We dive deep into the fierce competition between Tencent and NetEase—two titans shaping the global gaming landscape. Discover how these companies are navigating the challenges of the Chinese market and their strategies for international expansion. We also share our personal experiences about Tencent and provide insider insights you can't find anywhere else. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more industry insights! 🚀 #Gaming #Tencent #NetEase #GameIndustry #PixelsAndProfits OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro 1:50 Tencent business overview 4:50 Tencent margins & operational efficiency 8:06 Tencent internal studios 10:30 How Tencent worked with Glu - Brian and JK personal stories 18:15 The Tencent game dev model 21:08 Potential IP conflicts - Apex Legends Mobile case study 23:40 Tencent as bully 25:22 Tencent game company holdings 27:16 Tencent key growth opportunities 33:50 Tencent key challenges 40:55 Geo-political factors involved with Tencent 47:07 Tencent valuation 51:51 Netease business overview 54:21 Brian’s take on new Netease survival game 56:00 Netease internal studios 57:34 Netease growth opportunities 1:01:55 Netease valuation 1:02:55 Netease challenges 1:04:03 Tencent vs. Netease future outlook SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ 😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! — • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1 • TWITTER → @jokim1 • LINKEDIN → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/ — POPULAR CONTENT — 🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies https://youtu.be/bkd2TOpKt4I 🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021 https://youtu.be/NejFzHtpiZI 🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming https://youtu.be/_QT7O3Wxi2s 🔴 Games Industry M&A https://youtu.be/65nyPk6WNrs 🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games https://youtu.be/tHq3PzmjhLw 🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact https://youtu.be/Ojec4wGKpso 🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score https://youtu.be/5egTSQ6AiRA 🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices https://youtu.be/tmzqqnYbjNY

Anton Bernstein, CEO of Pocket Worlds, discusses the intricacies of cosmetics monetization in free-to-play games. Learn about player motivations, game design considerations, primary vs. secondary markets, and cultural differences in monetization strategies. Gain valuable insights on key metrics and best practices for successful cosmetic-based revenue in games like Fortnite, CS:GO, and High Rise. OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro 0:45 Most important topics around cosmetics monetization 2:11 Anton Bernstein background and Pocket World business 3:17 The kinds of games that sell cosmetics well: 6:20 How does Fair to play vs. free to play impact cosmetics sales 11:48 How necessary is high engagement to cosmetics sale? 14:16 How does 1st vs. 3rd person perspective impact kinds of cosmetics sales? 16:38 How does motivation around vanity vs. speculation impact cosmetics sales? 21:00 The best games to study for F2P cosmetics monetization 23:40 ARPU and spend depth for cosmetics sales 27:50 Form of cosmetics sales that perform best: Battle pass, loot box, etc. 31:50 The importance of big IP and scale to sell cosmetics well 35:00 Player motivations behind buying cosmetics 38:55 Cosmetics monetization East vs. West 45:00 Primary vs. secondary markets - developer business model 52:47 KPIs and metrics to watch for cosmetics sales 55:50 Dangers of selling cosmetics 57:32 Final message and contacting Anton 👇 EPISODE LINKS: - Anton Bernstein, CEO of Pocket Worlds: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonber/ - Pocket Worlds: https://www.pocketworlds.com/ SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.com/

We are seeing severe impacts around privacy and the ability to measure any post-device ID kind of fingerprinting world. So, we wanted to put together a five-part series helping advertisers understand the measurement crisis and the different tools and measurement signals available. #1. The first podcast in the series will be the overview of the measurement crisis. #2. The second podcast will be the actual state of last touch and the real value that last touch is bringing you. #3. The third podcast will educate on incrementality testing and how it can be leveraged in a privacy-first world. #4. The fourth one will be the promise of MTA 2. 0 and data clean rooms. So you understand some of the more fringe benefits of tools coming to you that may impact last touch. #5. The last podcast is a summary roadmap to measurement success, helping you, the advertiser, take everything you've been educated on, turn it into action and succeed. OUTLINE: 0:00 New series: State of Measurement in a Privacy-first World introduction 2:24 Intro to the Measurement Crisis in mobile user acquisition (UA) 4:30 Recap on why we have problems attributing installs today 8:17 How incentives exacerbate the measurement problem 11:42 What is the actual impact of IDFA deprecation to UA? 16:43 Andrew believes that incrementality shows that the impact of IDFA may be a perceived rather than actual problem 22:12 Warren's dynamic polling approach, how to make goal based buying work, and overview of IDFA workarounds 31:16 What does Kwalee and other game studios do for UA now? 33:30 How to react to loss of fingerprinting 40:00 What are limitations of MMM or incrementality? 46:35 Who will be impacted most by loss of fingerprinting? 47:40 What does the future state of measurement look like? SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.com/

Today we discuss one of the most important topics for the success of a games studio, especially for startups and those working on new game projects: RECRUITING!  

