Naavik Gaming Podcast

Salone Sehgal is a general partner at Lumikai , India’s first gaming and interactive media fund. She previously founded her own gaming startup and served as a GP at London Venture Partners. We chat about the India games market — its potential to bring gaming to the next 1B users — key macro market trends, and specialized gaming VCs. Enjoy!

In this Metacast episode, Yonatan Raz-Fridman and Chong Ahn are joined by your host Nicolas Vereecke to discuss;   Roblox Roblox saw impressive revenue growth over the past quarter, even without    Forte & the rise of Blockchain Gaming Infrastructure Companies Forte differentiates itself from other infrastructure providers by offering an all-in one cross-chain solution. Because what they’re bu...

“Loot is a time machine into the future of human collaboration and work. We are building the Star Wars of the next generation” In this Metacast CryptoCorner episode, your host Nico is joined by Timshel and LordOfAFew to take a deep dive into the Lootverse. What emerges from the conversation is a mind boggling journey into the Hyperverse. The Hyperverse is a place where hundreds of builders are col...

Naavik is launching a new research service dedicated to blockchain games, and this episode is a discussion about our pilot report that was written by Jimmy , Lars , Anthony , Aaron and Manyu . The team is joined by Nico to discuss important industry developments and dig deep into Axie Infinity . We walk through the game's history, game design, tokenomics, economic issues, future roadmap, and how w...

Why did Facebook change its name to Meta? Does it make sense? More importantly - will it work? Find out in this week’s roundtable! In this Metacast episode, Aaron Bush and Carlos Pereira are joined by your host Nicolas Vereecke to discuss;   Facebook going full Meta   Quarterly earnings reports of Sony Microsoft Ubisoft Activision Blizzard    If you would like us to discuss any another gaming-rela...

In this debut Crypto Corner episode, Michael Wagner , Co-Founder & CEO of Star Atlas , is joined by our own Nicolas Vereecke . Star Atlas is a space-themed video game metaverse of grand strategy, open world exploration, territorial conquest, and political domination. The underlying technology consists of the latest in hi-fidelity game development, Unreal Engine, stunning visuals, and a blockch...

!WARNING! the Metacast team is ‘winging it’ this week In this Metacast episode, Aaron Bush and Abhimanyu Kumar are joined by your host Nicolas Vereecke to discuss;   The current state of Loot   NFT galleries (check out Nico’s )   Founder-lead gaming companies   As this week’s bonus segment, we are giving bold predictions about whatever we feel like!     If you would like us to discuss any another...

How is Roblox doing 6 months after its IPO? What are some key design decisions when building an NFT-based game economy? Answer to this and more in this week’s roundtable! In this Metacast episode, Aaron Bush , Yonatan Raz-Fridman and Miikka Ahonen are joined by your host Nicolas Vereecke to discuss;   The Present and Future of Roblox Roblox is betting big on multiple angles:  - Higher immersion th...

In this Metacast Interview episode, Scott Reismanis , Founder & CEO of mod.io , is joined by our own Aaron Bush . Mod.io is building a platform that gives studios fully integrated and cross-platform mod solutions for their games. We discuss Scott’s history with Mod DB, why modding has failed to cross the chasm, why and how that might change, and how mod.io will be part of the solution. I learn...

What are Social Tokens and why should you care about them? Why is Paris Hilton building an experience in Roblox? What did we learn from the Twitch Leaks? Answer to this and more in this week’s roundtable! In this Metacast episode, Chong Ahn , Anton Gorodetsky and David Amor are joined by your host Nicolas Vereecke to discuss;   The Twitch Leaks 1. Streamer earnings are concentrated at the top, and...

Matej’s piece: https://lancaric.me/how-to-save-millions-with-marketability-testing/ What are some best practices when creating a new game from scratch? And how can you include marketability testing in that process? Also - why is Honor of Kings the first Mobile Game to reach $10b in player spending? Answer to this and more in this week’s roundtable! In this Metacast episode, Miikka Ahonen , Matej L...

In this Metacast Interview episode, Gabby Dizon , Co-founder of Yield Guild Games , is joined by our own Nicolas Vereecke . They discuss what Yield Guild is, how Blockchain is changing the Games Industry and how Games Companies can take advantage of it.  If you would like us to interview anyone else (or you have something interesting to share), do reach out at metacast@naavik.co. We’d love to hear...

What is the real opportunity behind Blockchain Games? Why is everyone so bullish? Also - what is the so-called Creator Economy and where is it going? Answer to this and more in this week’s roundtable! In this Metacast episode, Aaron Bush , Matej Lancaric and David Amor are joined by your host Nicolas Vereecke to discuss;   - The Opportunity behind Blockchain Games   - The rise of the Creator Econo...

