from SuperScale and a bunch of other companies, has launched a ton of mobile games throughout his career  - Nebo Radovic,  formerly from a bunch of really great game companies that did mobile marketing but currently at Zynga   Note: SocialPeta examined the UA activity in both games and they created the report covered in the video.   👇 EPISODE LINKS:   - SocialPeta: https://socialpeta.com/ - Matej: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matejlancaric/ - Nebo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nebojsaradovic/ SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS:  Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio

What are the skills and kind of personality required to be a winning product manager?    In particular, what do you need to become a "needle-moving" PM instead of a minor cog that doesn't actually make much of a difference?   High-level outline  1. Organizational differences we often see in different gaming studios and talk about some of the ways in which, therefore - certain skills and personality traits would be more critical than others.    2. General discussion about what are the kinds of skills PMs should have in order to be effective.   3. Talk about personality. In particular, specific traits good PMs should have.    4. Just for fun, we talk and potentially argue about what is most critical if we’re prioritizing different skills or personality traits for a PM to be #winning  SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS:  - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio

We discuss the current state of mergers & acquisitions in the games industry.   Topics:  0:00 Introduction  4:13 Activision to Microsoft  12:16 Zynga to Take-Two  25:30 Current M&A Landscape  39:25 Potential Targets  48:17 Playtika Acquisition  51:52 Carve-Out Opportunities  1:01:03 Predictions   Speakers:  - Saad Choudri, CEO at Miniclip  - Michael Metzger, Partner at Drake Star Partners  - Chris Petrovic, Chief Business Officer at FunPlus   👇 CHECK IT OUT   Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ GameMakers Podcast: https://anchor.fm/gamemakers  😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! —   • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1  • TWITTER → @jokim1  • LINKEDIN → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/

Some context:  - IDFA deprecation has created a -30% margin compression for many game studios against their game revenue  - With the deterioration of lookalike audiences CA submits that contextual and interest-based targeting will be more performant  - Consumer Acquisition performed over 25,000 multivariate tests on Facebook, Google, Tiktok, and Snap and have learned that 85-95% of new creative concepts fail to outperform the best ad in an existing portfolio. Hence you may need 20-50 new concepts to find your next winning creative.   To address the current market, Zynga's Creative Director Bradly Bifulco and Consumer Acquisition CEO Brian Bowman discuss how a structured process to creative development is absolutely critical to generating performant ad creatives.   Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ EPISODE LINKS: - Malcolm Gladwell on "Choice, Happiness, and Spaghetti Sauce"

A deep discussion on how we think about employee motivation to work. How should we think about it?    We cover topics such as key factors that contribute to higher motivation, the importance of desperation, how it's important to help some employees tie potential outcomes to the work they do, and the importance of creating the right incentive systems to align work motivation.   Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

We discuss the best and worst of game dev in 2021.   Our awards crew:   Javier Barnes, Lead Game Designer at King  Josh Burns, Founder at DigitalDevConnect  Shannon Chang, Head of Operations at Trading.TV  Niklas Herriger, Executive Coach at 8 Bit Coaching  Matthew Kanterman, CFA, Senior Equity Research Analyst at Bloomberg LP  Eric Kress, Principal at Gossamer Consulting Group, LLC K en Landen, Lead Product Manager at Scopely  Brian Peganoff, Ex. Senior Director, Corporate Development & Strategy at Glu Mobile   AWARDS CATEGORIES:   Biggest winner: Which games industry company was the biggest winner in 2021?   Biggest loser: Which games industry company was the biggest loser in 2021?   Best Game (HD or mobile)   Worst Game (HD or mobile)   Biggest Surprise    Biggest Comeback   Biggest Missed Opportunity   Biggest News   Game or Big Game Update You're Most Looking Forward To

We talk about some of the biggest trends and lessons of 2021:   1. Rise of Personal Brands (and everyone now jumping on)  2. Power and Importance of Relationships  3. The Duality of Existence and Human Nature  4. The New New Thing   Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter

Today we discuss one of the most important topics for the success of a games studio, especially for startups and those working on new game projects: RECRUITING!   GUEST:  - Tayber Voyer, VP of Product - A Thinking Ape HOSTS:  - Joseph Kim, CEO at LILA Games - Brett Nowak, CEO at Liquid & Grit Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter

Bill Walsh, the Hall of Fame NFL coach, had a number of incredibly insightful and effective leadership philosophies as discussed in his book "The Score Takes Care of Itself."  One philosophy Walsh discusses is something he calls "Make Friends, Not Enemies."   We discuss this concept and as always the nuance and specific application. Check it out!   HOSTS:  - Joseph Kim, CEO at LILA Games  - Brett Nowak, CEO at Liquid & Grit Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

An in-depth discussion on how to technical leads at gaming companies can become great!    Super far-ranging conversation from the scope of work, biggest problems, transitioning from individual contributor to manager, how to spend day to day, biggest lessons learned, and more!   SPEAKERS:      - Niklas Herriger, Executive Coach, Founder of 8 Bit Coaching      - Tommy Krul, CTO Super Evil Megacorp      - Avinash Pandey, CTO LILA Games   HOST:     - Joseph Kim, CEO, LILA Games.    Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter!

Companies globally require new ways of managing as they grapple with new working conditions from the coronavirus pandemic. As companies adapt to greater work-from-home environments, new problems have arisen.    Brett believes in a new world of remote work where those who don't adapt will not survive, JK believes that for "complex work" and for companies that are working in complex work environments especially those working on 0 to 1 products, in-office environments are best.   Hear both sides including specific nuance, trends, themes, and analysis of remote vs. office work.   What will be the future of work?   HOSTS: - Joseph Kim, CEO at LILA Games - Brett Nowak, CEO at Liquid & Grit LINKS: Managing Remote Work: The Problem with “Outcomes Not Hours” (Part 1 of 3) Managing Remote Work: Outcomes Gone Wild (Part 2 of 3) Managing Remote Work: Trust Isn't Enough! (Part 3 of 3) Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ NEW VIDEOS EVERY WEEK! ***Click the notification bell so you don't miss any!***

We talk to some really dope superstars in the games industry to discuss this issue:   - Gigi Levy-Weiss, Partner NFX   - Brian Peganoff, former Corp Dev at Glu, VP at Deutsche Bank   - Kristian Segerstrale, CEO Super Evil Megacorp    Content Overview:  0:00 Intro  2:26 Role & Time of the CEO  14:31 Product Oriented CEOs  19:22 Examples of Great CEOs  26:52 Required Qualities  32:36 Three Views of the CEO  38:24 CEO by Company Stage  44:57 Finding Weak Points  49:22 Society + CEO Role Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

How should you make difficult decisions? What are common kinds of difficult decisions in the games industry? What are common decision-making models? What are important distinctions between types of decisions?    Deep dive on this very important topic in great depth and with our typical philosophical approach!   HOSTS:  - Joseph Kim, CEO at LILA Games - Brett Nowak, CEO at Liquid & Grit LINKS: The Principles of Product Development Flow, by Donald Reinertsen Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win, by Jocko Willink Making Smart Choices: 8 Keys to Making Effective Decisions blog Win With Character, Win with Cruelty, Jim Harbaugh Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter

We discuss the sustainability and economy behind the massive hit blockchain game Axie Infinity. Naavik has released a research report breaking down the economy and sustainability of the game (check out the link to the report below).    Axie seems to have reached an inflection point in which the game may no longer be sustainable.   Find out more about Axie, its economy, Sky Mavis and how they monetize Axie, and the potential future and sustainability of both Axie and Sky Mavis.  Btw, it's easy to cast stones, so we also take an optimistic look and discuss the potential solutions and upside of Axie and Sky Mavis.   Check out this deep and very educational discussion now!   LINKS:  - Master the Meta newsletter: https://naavik.co/themetas - Naavik Premium Research: https://naavik.co/premium - Axie Infinity: Infinite Opportunity or Infinite Peril research report: https://naavik.co/business-breakdowns/axie-infinity  PROMOTION:   Check out the Naavik premium research service for games: https://naavik.co/premium Use promo code NAAVIKGAMEMAKERS for a 10% discount off of the first 12 months of the subscription!

