Naavik Gaming Podcast

Today, host Devin Becker is joined by Sam Means, Founder of Wavlake , and Ben Cousens , Chief Strategy Officer of ZBD , for an exploration of alternative payment systems for creators in the music and gaming industries. The conversation dives into how Wavlake leverages Bitcoin to revolutionize artist payments and music distribution, offering unique benefits over traditional platforms like Spotify a...

In this episode of the Naavik Gaming podcast, host Niko Vuori interviews Álvaro Pinto , co-founder and COO of Aptoide, an independent app store with over 430 million users and 10 billion downloads.  They discuss the evolution of app distribution, the concept of decentralization, and how Aptoide has grown and adapted over the years. Álvaro shares insights into the company's revenue model, user demo...

One of UEFN's biggest strengths is that it is a melting pot of intellectual property. Jeremy Pedron , Lead Game Designer at JOGO Studios , calls it “a vast childhood playroom”, a place where you can combine playing with Batman while also playing with Legos. As creative costs go down to zero, the modern gaming market is undergoing a transformation in how IP is created. In summary, IP has never been...

Host Devin Becker is joined by Zach Nass , Head of Gaming at nSure.ai , to discuss the complex and evolving landscape of payment fraud prevention in gaming. Zach shares insights into why payment fraud in gaming has become such a critical issue today, the unique challenges posed by game-specific economies and marketplaces, and the importance of nuanced, adaptable solutions to secure transactions. W...

Host Niko Vuori and guest George Isichos , core contributor at Game7 , discuss the current state of web3 gaming, focusing on the latest Game7 x Naavik research report (which you can download here ). They explore the evolution of the ecosystem, the impact of platforms like Telegram and Epic Games Store, and emerging economic models such as Play-to-Airdrop. The conversation also addresses the challe...

If you’re reading this, you’re probably one of LinkedIn’s 1B+ global users. You might have also noticed some of your professional connections playing one of LinkedIn’s new games — Queens , Pinpoint , Crossclimb , or Tango — and may even be wondering "why are there games on LinkedIn?" Host Alexandra Takei , Director at Ruckus Games , sits down with Lakshman Somasundaram , Director of Product Manage...

A new frontier is emerging with the advent of "web shops," also known as direct-to-consumer distribution methods. Alexandra Takei , Director at Ruckus Games , sits down with Chris Faught , the CEO and founder of Neon , a direct-to-consumer payments service currently working with Space Ape, Metacore, and Theorycraft to build customizable web shops and geography-specific payment systems, challenging...

Host Aaron Bush welcomes Shahar Sorek , CMO of Overwolf, and Nick Tuosto , co-founder of Griffin Gaming Partners and GoodGame Advisors, to discuss the growing – and increasingly interconnected – impact of transmedia and modding on the gaming industry.  As beloved entertainment IPs partner with more types of game creators, we examine how these transmedia efforts are reshaping consumer behaviors and...

Fortnite has paid out roughly $500 million to creators since UEFN and Creator Economy 2.0 launched in March of 2023. These payouts, which have increased 32.5% YoY (measured from March through September), are showing no signs of slowing down. However, Fortnite Creative engagement as a proportion of total Fortnite engagement has actually declined as Epic has launched more successful modes like 'Relo...

In this episode, host Niko Vuori and guest Sean Ryan delve into the emerging category of social sweepstakes, a gaming model that barely existed as recently as 2017 but has rapidly evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry. In 2023, social sweeps generated almost $6 billion in revenue, and this number is expected to double to nearly $12 billion by next year, 2025. What are social sweeps? When a...

Sebastian Park , co-founder of Infinite Canvas and a favorite recurring guest, joins host Aaron Bush to dive into the fascinating topic of building games on new platforms and with new technologies. They discuss how Infinite Canvas rapidly iterates, uses off-the-shelf LLM tech, and what the team has learned lately from building on Discord, Twitch, and Telegram. If you want to better understand how...

In this episode, host Niko Vuori and guest Danny Moy, Chief Strategy Officer at SciPlay, delve into the highly competitive category of social casino.  They discuss the evolution of SciPlay, the demographics of social casino players, and the integration of casino mechanics into mainstream games. The conversation also touches on the importance of live operations, the role of AI in game design, and t...