What are the differences between On-Chain game assets (NFTs) and regular in-game assets? What is up with Raph Koster’s new MMO? Is this the top of the NFT bubble? Answer to this and more in this week’s roundtable! In this Metacast episode, Abhimanyu Kumar and Miikka Ahonen are joined by your host Nicolas Vereecke to discuss;   - The debate: On-chain vs Off-chain game assets   - Raph Koster reveals...

In this Metacast Interview episode, Miska Katkoff , co-founder & CEO of Savage Game Studio’s and Founder of Deconstructor of Fun, is joined by our own Nicolas Vereecke . They discuss what it takes to be a good Product Manager in the Games Industry, how to build a new Games Studio, and why learning in public is a Superpower. If you would like us to interview anyone else (or you have something i...

Why is an NFT of a Destroyed Diamond being sold for $18.000? What’s next for Epic and Apple? Why is Plants versus Zombies 3 going into soft launch, again? Answer to this and more in this week’s roundtable! In this Metacast episode, Matej Lancaric , David Amor and Chong Ahn are joined by your host Nicolas Vereecke to discuss;   - Epic versus Apple, end of Chapter 1   - Plants vs Zombies 3 going int...

*Correction: Loot is an ERC721 token, NOT an ERC20 token If you’re in the gaming industry and haven’t heard of Loot, stop what you’re doing and listen to this episode. As a bonus, you’ll get some fantastic insights into Blockchain and Games! In this Blockchain-heavy Metacast roundtable, Jayne Peressini , David Amor and Chong Ahn are joined by your host Nicolas Vereecke to discuss;   - Loot (for ad...

We had the pleasure of interviewing Uri Marchand , Founder and CEO of Overwolf .  Overwolf is a modding-as-a-service platform that enables game developers to build a UGC strategy, and creators to easily build and scale mods and apps for their favourite games. We discuss why Uri is so bullish on creators, the future of modding, learnings from building a company, and much more. Enjoy! If you would l...

Why is Netflix launching 2 Stranger Things games in Poland? How impactful are Apple’s recent concessions, really? What are the implications of China’s recent gaming ban? Answers to this and a whole lot of laughs in this week’s Roundtable! In this Metacast episode, Abhimanyu Kumar , Matej Lancaric and Anton Gorodetsky are joined by your host Nicolas Vereecke to discuss;   - Netflix’s baby steps int...

Why did Google pay developers to publish only on the Google Play Store? How can a fully remote team successfully build something as complex as a video game? How fun is Supercell’s new game? Answers to this and much more in this week’s Roundtable! In this Metacast episode, Jayne Peressini , Miikka Ahonen and Yonatan Raz-Fridman are joined by your host Nicolas Vereecke to discuss;   - Google’s respo...

In this Metacast Interview episode, we had the pleasure of interviewing Josh Williams, CEO of Forte . Forte is building end-to-end infrastructure solutions that enable game developers to more easily build, launch, and manage blockchain games. We discuss why blockchain games matter, how Forte works, the company’s vision and plans for the future, and best practices for designing blockchain games. En...

Will Activision Blizzard be able to correct its culture issues? What does Android need to do to overtake iOS? What’s up with Ariana Grande and Fortnite? Why should Ubisoft and Spotify merge?? Answers to these questions, and a whole lot of very bold predictions in this week’s Roundtable! In this Metacast episode, Aaron Bush , Matej Lancaric and Yonatan Raz-Fridman are joined by your host Nicolas Ve...

Talewind is a new, UK studio building a social sandbox RPG that’s exclusive to the Roblox platform . Founded by Mike Allender and Georgina Felce at the beginning of the year, the studio completed the Roblox Accelerator program and closed an Angel investment round of $800k to support their ambitions to build high quality, professional games for metaverse platforms. I n this conversation, Mike &...

Why is Ubisoft investing in Free-to-Play games? What were the biggest games deals for the first half of this year? Why did Jam City REALLY cancel its SPAC?  Answers to these questions and more in this week’s Roundtable! In this Metacast episode, Nicolas Vereecke is joined by Aaron Bush , Anton Gorodetsky and Grigory Bortnik to discuss;   - Ubisoft’s shift in strategy    - InvestGame’s H1 2021 Game...

In this first Metacast Interview, we have the pleasure of speaking with  Moritz Baier-Lentz , partner at BITKRAFT Ventures , with  Nicolas Vereecke hosting. We start our conversation with Moritz’s experiences as a professional esports athlete and investment banker in the gaming industry. We then shift our focus to his work at BITKRAFT. Moritz lays out BITKRAFT’s thesis around “Synthetic Reality”,...