GameMakers

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...

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 Liq...

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...

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....

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...

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 he...

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 : (se...

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 R...

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 o...

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 newslett...

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 tha...

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:...

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.  &nbs...

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 th...

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 Specul...

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 &...

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,...

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 Y...

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 Indi...

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 Futur...

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 o...

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 c...

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...

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...