Deconstructor of Fun

Welcome to TWIG #101! This week we cover: #1. 'Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile' Seemingly Leaked in Activision Job Post #2. Stillfront Group acquires Nanobit and expands the portfolio with narrative and lifestyle games #3. Welcoming the Talented Teams and Beloved Game Franchises of Bethesda to Xbox - Xbox Wire  #4. Eric Talks: Sony vs. Microsoft next-gen strategy Do you have feedback or comments...

Today we are going to be discussing Unity’s IPO. I think we all know Unity’s business as a cross-platform game development engine… but in particular, we will discuss: #1. Current business and sources of revenue #2. Growth prospects #3. Key risks #4. Competition #5. Valuation And with us today to speak to all of these issues and more are (Twitter): Jason Chapman from Konvoy Ventures (@konvoyventure...

Did you know that nearly half of players say that genre is important when deciding which new mobile game to try, exceeding factors like friends or family recommendations and app store reviews?  This insight ☝️ is just one of numerous you'll find in Facebook's recent Genre and Great Games report. It's a fantastic deep dive into four key mobile genres (Strategy, RPG, Puzzle and Hypercasuas) foc...

Welcome to our 100th episode retrospective episode! In this podcast, we will look back on the origins of TWIG, talk about lessons learned, biggest news, future, and finally what are some of the best episodes you should definitely try to catch. Hosts: Twitter, Insta Miska Katkoff: @m_katkoff Joseph Kim: @jokim1   Eric Kress: @ekress     Adam Telfer: @adamwtelfer  ...

Today we discuss how to do writing for games the right way! And speaking with us on this topic is one of the most experienced writers in the industry Susan O'Connor. Susan has worked on over 25 titles, from AAA to indie. Titles in her portfolio have sold over 30 million copies and generated over $500 million in sales. Listen to find out more about the opportunity for writing in games, the process,...

Mid-core game marketing is know for either massive marketing campaigns that flood the market or those incredibly divisive creatives that have usually nothing to do with the game itself. Either way, scaling a mid-core game is an expensive undertaking. So how should you launch and scale if you have a great game but limited resources and no brand recognition?  In this episode we're joined by Rik...

Welcome to TWIG #99! This week we cover: #1. India bans PUBG in latest crackdown on Chinese apps #2. Epic’s Latest Apple Argument Hints At Plans For World Domination #3. Report: New Switch model with better graphics coming in 2021 #4. PS5 won’t be backward-compatible with PS3, PS2, or PS1, Ubisoft says Do you have feedback or comments for us? You can reach us on Twitter at: Joseph Kim: @jokim1 (Tw...

GenJoy, a studio from the leading Spanish mobile Group Genera, just launched Tuscany Villa a match-3 puzzle game on mobile.  How will the Seville, Spain based mobile studio compete against giants such as King and Playrix?   More specifically we talk about:   #1. Strategy & Product: What kind of strategy and what kind of product differentiation does Genera employ to compete again...

Antitrust Specialist Ryan Tisch from Crowell & Moring and Video Games Lawyer David Hoppe from Gamma Law explain Epic's lawsuit against Apple and Google.   Topics Covered:  Epic's Legal Suit Explained  Google vs. Apple? Apple's Retaliation  Apple's Legal Strategy  Realistic Legal Scenarios  Predicting Outcomes  Expect an Epic Trick   Hosts:   &n...

Welcome to TWIG #98! This week we cover: #1. Facebook has abandoned the IDFA and may kill FAN for iOS. What’s next for mobile measurement? #2. Unity’s IPO numbers look pretty… Unreal #3. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War costs $69.99 for next-gen consoles #4. The risks of market research LINKS: Best Practices Live Ops Digital Conference. More info: liveops.splashthat.com Eric Seufert blog post: Apo...

What are the biggest issues and annoyances in the games industry that trigger Eric Kress? Come to an uncensored broadcast discussing these issues moderated by Chris Hewish from Xsolla and also joined by Joe Kim who will egg on Eric for maximum entertainment! Host: Chris Hewish , President of Xsolla Speakers: Eric Kress , Deconstructor of Fun co-host Joe Kim , Deconstructor of Fun co-host Notes: I...

In this episode we sat down with three growth experts to discuss following questions: What companies are doing to prepare for the depreciation of IDFA How to figure out the best messaging to convince as many users as possible to give you permission to access their IDFA via AppTrackingTransparency How to optimize marketing campaigns post IDFA depreciation How to pick conversion value events going f...