GUEST: 

- Tayber Voyer, VP of Product - A Thinking Ape

HOSTS: 

- Joseph Kim, CEO at LILA Games

- Brett Nowak, CEO at Liquid & Grit

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter

Bill Walsh, the Hall of Fame NFL coach, had a number of incredibly insightful and effective leadership philosophies as discussed in his book "The Score Takes Care of Itself."  One philosophy Walsh discusses is something he calls "Make Friends, Not Enemies."  

We discuss this concept and as always the nuance and specific application. Check it out!  

HOSTS: 

- Joseph Kim, CEO at LILA Games 

- Brett Nowak, CEO at Liquid & Grit

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

An in-depth discussion on how to technical leads at gaming companies can become great!   

Super far-ranging conversation from the scope of work, biggest problems, transitioning from individual contributor to manager, how to spend day to day, biggest lessons learned, and more!  

SPEAKERS:     

- Niklas Herriger, Executive Coach, Founder of 8 Bit Coaching     

- Tommy Krul, CTO Super Evil Megacorp     

- Avinash Pandey, CTO LILA Games  

HOST:    

- Joseph Kim, CEO, LILA Games.   

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter!

Companies globally require new ways of managing as they grapple with new working conditions from the coronavirus pandemic. As companies adapt to greater work-from-home environments, new problems have arisen.   

Brett believes in a new world of remote work where those who don't adapt will not survive, JK believes that for "complex work" and for companies that are working in complex work environments especially those working on 0 to 1 products, in-office environments are best.  

Hear both sides including specific nuance, trends, themes, and analysis of remote vs. office work.  

What will be the future of work?  

HOSTS:

- Joseph Kim, CEO at LILA Games

- Brett Nowak, CEO at Liquid & Grit

LINKS:

• Managing Remote Work: The Problem with “Outcomes Not Hours” (Part 1 of 3)
• Managing Remote Work: Outcomes Gone Wild (Part 2 of 3)
• Managing Remote Work: Trust Isn't Enough! (Part 3 of 3)

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ NEW VIDEOS EVERY WEEK! ***Click the notification bell so you don't miss any!***

We talk to some really dope superstars in the games industry to discuss this issue:  

- Gigi Levy-Weiss, Partner NFX  

- Brian Peganoff, former Corp Dev at Glu, VP at Deutsche Bank  

- Kristian Segerstrale, CEO Super Evil Megacorp   

Content Overview: 

0:00 Intro 

2:26 Role & Time of the CEO 

14:31 Product Oriented CEOs 

19:22 Examples of Great CEOs 

26:52 Required Qualities 

32:36 Three Views of the CEO 

38:24 CEO by Company Stage 

44:57 Finding Weak Points 

49:22 Society + CEO Role

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

How should you make difficult decisions? What are common kinds of difficult decisions in the games industry? What are common decision-making models? What are important distinctions between types of decisions?   

Deep dive on this very important topic in great depth and with our typical philosophical approach!  

HOSTS: 

- Joseph Kim, CEO at LILA Games

- Brett Nowak, CEO at Liquid & Grit

LINKS:

• The Principles of Product Development Flow, by Donald Reinertsen
• Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win, by Jocko Willink
• Making Smart Choices: 8 Keys to Making Effective Decisions blog
• Win With Character, Win with Cruelty, Jim Harbaugh

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter

We discuss the sustainability and economy behind the massive hit blockchain game Axie Infinity. Naavik has released a research report breaking down the economy and sustainability of the game (check out the link to the report below).   

Axie seems to have reached an inflection point in which the game may no longer be sustainable.  

Find out more about Axie, its economy, Sky Mavis and how they monetize Axie, and the potential future and sustainability of both Axie and Sky Mavis.  Btw, it's easy to cast stones, so we also take an optimistic look and discuss the potential solutions and upside of Axie and Sky Mavis.  

Check out this deep and very educational discussion now!  

LINKS: 

- Master the Meta newsletter: https://naavik.co/themetas

- Naavik Premium Research: https://naavik.co/premium

- Axie Infinity: Infinite Opportunity or Infinite Peril research report: https://naavik.co/business-breakdowns/axie-infinity 

PROMOTION:  

Check out the Naavik premium research service for games: https://naavik.co/premium

Use promo code NAAVIKGAMEMAKERS for a 10% discount off of the first 12 months of the subscription!

We brought together a number of experts from across the gaming ecosystem to have a casual but deep and informed discussion about the future of mobile gaming.  

In particular, what are key opportunities game developers should be aware of and what are the potential risks as we move into 2022 and beyond.  

SPEAKERS: 

- Nadav Ashkenazy, SVP Publishing Solutions, IronSource: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadav-ashkenazy-34083aba/

- Ron Rejwan, Co-founder/CEO of new gaming startup Sneaky Panda, Former Co-founder/CTO of Jelly Button the makers of Pirate Kings: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ron-rejwan-1124013/

- Lexi Sydow, Head of Insights, App Annie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexisydow/ 

0:00 Intro 

1:40 Biggest Impact Change 

9:19 Mid/Hardcore Insurgency 

16:40 Services Drive Growth 

27:24 Social Multiplayer Crypto 

39:20 Metaverse  

49:37 Data Wars 

58:34 Chasing Quick Money 

1:05:50 Global Financial Crisis 

1:12:46 User Acquisition Costs  

1:18:21 Final Words  

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

What kinds of planning do product managers do in game development? 