What is culture, and why does it matter? Seth Sivak , the founder and ex-CEO of Proletariat, a studio most known for its title Spellbreak, joins our host, Alexandra Takei , Director at Ruckus Games , to discuss the importance of organizational culture in the gaming industry.  Proletariat was founded in 2012 by Seth and four other co-founders and went through various era of growth: scaling up to 80...

With metagames becoming a key component of player engagement and monetization, it’s more important than ever to get them right. Host Devin Becker welcomes Christopher Molozian , CEO of Heroic Labs , to discuss the evolving landscape of metagame systems and the technology that powers them. Christopher explains how Heroic Labs' platform integrates seamlessly into games, enabling developers to enhanc...

When designing content creation tools for the masses, most platforms have to make trade-offs across accessibility, ease of use, capability, and power of the toolsets. However, AI has the potential to provide the best of both worlds. For instance, co-pilot technology empowers non-technical creators to write code, and 3D gen-AI enables entire environments to be created from simple command line promp...

“AAA is not in crisis; it is in a moment of change.” In this episode, Kate Kellogg, the COO of EA Studios, joins our host, Alexandra Takei , Director at Ruckus Games , to discuss game launches, EA's strategic approach, and how EA staffs and organizes itself to win.  We discuss the challenge of aligning development resources with performance expectations and delve into EA's strategic pillars of Pla...

It's no secret that distribution across all major gaming platforms is virtually inaccessible to all but the most deep-pocketed developers. The go-go days of being able to bootstrap a studio or raise a modest amount of funding to grow and scale a title are long gone, and there have been very few emerging platforms that show outsized promise.  But is that about to change? Telegram games have explode...

In recent years, there’s been considerable discourse about the game industry’s challenges. However, according to today's guest, Jiten Dajee, one core element has been missing from the conversation: the root technical causes underlying many of today’s business woes. After all, game tech shapes the way games are developed and managed, which in turn drives business outcomes. Jiten, General Partner at...

If you are into fantasy sports, Dream 11 is a household name. Boasting over 220M active users, it is one of the most popular fantasy sports platforms in the world. But what you might not know is that Dream 11 is just one part of the Dream Sports Group, which aspires to be a full 360 sports experience beyond fantasy (including merchandise, travel, streaming, live experiences, and, of course, video...

Over the last few years, brands have increasingly gravitated to platforms like Roblox as a way to reach younger audiences. In 2023 alone, we saw 240 brand activations on Roblox, which doubled from the year prior. In terms of revenue, this contributed to over $80 million in brand spend, which equates to roughly 10% of Roblox's developer earnings for 2023. From the brand perspective, results can var...

The gaming industry is currently facing an identity crisis, with widespread layoffs, escalating budgets, and a flood of new games hitting the market. In light of these macro trends, game studios and platforms need to find ways to leverage their existing strengths or develop new strategies for long-term success. Ben Feder , Managing Partner at Tirta and former CEO of Take-Two, and Ken Wee , former...

UGC is hot, hot, hot right now. Roblox is on track to pay out half a billion USD to creators - annually - and never has it been more possible for young, individual creators to make a meaningful living as “game developers.” But is Roblox the only place for such creators? HiberWorld, a platform that's empowering anyone to build and share their own 3D worlds, is trying to change that by making making...

On August 28th, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a Wells Notice to OpenSea, notifying the largest NFT marketplace that it is under investigation for operating as an unlicensed exchange, labeling the NFTs traded on the platform as securities. Founder & CEO of OpenSea, Devin Finzer, posted that “[t]his is a move into uncharted territory. By targeting NFTs, the SEC would stifle innov...

Hasbro is known for iconic properties like Dungeons and Dragons and Monopoly, but is sometimes overlooked as the licensor of incredible video game successes such as Baldur's Gate III and Monopoly Go! In the last 12 months, Hasbro's licensed games have generated a staggering $3.25 billion, making it the largest entertainment IP licensor in video games, and almost doubling the revenue of the next la...

Today, we explore what it takes to build the next big video game franchise powered by user-generated games. It's a daunting task as Epic Games paid roughly $320 million to creators in the past year in order to incentivize creators to build new experiences on its platform. That's enough money to develop and market a new AAA franchise every year.  However, that hasn't discouraged start-up studios li...