Gaming Business with Fexingo: Studios, Publishers, and Interactive Entertainment Companies

Episode 29 of Gaming Business with Fexingo dives deep into game localization — the art and economics of adapting games for global audiences. Hosts Lucas and Luna explore how localization goes far beyond translation, covering cultural adaptation, regional pricing strategies, and the systems that allow a game like Genshin Impact to generate over half its revenue outside China. They break down the sp...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into Epic Games Store's controversial pricing strategy and its lasting impact on the PC gaming market. They examine Epic's decision to take a 12 percent cut versus Steam's 30 percent, how the free games program shifted player expectations, and why exclusivity deals reshaped publisher negotiations. With data on storefront market share and developer earnings, the...

Lucas and Luna dive into the business of game engine licensing — how royalties, revenue shares, and fee structures from Unity and Unreal Engine reshape studio budgets and long-term strategy. Using concrete examples like the 2023 Unity runtime fee controversy and Epic's 5% royalty model, they break down why engine choice is a financial decision as much as a creative one. The episode also explores h...

This episode examines how software development kits (SDKs) from companies like Adjust, AppsFlyer, and Unity LevelPlay have quietly transformed the economics of mobile game publishing. Lucas and Luna walk through a specific case: a mid-sized studio that adopted a unified mediation SDK and saw eCPM jump 22% within one quarter. They discuss the tension between data transparency and platform lock-in,...

Episode 25 of Gaming Business with Fexingo explores NetEase's unique approach to global expansion — building new studios from scratch instead of acquiring them. Lucas and Luna break down how the Chinese gaming giant has seeded studios in Montreal, Seattle, Tokyo, and beyond, hiring industry veterans to create original IP. They compare NetEase's 'greenfield' strategy against Tencent's acquisition-h...

Episode 24 of Gaming Business with Fexingo dives into FromSoftware's design philosophy that shatters the open-world bloat trend. Lucas and Luna explore how Elden Ring's carefully curated map, which can be traversed in 30 minutes yet offers 100-plus hours of discovery, generates 30% more revenue per hour played than typical AAA open-world titles. They break down the studio's 'guided non-linearity'...

This episode breaks down the strategy behind Activision Blizzard's Diablo IV launch in June 2023, which generated over $666 million in its first five days. Lucas and Luna examine the pre-launch marketing, server readiness, seasonal content cadence, and the controversial cosmetic monetisation that defined the game's first year. They discuss how the team balanced player goodwill with revenue targets...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna examine how FromSoftware's Elden Ring shattered the long-held belief that single-player games can't compete with live-service blockbusters. They break down the specific numbers behind its 25 million copies sold, the role of George R.R. Martin's world-building in broadening the audience, and how Bandai Namco's patient marketing strategy avoided the typical hype-and-d...

In this episode of Gaming Business with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore the high-stakes world of game licensing through the lens of the Star Wars video game rights. They trace the history from LucasArts' internal development to EA's exclusive deal and the recent shift to a multi-studio approach under Disney. The hosts unpack why licenses often fail—citing tight deadlines, creative constraints, and...

By mid-2026, mobile gaming accounts for over 60% of the industry's $200 billion annual revenue, and a huge chunk comes from gacha — the random-item mechanic that publishers have turned into a science. Lucas and Luna dissect the numbers behind Hoyoverse's Genshin Impact, which grossed an estimated $8.8 billion by 2025, and MiHoYo's earlier game Honkai Impact 3rd, which pioneered the pity system — a...

In the mid-2010s, the $2 billion used game market looked dead. Digital storefronts and online passes drove a decade-long decline. But a surprising resurgence is happening through retro game auctions, subscription services, and the rise of game preservation as a business model. Lucas and Luna break down how GameStop's pre-owned business cratered, why classic cartridges are now selling for six figur...

In this episode of Gaming Business with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore how Valve's Steam Deck reshaped the portable gaming market. Since its launch in 2022, the Steam Deck has sold over 4 million units and sparked a wave of competitors from ASUS, Lenovo, and MSI. Lucas breaks down the key engineering decisions—custom AMD APU, SteamOS integration, and the proton compatibility layer—that gave Valve...

