Deconstructor of Fun

Triggered growth is a segment focusing on all matters of growth. This podcast is insightful, entertaining, and highly opinionated. We call it how we see it.  Your hosts: Michail Katkoff and Eric Seufert Hit us up for topics you'd like us to cover and how to improve.

Welcome to TWIG #112! Today we cover: #1. Sensor Tower: Genshin Impact brings in nearly $400 million in 2 months on mobile #2. EG7 acquires Daybreak #3. The promise and challenge of Roblox Future in China LINKS: Check out Joakim's Elite Game Developers website and podcast: https://elitegamedevelopers.com/ Check out Randy Nelson's Interview with Joseph Kim:    - Gaming Trends | A Loo...

Israel has always been a hub for tech startups. It's where companies such as Monday, Wix, Fiverr and Waze - just to mention a few - were born. Today the country is also known for a massive gaming sector worth tens of billions with companies such as Playtika, Moonactive, Plarium, Crazy Labs, ironSource, AppsFlyer and Fyber driving the growth. Who better to deconstruct the evolotion of the Israel's...

Growth Triggers is a new segment on Deconstructor of Fun podcast focusing on all matters growth. This podcast is definitely insightful, for sure entertaining and as always, highly opinionated. We call it how we see it. Your hosts Michail Katkoff and Eric Seufert

Welcome to TWIG #111! Today we cover: #1. Farlight 84 is an impressive and whacky looking battle royale that's heading for iOS, Android and PC next year #2. Will Fortnite's Subscription Work? #3. Supercell shut ting down Hay Day Pop after less than a year Check out JK and his co-founders from LILA Games break down the Farlight 84 trailer: Farlight 84 Reaction & Analysis Hosts: - Joe Kim (@joki...

Welcome to TWIG 110! Today we cover: #1. Embracer Group acquires 13 studios: Here's everything you need to know #2. Apple will reduce App Store cut to 15 percent for most developers starting January  #3. Roblox IPO & some financials ($1.2b bookings in 9M 2020) Further, we are joined by guest host:    - Jon Jordan , founder of Steel Media whom you probably recognize from man...

Three facts: 1. Marketability (CPIs) is the single most important metric of your business case 2. You can optimize marketability early on extremely cost-effectively  3. Most of the gaming studios fail to understand the first point until it is too late and thus refuse to concentrate on the second point. Marketability is perhaps the single biggest element of your game that you have direct contr...

Welcome to TWIG 109. Today we cover: #1. Apple is astonishingly confident in its new M1 Mac processors #2. Virtual Influencers Make Real Money While Covid Locks Down Human Stars #3. The argument for simpler games, in an industry obsessed with complexity Further, we are joined by guest host Ernest Wong to discuss Bringing more franchises to mobile is Activision Blizzard's biggest opportunity, says...

The Chinese mobile market is expected to reach 21 billion Dollars in 2020 growing a staggering 17% year-over-year. In addition to having this massive - and from the Western perspective nearly impenetrable - home market, Chinese publishers have been having ever more success in the West.  Deconstructor of Fun podcast is joined by Daniel Ahmad , Yang Liu , and Eric Kress to discuss the character...

Valorant's Game Director, Joseph Ziegler , and Lead Producer, Paul Belezza join the Deconstructor of Fun podcast to spill the beans on Valorant's origin story - from an idea to a game played and streamed by millions of fans around the World. We dive deep into Riot's creative process from the developer's perspective, talk team sizes, launch strategies, live services, community, and working with and...

Ok people, this episode is just me (JK) and Miska. We lost some of our co-hosts when we very last minute audibled a change in news coverage. Anyway, as always, we sometimes may say things for dramatic effect. Hopefully none of you take things too personally as we are, in the end, fans of all game companies. Here are the specific news items we covered: Zynga’s acquisitions push it to record booking...

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...