Visionaries: Gaming, Media and the Internet Explained

Gaming has long grappled with challenges related to diversity and inclusion. From the high-profile lawsuit targeting Activision Blizzard, the publisher behind World of Warcraft and Call of Duty , for gender discrimination, to a recent incident involving a colorist joke by OfflineTV co-founder William "Scarra" Li, the industry has shown a lack of inclusivity for individuals of diverse gen...

Dan Fornace is the creator and developer of  Rivals of Aether  and its forthcoming sequel  Rivals 2 . In mid-November, Fornace and the  Rivals team launched a Kickstarter to help fund further development on  Rivals 2. The Kickstarter received public support from some of the largest influencers in the Super Smash Bros. community, including streamer Ludwig Ahgren. In just a month, the Kickstarter ra...

Ever reached a game level that stirred intense emotions? Odds are, music played a pivotal role. Join content creator Marco "MarcoMeatball" Cammarota, a former opera singer, as he talks with Jacob to explore the profound impact of music and scoring on the gaming experience. Dive into a conversation about iconic musical moments in gaming history, spanning from the sweeping scores of the Final Fantas...

It's been a busy year for gaming, as the billion dollar industry's undergone transformative mergers and acquisitions and unnerving scandals. You've seen the stories and the reports, but how does someone on the inside see these changes? In the latest episode of Visionaries , Lightforge Games co-founder and CEO Matt Schembari breaks down the intricate layers of his career, from his roots at Blizzard...

Alban Dechelotte became Chief Executive Officer of G2 Esports in a critical moment of the organization's history after the controversial resignation of G2 Founder, Carlos 'ocelote' Rodriguez. Less than a year later, he joins Jacob on Visionaries to dive into G2's past problems and future obstacles. Explore G2 Esports' evolution from an up and coming Spanish brand to a global esports powerhouse, an...

Get ready for a Marvel-ous treat with the latest episode of Visionaries ! Joanna Robinson, the co-author of the upcoming book "MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios" joins Jacob Wolf to discuss the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its profound impact on the entertainment industry. Diving into the unique challenge of crafting an ending for a narrative constantly evolving within the expansiv...

On September 20, the LCS waved goodbye to TSM, once the most popular name in the North American league, and rolled out the welcome mat for Shopify Rebellion. This unexpected move had everyone buzzing: What's Shopify Rebellion's game plan? Dario "TLO" Wünsch, ex-StarCraft pro turned esports leader at Shopify, joined Jacob this week to discuss how the e-commerce platform will be different and whethe...

Listen to the full episode by subscribing to the Jacob Wolf & Mikhail Klimentov Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JacobWolfMikhailKlimentov In our first Patreon exclusive episode, Jacob is joined by former Riot Games and Loaded executive Avi Bhuiyan and attorney Bryce Blum to discuss their new set of essays entitled, "The Esports Reckoning." Long-time veterans of the esports industry, Bryce and...

David "GrandPooBear" Hunt is one of Twitch's fastest-growing stars, but he is, by no means, new to the art of content creation. After a snowboarding accident left him severely injured in early 2013, GrandPooBear found a new way to compete: Speedrunning — the art of competing for the fastest completion time in a certain game. In his time as a speedrunner, Poo's broken multiple world records at some...

After a combined span of 13 years at Riot Games, the developer of League of Legends , Andrea Sepenzis and Michael Chu have embarked on a new venture: Codename Islands. Taking inspiration from games like Minecraft , Roblox , and other cooperative multiplayer titles, the duo is deliberately veering from their origins of crafting competitive, player-versus-player experiences in their latest project....

'Visionaries' is back and Prem and Jacob are joined by Jeff Gardiner, an award-winning game developer who worked on some of gaming's highest-grossing titles, including Fallout 3 ,  Fallout 4 ,  The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and  Fallout 76. Jeff is now on a new journey: Building a game studio and learning how to transition from full-time game development to the C suite. Jeff is the founder and CEO o...

We have some exciting news! We're moving to Patreon. Starting Monday, August 14, you can find new content from Jacob Wolf and Mikhail Klimentov, the former editor of The Washington Post's Launcher video game vertical, on our new Patreon. Subscribe today to get exclusive content from The Jacob Wolf Report, ReaderGrev and the 'Visionaires' podcast. Subscribe: patreon.com/JacobWolfMikhailKlimentov

If you've spent any time on the Internet, chances are, you know who Taylor Lorenz is. The blogger turned New York Times  and later  Washington Post reporter is arguably the most relevant journalist on the Internet — sometimes for better or worst. A fascination of the American MAGA conservative movement, Lorenz's reporting and her bombastic personality's drawn the ire of the world's richest man and...