We brought together a number of experts from across the gaming ecosystem to have a casual but deep and informed discussion about the future of mobile gaming.   In particular, what are key opportunities game developers should be aware of and what are the potential risks as we move into 2022 and beyond.   SPEAKERS:  - Nadav Ashkenazy, SVP Publishing Solutions, IronSource: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadav-ashkenazy-34083aba/ - Ron Rejwan, Co-founder/CEO of new gaming startup Sneaky Panda, Former Co-founder/CTO of Jelly Button the makers of Pirate Kings: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ron-rejwan-1124013/ - Lexi Sydow, Head of Insights, App Annie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexisydow/  0:00 Intro  1:40 Biggest Impact Change  9:19 Mid/Hardcore Insurgency  16:40 Services Drive Growth  27:24 Social Multiplayer Crypto  39:20 Metaverse   49:37 Data Wars  58:34 Chasing Quick Money  1:05:50 Global Financial Crisis  1:12:46 User Acquisition Costs   1:18:21 Final Words   Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

What kinds of planning do product managers do in game development?  We discuss the kinds of planning in concept/pre-production, production, and in live ops.    What kinds of revenue forecasting and analysis should you do?    How to plan for big innovations vs. incremental liveops beats?   GUEST:  - Adam Telfer, Senior Director of Product - Head of Central Product at WB Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamtelfer/  HOSTS:  - Joseph Kim, CEO at LILA Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/ - Brett Nowak, CEO at Liquid & Grit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-nowak-8920675/  👇 CHECK IT OUT   GameMakers Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

So today there are a lot of complaints about whether a 30% Apple or Google app store fee is fair. And even further, whether there should be competition and the ability to have an open ecosystem for alternative payments or even app stores.   We have on with us today some folks who will talk about both the current situation behind App Store fees and speculate on where this is all potentially heading as well.   SPEAKERS:   - Chris Hewish, President of Xsolla. The company has solutions against alternative payments and payment solutions both on Web and for PC, but also increasingly with a focus on mobile.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrishewish/  - Matthew Kanterman, Senior Equity Research Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Matthew in particular has a specific focus on gaming, Asia, mobile, and metaverse. https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-kanterman-cfa-b6345133/  - Brett Nowak, CEO of Liquid & Grit. Brett also coincidentally co-hosts a podcast series with me called Philosophy Friday.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-nowak-8920675/  Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

Back at you with some deep thoughts on the challenges, difficulties, and potential solutions for one of the biggest problems at most companies: - How to give employee feedback and do performance reviews We deep people. Listen to this pod and let us know what you think! LINKS: - Airbnb System: The Power of Performance Reviews: Use This System to Become a Better Manager - LILA Games Values Doc: (see slides on feedback)

Lol. We discuss the nuance in definitions and scope of work-life balance, differences between work-life balance and work-life integration, compensation issues for people working a lot at start-ups, and other touchy subjects. I generally don't edit, but went way too far on this so we edited a bunch of stuff out.  About Us: - Joseph Kim, CEO, LILA Games - Brett Nowak, CEO, Liquid & Grit Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

We discuss mobile ad revenue and monetization going into 2022 and beyond.    We initially talked about mobile ad revenue back in January and got a lot of great feedback. Check out the original video we did back in January: - Mobile Ad Revenue in 2021    So, what happened in 2021?  Why didn't CPMs collapse and what are we seeing now?  How did the market play out from our expectations back then going into IDFA to what actually happened?   Content Overview:  0:00 Intro  1:06 CPMs & Ad Rev  12:54 Contextual Ads  15:00 Programmatic  18:39 Genre + Hypercasual  23:31 Operational Changes  27:35 Data Transparency  36:00 Data Wars of 2021  52:19 Role of Admon Team  56:38 Data Strategy Role    59:55 Winners & Losers  1:05:37 Industry Implications  1:09:54 Predictions   Speakers:  - Josh Chandley, COO of WildCard Games - Sofia Gilyazova, Head of Ad Monetization, SocialPoint (TakeTwo's Mobile Games Division) - Offer Yehudai, Chief Marketing Officer, Digital Turbine/Fyber    Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

We discuss the Peter Thiel concept of 0 to 1 vs. 1 to N in the context of product management. We believe there is a pretty big distinction between new game development which is oriented around this 0 to 1 concept and the 1 to N or live-ops PM. Links: - Zero to One by Peter Thiel About Us: - Joseph Kim, CEO, LILA Games - Brett Nowak, CEO, Liquid & Grit Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

