Deconstructor of Fun

In this week's TWIG we discuss: The RetroBeat: World of Warcraft: Classic shows what MMOs have lost New Leaked Screenshots And Videos For League Of Legends Mobile Game Telltale Games employees speak out about the studio’s controversial revival AppLovin Announces Strategic Investment in Belka Games , Creator of Clockmaker and Funky Bay Sensor Tower: Pokémon Masters makes $26 million in first week H...

In this week's TWIG we discuss: How Archero Shot to the Top, and How You Can Do Better (Deconstructor of Fun) Supercell’s new mobile strategy game Rush Wars soft-launches in Canada, New Zealand and Australia (PocketGamer.biz) Pokemon Masters launches globally on iOS and Android (PocketGamer.biz) Playtika acquires Best Fiends mobile game publisher Seriously (VentureBeat) Welcome to guest host Kenny...

Newcomer Habby shot up out of nowhere with Archero which made over $35M in net IAP revenue over its first 3 months.  Find out how Archero was able to achieve big success and how it could have been designed even stronger in this episode's podcast. Also, check out the original Deconstructor of Fun blog post covering the game by Manyu and Eva. Many thanks to the co-hosts on this podcast. Ping us...

In the latest TWIG we discuss: Apple Arcade: $4.99 per month is likely for family access to 100 games Respawn CEO apologizes for devs who insulted Apex Legends fans GameStop lays off 120, 14% of total staff Sony Agrees to Acquire Spider-Man Video-Game Developer Insomniac Hit us up on Twitter (@@jokim1, @adamwtelfer, & @ekress) to let us know, which news topics you want us to talk about next or...

Welcome to the final episode of our Mobile Publisher Series. In each of the episode we sat down with the CEO of top mobile publisher and discussed how they approach publishing, what is their company’s strategy, how do they work with developers and how do they see the future of publishing on mobile. In case you missed the previous episode: Mobile Publishing #1: Deconstructing Scopely's path to $1B...

In this episode of This Week in Games we discuss: #1. Tencent doubling down on Season Pass, #2. Ninja quickly getting 1M subs on Mixer, #3. Roblox Surpassing Minecraft with 100 MAU, #4. Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, require loot box disclosure, and #5. Apex Legends Forums Furious as Devs Call Players "Ass-Hats" and "Freeloaders" Today we're joined by guest host, Josh Burns from Digital Dev Connect! H...

Welcome to the third episode of our Mobile Publisher Series. In each of the episode we sat down with the CEO of top mobile publisher and discussed how they approach publishing, what is their company’s strategy, how do they work with developers and how do they see the future of publishing on mobile.  In case you missed the previous episode: Mobile Publishing #1: Deconstructing Scopely's path t...

Welcome to the second episode of our Mobile Publisher Series. In each of the episode we sat down with the CEO of top mobile publisher and discussed how they approach publishing, what is their company’s strategy, how do they work with developers and how do they see the future of publishing on mobile.  If you missed our last episode with Scopley’s Co-CEO Javier Ferreira, I encourage you listen...

Welcome to the first episode of our Mobile Publisher Series. In each of the episode we sat down with the CEO of top mobile publisher and discussed how they approach publishing, what is their company’s strategy, how do they work with developers and how do they see the future of publishing on mobile.  In this episode Scopely's Co-CEO, Javier Ferreira, dives deep into the company's product strat...

This week "J Money" Kim, Eric Kress, and Jeff Cohen from Stephens break down the latest info from earnings calls from public companies EA, Ubisoft, Zynga, and Glu.  What happened? What did we learn? And what is the outlook for these companies? You can also listen to Eric gloat about his call on Glu.  We'll be doing these podcasts quarterly after every earnings period. Have feedback give...

In this episode of This Week In Games we discuss: #1  What Video Game Company Should Disney Buy (That Isn’t Activision Blizzard)? #2  Pokémon Masters hands-on #3  Facebook migrating Instant Games away from Messenger Hit us up on Twitter (@m_katkoff, @jokim1. @adamwtelfer & @ekress) to let us know, which news topics you want us to talk about next or more in-depth. Or to just let...

In this episode of This Week In Games  we discuss: #1  Ubisoft reveals over 100 games for its Uplay+ subscription gaming service for September #2  How to spot an exploitative mobile game publishing deal -- fro a former publishing CEO #3  Tinder is now bypassing the Play Store on Android to avoid Google’s 30 percent cut #4  PUBG Officially Becomes The World’s Most Popular A...

In this episode of This Week In Games  we discuss: #1  Subscriptions are the future of app monetization #2  Mike Morhaime's highlights and lessons of nearly three decades at Blizzard #3  Glu Mobile: Highly Likely To Beat Estimates For Q2 2019 #4  HQ Trivia Lays off ~20% as It Preps Subscriptions Hit us up on Twitter (@m_katkoff, @jokim1. @adamwtelfer & @ekress) to let...