Lucas and Luna explore the growing intersection of real-time game engines and film production. They focus on how The Mandalorian's Volume stage — a 360-degree LED wall powered by Unreal Engine — changed on-set visual effects, saving millions in post-production and location costs. The episode draws comparisons to traditional green-screen workflows and looks ahead to generative AI-assisted virtual p...

Lucas and Luna dive into how subscription services like Game Pass and PlayStation Plus are fundamentally changing player spending habits and game design. They examine a revealing study from last month showing that subscribers spend 27 percent less on in-game microtransactions but play 40 percent more hours. The conversation explores how this shifts developer incentives, the tension between engagem...

Every August, the global games industry converges on Cologne for Gamescom — the world's largest trade show by attendance. But how did a European convention become more important than E3? Lucas and Luna trace Gamescom's evolution from a regional German fair to a must-attend business event, with 265,000 visitors in 2024 and over 2,000 exhibitors from 60 countries. They discuss the strategic shift th...

Episode 14 of Gaming Business with Fexingo zooms in on the fast-growing mobile gaming markets in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Lucas and Luna break down how rising smartphone penetration and localised payment systems — from GCash in the Philippines to PIX in Brazil — are unlocking new revenue streams beyond the saturated Western markets. They examine specific numbers: Indonesia's mobi...

Remakes are everywhere in gaming, but most fail to capture the magic of the original while turning a profit. Capcom has done it repeatedly — starting with the Resident Evil 2 remake in 2019, which sold over 14 million copies. In this episode, Lucas and Luna dissect Capcom's remake playbook: why they chose fixed-camera classics over fan-favorite entries, how they balanced nostalgia with modern desi...

In 2024, Sony spent over $200 million developing Concord, a hero shooter meant to rival Overwatch. It launched on August 23, 2024, and was pulled from sale just 11 days later after fewer than 25,000 concurrent players on Steam. Lucas and Luna dissect the financial math behind the flop: the per-player cost of acquisition, the internal friction between Bungie's live-service expertise and traditional...

In this episode of Gaming Business with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna dive into the engine wars between Unity and Unreal, tracing how two very different philosophies—accessibility versus cinematic power—reshaped game development. They unpack Unity's early bet on mobile and indie developers, Unreal's dominance in AAA and its pivot to Fortnite, and the recent pricing battles that have developers rethinkin...

In this episode of Gaming Business with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna break down how small independent game studios are thriving while AAA publishers implode. Using Devolver Digital as the central case, they examine the indie publisher's 2025 revenue report — up 40 percent year-over-year to $180 million — against a backdrop of mass layoffs at EA, Ubisoft, and Xbox. They dig into the numbers: average ind...

Lucas and Luna dive into one of gaming's most dramatic turnarounds: CD Projekt Red's recovery from the disastrous Cyberpunk 2077 launch in 2020 to the critically acclaimed Phantom Liberty expansion in 2023. They break down the specific steps the studio took—apologizing, refunding, patching, and ultimately delivering on promises—and what it cost in both dollars and reputation. The episode also expl...

Tencent owns Riot Games, has major stakes in Epic Games, Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, and FromSoftware, and its mobile gaming arm generates more revenue than Nintendo and Sony combined. But most gamers barely know the company's name. In this episode, Lucas and Luna unpack how Tencent built a $500 billion gaming empire through a strategy of minority stakes and operational autonomy—buying influence...

In this episode of Gaming Business with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna dissect Embracer Group's spectacular rise and fall — from an acquisition spree that swallowed over 100 studios to a $2 billion deal collapse that triggered mass layoffs and studio closures. They zero in on the specific moment in May 2023 when a $2 billion partnership fell through, and trace how that single event cascaded through the e...

Lucas and Luna break down how major game studios have transformed their business models around live-service revenue. Using concrete examples like Electronic Arts' Ultimate Team mode and Fortnite's cosmetic-only battle pass, they explain why recurring microtransaction income now dwarfs traditional box sales. The hosts dive into the math: how the top 10% of 'whales' drive 70% of live-service revenue...

In this episode of Gaming Business with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna dive into the economics of Roblox's creator-driven platform. They break down how Roblox pays its developers, the $700 million that creators earned in 2025, and why the platform's 30% cut is both a strength and a point of tension. Lucas explains the Developer Exchange program, the role of Robux as a virtual currency, and how Roblox's m...