Today we discuss Data Usage & Ethics in Gaming.   It’s not just about what are acceptable practices when it comes to market intelligence, there’s a bigger picture around data that impacts privacy at the device level with Apple and Google impacting IDFA, and even further with the data by companies that may be in competitive situations to their customers. Note that it was just announced that Applovin has just acquired MoPub for example.   Regular Hosts:  - Joseph Kim, CEO of LILA Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/ - Brett Nowak, CEO of Liquid & Grit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-nowak-8920675/  Guest:  - Lars Doucet, President of Level Up Labs. Twitter: @larsiusprime, Blog: https://www.fortressofdoors.com/  Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

We discuss the future outlook and potential emerging opportunities for blockchain gaming.   Who better to discuss than:   1. Chong Ahn, VP of Product at Mythical Games (Blankos Block Party)  2. Brian Peganoff, Ex-Senior Dir of Corporate Development & Strategy at Glu Mobile  3. Mitch Zamara, Lead Designer, Million on Mars   Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

With long histories in product management specifically in the games industry, we have a REAL discussion on what it takes to be a great PM.   Hardcore and real talk from guys who have worked on very successful products. I led the #1 top-grossing game King of Avalon plus a lot of other shit. Brett was a lead PM on Zynga Poker which was contributing 22% of Zynga's revenue at the time.   Real talk you won't get anywhere else. This talk is for hardcore PMs only!    Follow this channel if you want to hear more philosophy on current and important issues in the F2P games industry.   The story behind JK getting assassinated: HERE   Recommended Books on PM:  1. The Principles of Product Development Flow by Donald G. Reinertsem  2. Principles by Ray Dalio  3. Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink  4. The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz  5. Atomic Habits by James Clear 6. The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh   Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

Moonton's Chief Game Designer Skyhook talks about MOBAs and the keys to success for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.   Questions asked:   0:00 Intro 0:25 Classification of MOBAs?  2:14 Difference in design between MOBA and RTS?  4:07 How did Mobile Legends succeed when other MOBAs failed?  5:57 What was the hardest challenge in Mobile Legends' success?   Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

In this deep conversation with Lars, we were able to speak to the key challenges that remain behind blockchain and crypto in gaming.  Key problems discussed: 1. Degraded Blockchain Problem, 2. Some Problems with Play to Earn, and 3. The Problem with Land Sales.   Links:  - Lars Blog- The Fortress of Doors - Degraded Blockchain Article (Lars post from Fortress of Doors) - Land Speculators Will Kill Your Game's Growth (Game Developer) Also check out the original, full interview with Lars that has a wider ranged discussion on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency on Super Stonk Bros here  Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

LILA Games CTO Avinash Pandey discusses key tech challenges in scaling mobile F2P games with Epic Games' Technology Evangelist Arvind Neelakantan.   Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ Watch it on the GameMakers YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio

Deep discussion on what global strategic game publishers like Stillfront, SEGA, and Scopely look for when expanding into India from a development or market perspective.   Moderator:      - Justin Keeling, General Partner, Lumikai Fund   Speakers:      - Alexis Bonte, Group COO, Stillfront Group     - Saito Go, Executive Officer & Head of Japan Asia Publishing, SEGA Corporation     - Justin Scarpone, SVP & GM Asia, Scopely   Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

Panelists discuss:  1. How did you break into this industry?  2. Gaming career choice versus traditional options?  3. Different Roles?  4. Sustained interest?   Moderator:   - Vik Agarwal, Lead PM, Zynga    Speakers: -  Poornima Seetharaman, Dir of Design, Zynga  - Karan Gaikwad, Lead PM, Nukebox  - Shilpa Gaur, Lead Marketing & Strategy, Cympl   Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

Paul Leydon LILA Games Chief Creative Officer and former lead game designer on multiple #1 top grossing titles like King of Avalon (FunPlus) and Game of War (MZ), discusses his design and research methodology. He discusses the importance of doing the work and depth in making a hit game.   Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ Watch it on the GameMakers YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio

In this conversation, we have some of India’s top game industry leaders.    Speakers:  #1. Manish Agarwal, CEO of Nazara #2. Amit Hardi, CEO of Nukebox #3. Salone Sehgal, Genera. Partner at Lumikai #4. Anuj Tandon, Head of Corp Dev India & MENA at Krafton The focus of the conversation is oriented around India as a game development ecosystem. We talk about What’s keeping India from becoming the next China or Turkey, what are the strengths of the Indian game dev scene, and how do we accelerate the local Indian gaming market.  This was the first of 5 sessions from the India F2P gaming conference. Be sure to check this out as well as some of the other sessions.    Moderator:  - Joseph Kim, CEO of LILA Games  And you can always read about it in the GameMakers newsletter and get alerted to new events in the future: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

We talk about the history and future opportunities for Instant Games. Joining us is Lars Doucet who wrote about this in his blog post (linked below) and Emily Greer, who as the former founder and CEO of Kongregate, has a strong perspective on this.   LINKS:  - Jon Lai, a16z partner, tweet on Instant Games: https://twitter.com/Tocelot/status/1404914355670437889 - Lars Blog Post "The Future of Games is an Instant Flash to the past": https://www.fortressofdoors.com/the-future-of-games-is-an-instant-flash-to-the-past/  - Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ Speakers: - Lars Doucet, President of Level Up Labs: https://twitter.com/larsiusprime - Emily Greer, CEO of Double Loop Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilygreer/ Moderator: - Joseph Kim, CEO of LILA Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/

We talk about real-world data and the implications of IDFA deprecation. Now there has been a lot of VERY BAD information being published on this topic. So today we have with us 3 real-world practitioners and some real data about what’s actually happening. More specifically we will discuss: #1. Real world data and impact of IDFA Deprecation #2. Specific changes to how we do UA and Marketing based on the effects of IDFA Deprecation #3. Implications to product and monetization design #4. Who are likely winners & losers from these changes? SPEAKERS: 1. Brian Bowman, CEO of Consumer Acquisition: 2. Matej Lancaric, Independent UA & Marketing Consultant: 3. Warren Woodward, Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer at Upptic Overview:  0:00 Intro  2:15 Games Impact: Real Data  12:02 Winners, Models, Supercell  16:47 Algo Instability, Lookalikes   20:43 Google Performance  23:35 Unity Perf Explained  26:20 ROAS Loss  30:05 Specific Marketing Changes  36:43 SKAdnetwork Conversion Value  43:17 Creative Testing on iOS  44:43 Reactivation Campaigns   46:13 Strategic Maneuvering  48:56 CPG Marketing  53:20 Product Implications  56:42 Winners & Losers

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter! Conversation with Joe Byrne Director of Business Development and Strategy at SciPlay one of the world’s biggest and most successful social casino game companies. Topics: #1. How do the most sophisticated game companies use market intelligence data to inform their product strategy? #2. How given new changes because of IDFA deprecation for example would create new requirements for the kinds of insights from the data that we look for?  #3. Strategic insights on how the social casino genre is evolving and new trends for that genre.   This conversation was facilitated in partnership with AppAnnie who is currently rolling out an update to their gaming taxonomy. Thanks App Annie!   Speaker:     - Joe Byrne, Director of Business Development and Strategy at SciPlay

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/  How do competitive PVP games manage and scale up their tech infrastructure? What did Riot do for Valorant? We spoke to arguably the best two people in the entire world to address this question Riot's Head of Infra & Live Ops Zach Blitz and Network Next CEO Glenn Fiedler.  SPEAKERS:    - Zach Blitz, Head of Infra and Live Ops, Riot Games    - Glenn Fiedler, Founder & CEO, Network Next

Tobi Lutke and Brian Armstrong re-popularized the notion of companies as described as "families" or "high performance sports teams." This impacts 1. employee performance expectations, 2. how to deal with discussions of social issues at the workplace, and 3. dissociating personal vs. professional lives.    Let's have a nuanced discussion with a strong cross-section of key people from the games industry.   Speakers: - Eden Chen, CEO Pragma.gg:  - Drew Levin, Lead PM Zynga  - Chong Ahn, Head of PM EA  - Ken Landen, Sr. PM Blizzard Relevant Links  - Initial Netflix Culture document (this seems to be the original popularization of the team-focus theme) - Tobi Lutke: We are not a family - Brian Armstrong: Mission focused company

Today we will be talking about the current state of Game Company Growth and the various growth strategies being deployed by different game companies.   SPEAKERS: - Joseph Kim, CEO, LILA Games - Eric Kress, Principal, Gossamer Consulting - Chris Petrovic, Chief Business Officer, FunPlus LINKS: - Four Growth Paradigms on GameMakers Newsletter Part 1 - Four Growth Paradigms on GameMakers Newsletter Part 2