In the latest TWIG we discuss: #1  Google Stadia’s only exclusive game, Gylt, is not so exclusive  #2  Chess Rush, Tencent's take on Auto Chess, launches tomorrow #3  Pass Royale Season 1 | Clash Royale #4  Tencent’s answer to Diablo Immortal bombed in China Hit us up on Twitter (@m_katkoff, @jokim1. @adamwtelfer & @ekress) to let us know, which news topics you want us...

In the latest TWIG we discuss: #1  N3twork announces a new game #2  Apex Legends season 2 battle pass #3  Call Of Duty: Mobile Has Launched in Australia #4  Electronic Arts Needs Mobile Gaming Help Hit us up on Twitter (@m_katkoff, @jokim1 @adamwtelfer & @ekress) to let us know, which news topics you want us to talk about next or more in-depth. Or to just let us know how we...

Also, our projections on how Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will succeed  In the latest TWIG we discuss: #1 Shady Numbers And Bad Business: Inside The Esports Bubble (Kotaku) #2 Teamfight Tactics Could Be Bigger Than League of Legends #3 Dr. Mario World hits Android and iOS in July, here’s how it plays  #4 Harry Potter: Wizards Unite worldwide launch begins on June 21st...

The full E3 recap for you from us. Hit us up on Twitter (@m_katkoff, @jokim1. @adamwtelfer & @ekress) to let us know, which news topics you want us to talk about next or more in-depth. Or to just let us know how we can improve. Also, hit the subscribe button to get notified when we deconstruct the latest news in games

In the latest TWIG we discuss: #1  Microsoft and Sony form cloud gaming partnership #2  Minecraft Earth Wants to be the Next Pokemon Go #3  Pokémon Masters: Everything we know so far #4  Riccardo Zacconi to step down as CEO of King Hit us up on Twitter (@m_katkoff, @jokim1. @adamwtelfer & @ekress) to let us know, which news topics you want us to talk about next or more in-d...

Most of us go through this at least once during our careers. Several of us have to go through this multiple times during their careers. Yet it is something we tend not to talk about. Losing a job gets bundled with feelings of disappointment, failure, shame and even anger. Yet we seldom see it as what it can be. It's a push to take the next step. A nudge to evolve. An opportunity to self-assess. A...

In the latest TWIG we discuss: #1  Playtika Doubles down with new casual games division #2  Mario Kart Tour’s beta has arrived #3  Mobile version of League of Legends #4  Blizzard Entertainment President Interview On Priorities #5  Microsoft and Sony form partnership #6  Call of Duty 2020 In Upheaval Hit us up on Twitter (@m_katkoff, @jokim1 & @ekress) to let us k...

Epic is continuing to make big boi moves while Sony grows its subscriber base.  In the latest TWIG we discuss: #1  Epic’s store continues to absorb PC gaming exclusives #2  Epic Games acquires Rocket League studio Psyonix #3  Zero’ chance it passes: Game analysts break down senator’s anti-loot box bill #4  Playstation Now has 700,000 users, use contributed to Sony’s Increa...

In the latest TWIG we discuss: #1  Zynga Inc. (ZNGA) CEO Frank Gibeau on Q1 2019 Results  #2  Activision Blizzard's stock rally from earnings-fuelled price collapse? #3  G lu Mobile Earnings: Gluu stock plummeted as Q1 sales gain 18% + EA recap Hit us up on Twitter (@m_katkoff, @jokim1 & @ekress) to let us know, which news topics you want us to talk about next or more in-de...

Apart from the truth we will also talk about crunch in the gaming industry and give our personal view on it. In the latest TWIG we discuss: #1  The truth about hypercasual games #2  Apex Legends will avoid crunch #3  Google Is Banning A Play Store Developer With More Than Half A Billion App Installs Hit us up on Twitter (@m_katkoff, @jokim1 & @ekress) to let us know, which news...

Traditional wisdom in product management dictates the use of AB testing for product optimisation. In this episode, our very own Joseph Kim sits down with Niklas Herriger (CEO, Gondola.io) and Andre Cohen (CTO, Gondola.io) to challenge this traditional wisdom and offer alternatives to achieve even better results. Generally speaking most PMs in our industry follow the formulas for statisti...

In this episode we also discuss whether Stadia has the content to match its infrastructure. In the latest TWIG we discuss: #1 PlayStation 5: Sony outlines next-gen console plans #2 Xbox: Stadia has the infrastructure, but doesn't have the content #3 20 mobile games that have made more than $1 billion Hit us up on Twitter (@m_katkoff, @jokim1 & @ekress) to let us know, which news topics you wan...