Deconstructor of Fun

What are the key challenges and issues with respect to hiring during pandemic?   While hiring has actually not slowed down in these crazy times despite coronavirus, we discuss challenges and issues due to current circumstances and best practices to help ensure great hires! Host:           - Joe Kim, CEO LILA Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim...

Today we’re here to talk about the biggest challenges and mistakes early stage companies have in order to scale their companies and achieve success.   To speak to these issues we have arguably 3 of the best people in the world to talk about this: #1. Travis Boatman: Travis has held senior leadership positions at a bunch of major gaming and mobile gaming companies including Mattel, JAMDAT, EA,...

Welcome to TWIG #107! This week we cover: #1. If You Play Videogames, China May Be Spying on You #2. Mobile Games Company Scopely Boasts Of ‘Significantly Profitable Business’ As It Raises $340M #3. "For Descenders, it has been immense. Sales across all platforms increased after we went into Game Pass" – What does Game Pass mean for indies? | Business News | MCV/DEVELOP #4. Bringing more franchise...

In many (perhaps most) companies, so many corporate processes, policies, and work flows WASTE TIME!    Meetings are a huge culprit but in this discussion we talk about what are the biggest time wasters and how to stop wasting time. Learn more about how to make your company more efficient RIGHT NOW!   With us to talk about all of this are the "Love Bros":   1. Filippo DeRose, Ch...

Ron Ashtiani has spent a career in art and as an art director. Ron's had an over 25 year career in art and has served as an art director in multiple game studios including at Midway Games. He also co-founded Atomhawk in 2009 and currently starting a new adventure.   In today's discussion with Ron we discuss the role of an art director (AD), the different kinds of ADs, how to determine an art...

Welcome to TWIG #106: Today we cover: #1. The Problem With Tech Monopolies, From Both Sides of the Political Aisle #2. Stadia creative director says streamers should pay publishers #3. Facebook’s cloud-gaming offering focuses on free-to-play mobile games Your hosts for today: Joe Kim Eric Kress Adam Telfer Kenny Liu

Lot of talk about IDFA deprecation and impact to marketing/UA not so much on product and tools impact. So for our discussion today we will focus on:      - #1. A summary of what IDFA deprecation means generally for the industry      - #2. Implications to the value chain      - #3. Product and tools impact  To talk abou...

What up people? Welcome to TWIG #105! Today we cover: #1. Introducing the Game Growth program - Unity Technologies Blog #2. China-owned gaming firm Playtika files confidentially for U.S. IPO #3. Among Us isn’t just blowing up on Twitch — it’s dominating mobile gaming #4. How Discord Won LINKS: Riz Virk: Here's how the Big Tech breakup should go down Riz Virk on GameMakers: Riz Virk on US vs. China...

How do you determine the content cadence and events (type and frequency) for your live operated game? How do you measure whether you are operating content and events successfully or not? Find out from some of the best guys in the industry how this is done! Drew leads PM on Words With Friends, Barak is leading a revenue growth tear at Murka, and Jeff 4x'ed revenue on Modern War with a single event!...

Welcome to TWIG #104! This week we cover: #1. Amazon Wants to ‘Win at Games.’ So Why Hasn’t It? #2. Genshin Impact Generates $60 Million in First Week as it Becomes World’s No. 2 Grossing Mobile Game #3. World of Warcraft next expansion delayed Do you have feedback or comments for us? You can reach us on Twitter/LI at: Joseph Kim: @jokim1 (Twitter, Insta)    Eric Kress: @ekress&nbsp...

In this episode I'm joined by Christian Calderon as we cover it all: 1) How to make a great hypercasual game 2) What were the implication of COVID on hypercasual games 3) Hybridcasual and how to make it work 4) Effects of IDFA depreciation 5) IDFV and rising appetite for M&A

Welcome to TWIG #103! This week we cover: #1. U.S. gaming platform Roblox prepares to go public #2. Among Us drives record Discord installs #3. Cyberpunk 2077 Publisher Orders 6-Day Weeks Ahead of Launch   You can reach us on Twitter at: Joseph Kim: @jokim1 (Twitter, Insta)    Eric Kress: @ekress     Guest Speakers: Kenny Liu: @kliuless Josh Burns, LinkedIn:...

King's Head of Growth, Antoine Le Nel , and Head of Ad Monetization, Tom Mapham deconstruct company's three phases of growth and discuss key learning along the way. Topics covered: 1. How has King’s marketing evolved over the years? From the early days of numerous puzzle game launches to the Activision era with a focus on franchises. What have been the biggest wins and the most important learnings...

Welcome to TWIG #102! This week we cover: #1. Monday’s Hearing May Foreshadow Epic v. Apple Outcome #2. Blizzard cofounder Mike Morhaime launches new gaming endeavor Dreamhaven #3. PlayCo raises $100M at $1B Valuation for Instant Games #4. Luna, Amazon’s new Streaming Service Do you have feedback or comments for us? You can reach us on Twitter at: Joseph Kim: @jokim1 (Twitter, Insta)   E...

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...