Naavik Gaming Podcast

Why is Voodoo uniquely positioned to pursue blockchain gaming and are they likely to succeed? What’s next for Ubisoft and why are they underperforming? We dive into the latest game business news with Aaron Bush , Anil Das-Gupta , and your host Maria Gillies . 00:00 - Start 00:50 - Latest Regulatory ATVI/MSFT Concerns 05:06 - Amazon Game Services First-Party IPs 11:20 - Last of Us Transmedia Succes...

In this episode, Moritz Baier-Lentz – Partner and the Head of Gaming at Lightspeed Venture Partners (LSVP) – joins Naavik co-founder Aaron Bush to discuss: #1 His move to LSVP and the team’s revamped ambitions to invest across the games industry #2 Lessons learned as a VC, including how he’s grown as an investor  #3 The current state of the venture market and his advice to founders on how to navig...

Why are NetEase and Tencent diversifying into Western AAA game development? How could EU regulations affect Meta’s performance as a UA channel? We dive into the latest game business news with Aaron Bush , Matt Dion , and your host Maria Gillies 00:00 - Start 04:25 - China Issues Licences for International Games 09:12 - YouTube Policies Demonetize Gaming Content 15:10 - PSVR2 Soon! 20:32 - NetEase’...

2022 was a rollercoaster year for web3 gaming - what does 2023 have in store? To find out, your host Niko Vuori talks to Justin Hulog, Chief Studio Officer at Immutable.  Immutable: https://www.immutable.com/   If you would like us to discuss any other blockchain gaming-related topics, do reach out at metacast@naavik.co . We’d love to hear your general thoughts and feedback too!   And as always, i...

In this episode, Christian Facey – co-founder and CEO of Audiomob – joins Naavik co-founder Aaron Bush to discuss: #1 The current state of audio ads, and how non-intrusive in-game audio ads can play a larger role in the future #2 Why Audiomob exists, how it’s scaled so far, and what it’s plans are for the future #3 Christian’s lessons learned as an entrepreneur, including how to plan for an IPO so...

Happy New Year from The Metacast We are ringing in 2023 with Yat Siu, the founder of the Crypto & Blockchain titan Animoca Brands. We focus the Animoca origin story, how they found Crypto Kitties, their investment strategy (and why it’s totally different than a traditional VC), digital property rights, and more. It’s a new year, a fresh start for crypto, and there’s no better place to begin th...

What are the trends when looking back at 2022’s gaming deals? What were our highlights of the year? We dive into the latest game business news with Abhimanyu Kumar , Anthony Pecorella , Matt Dion , Anton Gorodetsky , and your host Maria Gillies . 00:00 - Start 07:30 - 2022 Gaming Deals Trends Review 17:40 - Highlights Awards: Game of the Year 37:15 - Highlights Awards: The Good 51:03 - Highlights...

There is a ton of hype around the notion of the metaverse, with no shortage of companies trying to build it. We have legacy operations that have been around for years like Second Life.  We have huge tech giants like Meta trying to brute force their way to the metaverse by spending billions on it. We have medium sized players that target a particular consumer like Roblox does for kids. We have newe...

What’s the funding environment going into 2023? Can mobile be conquered by studios with short runways? We dive into the latest game business news with Aaron Bush , Anil Das-Gupta , Joakim Achrén , and your host Maria Gillies . 00:00 - Start 10:20 - Console Acceleration 20:26 - Mobile Growth or Decline 38:35 - Multi-Core-Gameplay Genre 45:00 - Mainstream Blockchain Gaming 59:24 - M&A and Fundin...

Why are there housing crises in online games, and how did a plot of “virtual land” go for $4M in Sandbox’s Metaverse last year? What is a land economy, and how do you run it? We bring on Lars Doucet, virtual land economy consultant and author of  “Land and Why It Matters” and Khaled Alroumi, Head of Monetization at Big Time Studios to discuss the concept of land economies, whether land should be a...

Should studios lean away from an all-in mobile strategy and pursue cross-platform? What is the impact of Intel’s vision to revive Moore’s Law? We dive into the latest game business news with Tammy Levy , David Amor , and your host Maria Gillies . 00:00 - Start 03:25 - Playmint’s Open Source Web3 Tech 10:11 - Moore’s Law Revival 17:05 - Limit Break’s Free Super Bowl NFT Mint 25:00 - Gwent’s End of...

 One of the promises of web3 is the opening up of in-game economies, and for players to retain some kind of residual value for all the hours they put into a game. In web2, the developer and the platform on which a game is played retain 100% of the economic value - web3 changes this, at least in theory, and allows players to retain an economic interest in their gaming digital assets, both the non-f...