Today we are going to be talking about game publishing, the strategy behind consolidated studio organizations, and the future of the industry.    Our speakers include:   - Alexis Bonte, Group COO, Stillfront   - Nadir Khan, COO, Candywriter   - Tobias Kringe, Founder and Managing Director, Bytro Labs Our hosts include   - Joseph Kim, CEO, LILA Games   - Eric Kress, Principal, Gossamer Consulting   - Chris Petrovic, Chief Business Officer, FunPlus

Speakers:     - Joseph Kim. CEO, LILA Games     - Eric Kress. Principal, Gossamer    - Chris Petrovic. CBO, FunPlus (former SVP & Head of Corporate Strategy, M&A and Business Development at Zynga)  Content Overview: 1:15 Intro / Context  4:15 EA's Acquisition of Glu  11:16 Glu Reorganization 15:30 Zynga + AdTech 25:35 Industry Consolidation 38:40 Best M&A Targets 44:15 Smaller M&A Targets  50:00 Final Words

Today we are going to be talking about the Solana Blockchain, the Metaverse, and how it all ties to games. To speak to these issues we spoke to Michael Wagner, co-founder and CEO of Star Atlas, the company making a Metaverse game using the Solana blockchain. SPEAKER: - Michael Wagner, CEO Star Atlas LINKS: - Upcoming Star Atlas drops: http://play.staratlas.com/ - Star Atlas Social Links: Twitter | Telegram | Medium | Youtube | Instagram | Discord | Reddit | Facebook | Linkedin - Joseph Kim, CEO LILA Games - LILA Games: We're Hiring! Especially Systems & Economy Designer, Product Manager, and Level Designer! - GameMakers YouTube Channel

As game companies become desperate for growth, what are the different strategies they will pursue? Zynga, Applovin, Skillz, and Jam City represent 4 different growth paradigms in F2P gaming. This week I discuss their different approaches to growth and the potential risks these companies face. LINKS:    - Joseph Kim, CEO LILA Games    - LILA Games: We're Hiring! Especially Systems & Economy Designer, Product Manager, and Level Designer!    - GameMakers YouTube Channel

Epic Games recently announced MetaHuman Creator, a cloud streamed application that enables the creation, live captured animation, and potentially, in the future, fully AI capable life-like NPCs.  What are the implications of this new technology to games? In terms of cost, capabilities, and production value?   SPEAKER:     - Arvind Neelakantan, Tech Evangelist at Epic Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arvind-ne...  HOSTS:     - Joseph Kim, CEO at LILA Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/    - Avinash Pandey, CTO at LILA Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/avinash-p... LINKS: #1. Sign up for the GameMakers Newsletter #2. Check out the GameMakers YouTube Channel

Key advancements in data infrastructure tech are driving big new changes in game development studios' approach to liveops data. We're seeing rapid adoption of technologies from companies like Snowflake, Grafana, Prometheus, etc. What are the technologies and companies we need to be aware of and how does this impact F2P game live ops? Speaking on this we have world-class experts in André Cohen (Head of Data Science at Tilting Point), Gaurav Gupta (Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, board member Grafana), and Oliver Löffler (former CTO KOLIBRI). CHECK OUT: #1. This episode on YOUTUBE #2. GameMakers Substack NEWSLETTER

Sign up for the newsletter everybody: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ JK talks about 5 big changes that will potentially cause huge structural shifts in the games industry all coming to a head in 2021: #1. Post-COVID Renormalization #2. Lack of M&A Targets for Growth #3. Impact of IDFA Deprecation #4. Game Studio + Ad-Tech Vertical Integration #5. The Rise of China RELATED LINKS: - Game Biz #1: Chris Petrovic, Eric Kress, and I talk M&A in 2021 - Mobile Ad Revenue in 2021+: With Josh Chandley (Wild Card Games), Sofia Gilyazova (Social Point), and Offer Yehudai (Fyber) - Modifying Payment Behavior in Games: Clash of Clans: Bigger, Better, Battle Pass by Eino Joas

