Game Economist Cast – Details, episodes & analysis

Can a stick of butter keep you sober during high-stakes diplomatic meetings? Eric is sure to tell us. Chris provides a compelling theory for the death of mods, while Phil undergoes a Supercell detox after analyzing Squad Buster's launch. The crew gets back in touch with their microeconomic selves and looks at one of the most interesting explanations for the gender pay gap.

• ONE COHORT AT A TIME: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON THE DECLINING GENDER PAY GAP

Play to earn hits Steam, and the crew is here to dissect the phenomenon. Why now, and why bananas? 

Phil is back into the economics of social casinos, while Chris develops a progression model for Darts. Eric and Phil debate the externalities of bots, while Chris solves for equilibrium. 

Inflation is a wild word, with everyone playing fast and loose with the definition of in-game economies. Eric isn't convinced inflation is the evil Friedman claims it is, while  Chris defends the honor of game tokens from Phil's stablecoin inquisition. The crew debates the meaning of game inflation: in what units and for whom? The answer is not as clear as first thought.

Price discrimination is the economist "duh," yet few firms engage in the *welfare* enhancing practice. What's with that? Dr. Bill Grosso, CEO of Game Data Pros, joins the crew to tell us that sometimes it's just about more columns in the database... We cover his efforts to build price personalization at scale, community pushback, the pricing power of brands, and the best things about game economists.

[1] A two-armed bandit theory of market pricing

It's finally here...the EVE episode. The crew speaks to one of the world's first Game Economist, Dr.Gudmundsson, who helped manage and advise on one of gaming's most durable and well-known game economies...ever. We cover the origin of E.V.E. (a simulation!?), his biggest wins at CCP, the role of game economists, and if crypto has a future.

Somehow, the cast wrings another guest, David Nelson, the former VP of Experimentation at King. Christopher Kaczmarczyk-Smith runs a regression on negative price, while Eric Guan explains the economic dynamics of rewarded video - bots and all. The crew debates how to solve the F-99 monetization problem and checks out what the NEW Experimentation Group is up to.

You won’t want to miss this episode of Game Economist Cast.

Guest! Finally! Dr.Julian Runge is here to add some much-needed seasoning to the regular crew, bringing the takes. We discuss the role of art, science, and academia, analytic organization structures, the role of flow in retention, the role of sales versus personalization, and the best theories of difficulty.

We cover a lot of PUBLICLY published research in this episode (most by Dr.Runge!) that most industry venters haven’t seen!

[1] Getting ML-Based App Personalization Right: The Engagement Engineering Framework
[2] Price Promotions for “Freemium” App Monetization
[3] Why Free-to-Play Apps Can Ignore the Old Rules About Cutting Prices
[4] Quantity discounts on a virtual good: The results of a massive pricing experiment at King

Chris wants to close the loop on game economies, while Eric compares Pikmin to Marx's Labor Theory of Value. Phil thinks Hawked is the next evolution of extraction shooter but doesn't understand why Indiana Jones needs to be involved. The American Time Use Survey is in, and... surprise, the crew plays Magic but can't decide to dust or auction cards.

Chris beguiles us with tales of Disc Golf, while Eric describes, in detail, the "fully modeled genitalia" of Baldur's Gate 3. Phil is too busy brushing up his Redditor voice which will surely get him canceled. The crew laments the declining utility of cosmetic economies but doubles down on the mechanics of emergent gameplay.

Eric brings us to the streets of Vegas for EVO while Phil finds solace in another hypercasual hit. Chris has a new metric for web3, and the crew laments inflation: it got ranked systems. The crew debates taking a bullet for millionaire execs who desperately need the help.