Should console studios target mainland China’s market? Is building a web3 gaming studio still an investment advantage? We dive into the latest game business news with Anthony Pecorella , Alex Takei , Joost van Dreunen , and your host Maria Gillies . 00:00 - Start 02:50 - What are cosy games? 05:20 - Australia’s Loot Box Bill 11:40 - Will Mobile Replace Consoles? 18:20 - Mainland China’s Console Ma...

“UGC Gaming is Gaming 3.0” says Uri Marchand, CEO and co-founder of Overwolf, a software platform that powers one of the biggest modding communities in the world and recently signed a massive partnership with EA for the Sims4. In this episode, your host Alex Takei chats all things UGC, the role of IP in creating the metaverse, centralization and moderation in a creator economy, and whether any of...

Why didn’t Blizzard renew its partnership with NetEase? How will they return to mainland China’s market? We dive into the latest game business news with Matt Dion , David Amor , Marie Mejerwall , and your host Maria Gillies . 00:00 - Start 05:20 - Gameloft’s Cross-Platform Strategy 08:55 - Generative AI’s Valuable Disruption 17:40 - Embracer Group Earnings Analysis 19:20 - Sony Patent For NFT and...

In web2, the marketing stack is rich in every area that matters - when a marketer wants to spend on a game, they have many places to do it, they can scale budget up and down as needed, they have the tools to measure how effective the spend is by channel, they can measure revenue events and many other different kinds of downstream activity for days, weeks, months and even years down the line. They...

What can we learn from Unity, AppLovin, Roblox, Krafton and Nintendo earnings? What’s the next evolution of community play? We dive into the latest game business news with Aaron Bush , Tammy Levy , Elyssa Goldberg , and your host Maria Gillies . 00:00 - Start 03:12 - Unity Earnings Analysis 05:27 - NewZoo Forecasts Market Decline 13:41 - AppLovin Earnings Analysis 15:26 - Roblox Earnings Analysis...

Should you build your game on Solana or Polygon? L1, L2, or sidechain? What are the technical, financial, ideological, and game design frameworks a web3 developer should think about when making this decision? In this week’s episode, your host, Alex Takei, talks all things chain choice with Aron Beierschmitt, CEO of Laguna Games, the studio responsible for Crypto Unicorns, and Sridhar Muppidi, co-f...

In this episode, Alexis Bonte – COO of Stillfront Group – joins Naavik co-founder Aaron Bush to discuss: #1 His journey as an entrepreneur and executive, and how he ended up at Stillfront #2 How Stillfront operates, including how it provides autonomy to studios while still creating synergies across the entire organization #3 Stillfront’s M&A strategy, including lessons learned after 18 acquisi...

What can we learn from Take-Two and EA’s earnings? Are we observing an increase in VC capital deployment? We dive into the latest game business news with Aaron Bush , Seb Park , and your host Maria Gillies . 00:00 - Start 02:10 - What’s Next for eSports? 05:40 - Japan’s PC Gaming Market 07:03 - China’s Declining Mobile Gaming Market 08:30 - Unity x ironSource Deal Closed 11:12 - Embracer Closed Fo...

 In just a single year since launching, NFT marketplace Magic Eden has grown to dominate on Solana, with over 85% of the trading market share, and increasingly taking share from OpenSea on Ethereum as well. They started with digital collectibles, but very early on made a bet on gaming NFTs as their second major vertical. Now, they sport a $1.6 billion valuation in their latest funding round, and h...

In this episode, Caro Krenzer – co-founder and CEO of Trailmix, the company behind Love & Pies – joins Naavik co-founder Aaron Bush to discuss: #1 Caro’s games industry origin story and what led her to found Trailmix #2 How Love & Pies pivoted away from a failed game mechanic and turned into a hit #3 Lessons in inclusive game design, including how to build a great company culture that supp...

What can we learn from Microsoft, Meta, Sony and Rovio’s earnings? What does Meta’s tanking stock mean for VR/AR Gaming? We dive into the latest game business news with David Amor , Matt Dion , and your host Maria Gillies . 00:00 - Start 03:33 - Sony/PlayStation Earnings 06:50 - TikTok Playable Games Tab 08:20 - Netflix Acquires Spry Fox 11:30 - Rovio Earnings 13:33 - Microsoft/Xbox Earnings 31:17...

Why does a Rioter go start a web3 studio? Today’s episode is with Adam Hensel, CEO of Battlebound and the web3 studio making Evaverse, a universe of competitive racing and battler games. We chat the woes of web3 publishing, how he’s thinking about revenue share between the developer and player, and what’s next for Battlebound as he and his team build games that envision players adopting blockchain...

In this episode, Jason Chapman – co-founder and managing partner of Konvoy Ventures – joins Naavik co-founder Aaron Bush to discuss: #1 The origins, present state, and core theses of Konvoy Ventures #2 What technology and platform trends Jason is excited about #3 What attributes the Konvoy team looks for in the teams and founders it backs #4 The current state of the venture market, including where...