We talk about game development methodologies and best practices with how to structure and execute game development.    SPEAKERS:      - Chris Cobb, co-founder and CTO of Pragma Platform, who also formerly worked as an engineering lead at Riot Games, and held software development roles at both Popcap and Microsoft.      - Noemi Rouleau, Associate Producer at Square Enix Montreal. Noemi also worked in production at Ubisoft on games like RainbowSix Siege , For honor, and Assassin’s Creed Origins      - Xiang Shen, CTO at Century Games. Century is a multi-billion revenue Beijing-based games developer and publisher. Xiang also formerly founded mobile games studio Outact, and was formerly a technical director at Roblox, and worked in software engineering at Tencent, EA, and Ubisoft.     TOPICS:  0:00 Intro  1:18 Team Structure  9:00 Dev Team Roles  20:40 Game Dev Phases  36:18 Engineering Practices (CI, Code Review, Coding Standards)  50:27 Dev Methodology  1:03:18 Sprint Estimates   1:14:10 Final Message

Today we speak to Shahar Sorek to answer a core and fundamental question behind video games. We will discuss the question: Why do people play video games? JK discusses how Shahar's concepts are very similar to the Japanese game design concepts around "user needs": basically that players will play games to fulfill some latent psychological need or desire manifested through playing games.

Tom Kalinske has had a career as the King of Brands. Tom first became well known for marketing Flintstone vitamins and then reviving Barbie and Hot Wheels at Mattel and then Launching Masters of the Universe. In the games industry and perhaps most famously Tom’s efforts to turn around SEGA of America were chronicled in the book and recent CBS documentary Console Wars. Tom famously turned around the SEGA console business growing SEGA of America from $72M to more than $1.5B in revenue. Learn the lessons of how Tom revitalized the old, and created new massive hit brands. 

Riz Virk is Executive Director of Play Labs @MIT. Prior to that Riz has had a very successful entrepreneurial career as part of the founding team of TapJoy and CEO and co-founder of GameView Studios (makers of TapFish) that was sold to DeNA. More recently in addition to his work at MIT Riz has written three books: #1. Treasure Hunt: Follow Your Inner Clues to Find True Success #2. Startup Myths and Models: What you Won’t Learn in Business school #3. An MIT computer scientist shows why AI, Quantum Physics and Eastern Mystics all agree we are in a video game In addition to his books, Riz writes articles including most recently a piece for NBC News titled “Trump uses TikTok and WeChat to challenge China. Welcome to a new conflict: The app wars.” In this far ranging discussion we talk about App Wars, why Riz believes we live in a simulation/video game, and critical start-up lessons and how they can apply to game start-ups today.

In today’s episode, Randy Nelson from Sensor Tower interviews me (Joseph Kim) about gaming trends in 2020 and potential impacts for the future including 2021 specifically. In this discussion we talk about not only the defining trends of 2020 and what will be the longer term impacts from 2020 into 2021 and beyond but in addition: The nature of the firm Building not only product, but also organizational advantage How to think about and build structural advantage How we view India from the perspective of LILA Games Release schedules Remote work How to think about Multiplayer games How to pick game markets and knowing a secret Impact of gaming on kids and future opportunity Changes to game studios in 2021 including the adoption of better scenario analysis and building framework to deal with unexpected events, and a potential rationalization of the market Trends to midcore games Game communities and influencers Facebook gaming So a SUPER wide ranging conversation... don't miss it!

In this episode Joseph Kim, Paul Leydon, and Avinash Pandey the three co-founders of LILA Games talk about each of their personal reasons for wanting to create the new company.

In May of 2019, I (Joseph Kim) got fired (practically, although not "technically") from NBCUniversal as SVP of Games & Digital Platforms based on a mismatch of values, culture, and approach. This was the beginning of a long road that eventually led to the formation of LILA Games with my co-founders Paul Leydon and Avinash Pandey. A week after I was fired, my good friend Miska Katkoff hosted a podcast interview with me which we published on the Deconstructor of Fun podcast. In this episode, I re-publish that interview from May 2019 to give you context on the initial stages of why I wanted to start a new company which eventually became LILA.

In which, Joseph Kim aka Joe Kim aka JK aka J-diggity-dog discusses the objective of starting this podcast. Also catch: The GameMakers YouTube Channel The Deconstructor of Fun podcast Your host: Joe Kim (Twitter = @jokim1)