Welcome to TWIG #97! This week we cover: #1. Amazon is good at so many things. Why is it bad at games? #2. Take-Two Interactive acquires mobile studio Playdots for $192 million #3. Tencent takes minority stake in French casual games maker Voodoo #4. Video Game Creators Are Burned Out and Desperate for Change SHOW LINKS: Guest Host: Dan Bailey , Actor/Voice Actor and Video Game Producer  THE G...

Host:  Joe Kim , Deconstructor of Fun Podcast Host, Managing Partner of GameMakers , and CEO of LILA Games . We are joined by the founders and CEOs of 3 recently funded game studios:   1. Antti Hattara , CEO of StarBerry  ($1.3M led by Play Ventures)     2. Emily Greer , CEO of Double Loop ($2.5M led by London Venture Partners)    3. Travis Boatman , CEO of...

Welcome to TWIG #96! This week we cover: #1. Next-Gen Gaming: State of the Industry , Unreal Engine Blog site #2. Opinion: The Apple/Epic battle has four possible outcomes, and Epic can’t lose , 9to5 mac #3. Wildlife Scores Vulcan-led $120M Series B Financing To Propel Mobile Game Platform , Crunchbase SHOW LINKS: Guest Host: Kenny Liu from ggDigest, now DOF Digest! Is the US about to split the in...

Game companies (with some exceptions like Nintendo) don't last! They are not long-term defensible. In tech, the FAANG companies are massively defensible. In fact,  Amazon today is the most valuable and most defensible company in the world.    In the video games industry, we don’t see the same level of long-term defensibility that we see in those industries.   After lots of grea...

Welcome to TWIG #95! This week we cover: #1. Apple blocking Project xCloud and Stadia because it can't review every game (gamesindustry.biz) #2. Zynga acquires hypercasual game maker Rollic for $168M (Mobile Marketer) #3. Why Indies are struggling to be seen on the Switch eshop (MCV/Develop) SHOW LINKS: Guest Host: Kenny Liu from ggDigest, now DOF Digest! FEEDBACK?: Do you have feedback or comment...

Indie mobile game developer WildCard Games has been developing mobile card games for the past 7 years launching games like Ultimate Cribbage, Cribbage, and Backgammon.   How does this 2 person studio get to the next level in growing their mobile game products?   Let's DIVE DEEP! We review mobile marketing strategy and discuss channels, campaigns, creative types.  Deep discussio...

Welcome to TWIG #94! This week we cover: #1. Could Halo: Infinite be the last ever Halo title, as 343 calls it a “platform for the future” #2. EA Just had its best june quarter for Sales in 38 year history #3. Blizzard shows off new Diablo Immortal gameplay SHOW LINKS: Guest Host: Kenny Liu from ggDigest, now DOF Digest! FEEDBACK?: Do you have feedback or comments for us? You can reach us on Twitt...

In today’s episode, we ask a very important question - how to build a studio that can make genre-defining hit games. Even though game mechanics are powerful forces, what can truly drive massive and sustainable growth are culture, processes and teams that comprise high-performing studios - a perspective that I’m excited to dig into today. I’m truly thrilled to get Mishka’s insights distilled from h...

Welcome to TWIG #93! This week we cover: #1. The 7 RPG player personas #2. Over half of US kids are playing Roblox, and it’s about to host Fortnite-esque virtual parties too #3. Microsoft Showcase #4. The Imminent Ragnarok of M&A in Mobile Gaming Space SHOW LINKS: Guest Host: Brett Nowak , CEO of Liquid & Grit FEEDBACK?: Do you have feedback or comments for us? You can reach us on Twitter...

If the Metaverse is the next frontier? How should the economy be designed to help support a healthy and vibrant ecosystem for all players? Today we are joined by Tim Sweeney CEO of Epic Games  The focus of the discussion is how do we build an efficient and fair economy for this new platform.

We’re here today to talk about the current state of M&A aka mergers & acquisitions in the games industry. There’s been a lot of recent activity and there seems to be an open question now of whether the current trend can continue as Zynga seems to indicate or whether we’re likely going to see a major slowdown.   Specifically we’ll speak to:      - #1. What has drive...

Welcome to TWIG #92! This week we cover: #1. Microsoft to launch xCloud streaming free with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate in September (The Verge) #2. China removes  Supercell’s Hay Day and 2500 other games from iOS app Store (Venture Beat) #3. Glu reloads its war chest for mobile game acquisitions (Venture Beat) SHOW LINKS: Watch the M&A YouTube video FEEDBACK?: Do you have feedback or comment...

Monumental changes are changes are coming to mobile games market.  First one to bear the hit is the performance marketing ecosystem. As Play Store follows suit, attribution platforms, ad networks and Facebook are struggling to adapt to the new reality. And as the shift happens, performance marketing teams will go through a rapid bottoms up change due to all the changes in the ecosystem. ...