As the social Internet begins to fracture, gaming faces a pressing new challenge: the emergence of extremist havens within some of its communities. From Discord to Roblox, even the most beloved games and apps must now forge innovative systems to confront this growing risk. Join Jacob in an insightful conversation with Stanley Pierre-Louis, the head of the Entertainment Software Association, which...

The founding members of pop punk band Motion City Soundtrack, Justin Courtney Pierre and Joshua Cain, open up about their careers and how addiction, grief, and mental health shaped their journeys both in music and life. Reflecting on the power of music as a tool for healing and self-discovery, the band’s members share an insightful look at how their personal struggles reached their fans through mu...

War games have revolutionized the gaming industry, captivating millions with their immersive experiences. But have you ever wondered about the real-life consequences and their portrayal of warfare? John Phipps, a U.S. Marine Corps and Iraq War veteran and host of the Super Deluxe GamesCast , joins Jacob on the pod to discuss Six Days in Fallujah , a new war title controversially attempting to repl...

In a hunt for profitability, Reddit's begun limiting access to its API behind a paywall, functionally killing extremely popular third-party apps like Apollo and Infinity. The policy change's started an entire revolt, with volunteer moderators on the site taking some of their subreddits private, ensnaring the website in a battle between its administrators and its community. So how did this all begi...

Fresh from Summer Games Fest, Jacob and Prem handpick their top three thrilling game announcements and delve into the whirlwind of Xbox's extravagant marketing campaign for Starfield , which is fueling astronomical expectations. Will Xbox finally deliver a groundbreaking title following its acquisition of Bethesda Softworks, the creators of blockbusters Skyrim and Fallout ? Join Jacob and Prem as...

On Tuesday, Amazon-owned livestreaming platform Twitch announced controversial new advertising changes, severely prohibiting streamers from the ways they can promote sponsors. The change would affect nearly all of Twitch's top earners. The platform walked it back on Wednesday after much backlash, but there's still some concern the same rules will be enforced. Twitch is also now restricting all bro...

The League of Legends North American esports scene braces for what could be a full-scale crisis. The financial problems in the scene kicked off a chain reaction that is leading the sector towards a downward spiral. Is there a way to avoid it? The New York Times' reporter Kellen Browning joins Jacob Wolf on ‘Visionaries’ to discuss the current challenges the esports scene in North America is facing...

For the past few weeks, one of Hollywood's biggest unions, the Writers Guild of America, has been on strike, disrupting the TV and film industries in mass. Late night programs on CBS, ABC, NBC and HBO all halted production and other shows, like "Abbott Elementary" and "Stranger Things," have also been affected. Comedian, actor, former YouTuber and Hollywood writer Akilah Hughes joins Jacob and Pre...

Kotaku is in hot water with gamers after first discussing why the publication didn't receive a review code for 'The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom' and then reporting on leaks of that game ahead of its Friday release. Host Jacob Wolf and producer Prem Thottumkara discuss why the narrative against the publication is wrong. They also dive into Jacob's recent Substack article outlining why he'...

Known as the "Internet's busiest music nerd", Anthony Fantano, aka The Needle Drop, is the web's most popular music critic. His takes on Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, and Kanye West have garnered him hundreds of millions of views, and in 2020, The New York Times called him, "The Only Music Critic Who Matters (if You’re Under 25)." Recently, he got into a feud with Drake after giving Drizzy's latest...

On April 26, the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority announced its intent to block the $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, the largest merger and acquisition deal ever in gaming. The regulating body argues that with franchises like Call of Duty in tow, Microsoft will take over the small-but-growing cloud gaming market. The deal's not dead, but how will the...

The new 'Super Mario Bros. Movie' became the highest-grossing animated film of all time at the box office in less than a month from its release. Ed Skudder, the head of story at Illumination Entertainment, helped transform the script into the storyboards as the film prepared to be brought to the big screen. He joins Jacob to share the world behind the production of Illumination’s latest hit. "I th...