We discuss the kinds of planning in concept/pre-production, production, and in live ops.   

What kinds of revenue forecasting and analysis should you do?   

How to plan for big innovations vs. incremental liveops beats?  

GUEST: 

- Adam Telfer, Senior Director of Product - Head of Central Product at WB Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamtelfer/ 

HOSTS: 

- Joseph Kim, CEO at LILA Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/

- Brett Nowak, CEO at Liquid & Grit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-nowak-8920675/ 

👇 CHECK IT OUT  

GameMakers Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

So today there are a lot of complaints about whether a 30% Apple or Google app store fee is fair. And even further, whether there should be competition and the ability to have an open ecosystem for alternative payments or even app stores.  

We have on with us today some folks who will talk about both the current situation behind App Store fees and speculate on where this is all potentially heading as well.  

SPEAKERS:  

- Chris Hewish, President of Xsolla. The company has solutions against alternative payments and payment solutions both on Web and for PC, but also increasingly with a focus on mobile.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrishewish/ 

- Matthew Kanterman, Senior Equity Research Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Matthew in particular has a specific focus on gaming, Asia, mobile, and metaverse. https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-kanterman-cfa-b6345133/ 

- Brett Nowak, CEO of Liquid & Grit. Brett also coincidentally co-hosts a podcast series with me called Philosophy Friday.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-nowak-8920675/ 

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

Doom loops are a cycle of self reinforcing negative decisions and behaviors that lead to bad outcomes.

In this episode I talk about my own experience trying to break my doom loop impacting both my professional and personal life.

Back at you with some deep thoughts on the challenges, difficulties, and potential solutions for one of the biggest problems at most companies:

- How to give employee feedback and do performance reviews

We deep people. Listen to this pod and let us know what you think!

LINKS:

- Airbnb System: The Power of Performance Reviews: Use This System to Become a Better Manager

- LILA Games Values Doc: (see slides on feedback)

Lol. We discuss the nuance in definitions and scope of work-life balance, differences between work-life balance and work-life integration, compensation issues for people working a lot at start-ups, and other touchy subjects.

I generally don't edit, but went way too far on this so we edited a bunch of stuff out. 

About Us:

- Joseph Kim, CEO, LILA Games

- Brett Nowak, CEO, Liquid & Grit

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

We discuss mobile ad revenue and monetization going into 2022 and beyond.   

We initially talked about mobile ad revenue back in January and got a lot of great feedback. Check out the original video we did back in January:

- Mobile Ad Revenue in 2021   

So, what happened in 2021? 

Why didn't CPMs collapse and what are we seeing now? 

How did the market play out from our expectations back then going into IDFA to what actually happened?  

Content Overview: 

0:00 Intro 

1:06 CPMs & Ad Rev 

12:54 Contextual Ads 

15:00 Programmatic 

18:39 Genre + Hypercasual 

23:31 Operational Changes 

27:35 Data Transparency 

36:00 Data Wars of 2021 

52:19 Role of Admon Team 

56:38 Data Strategy Role   

59:55 Winners & Losers 

1:05:37 Industry Implications 

1:09:54 Predictions  

Speakers: 

- Josh Chandley, COO of WildCard Games

- Sofia Gilyazova, Head of Ad Monetization, SocialPoint (TakeTwo's Mobile Games Division)

- Offer Yehudai, Chief Marketing Officer, Digital Turbine/Fyber   

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

We discuss the Peter Thiel concept of 0 to 1 vs. 1 to N in the context of product management. We believe there is a pretty big distinction between new game development which is oriented around this 0 to 1 concept and the 1 to N or live-ops PM.

Links:

- Zero to One by Peter Thiel

About Us:

- Joseph Kim, CEO, LILA Games

- Brett Nowak, CEO, Liquid & Grit

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

Today we discuss Data Usage & Ethics in Gaming.  

It’s not just about what are acceptable practices when it comes to market intelligence, there’s a bigger picture around data that impacts privacy at the device level with Apple and Google impacting IDFA, and even further with the data by companies that may be in competitive situations to their customers. Note that it was just announced that Applovin has just acquired MoPub for example.  

Regular Hosts: 

- Joseph Kim, CEO of LILA Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/

- Brett Nowak, CEO of Liquid & Grit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-nowak-8920675/ 

Guest: 

- Lars Doucet, President of Level Up Labs. Twitter: @larsiusprime, Blog: https://www.fortressofdoors.com/ 

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

We discuss the future outlook and potential emerging opportunities for blockchain gaming.  

Who better to discuss than:  

1. Chong Ahn, VP of Product at Mythical Games (Blankos Block Party) 

2. Brian Peganoff, Ex-Senior Dir of Corporate Development & Strategy at Glu Mobile 

3. Mitch Zamara, Lead Designer, Million on Mars  

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

With long histories in product management specifically in the games industry, we have a REAL discussion on what it takes to be a great PM.  

Hardcore and real talk from guys who have worked on very successful products. I led the #1 top-grossing game King of Avalon plus a lot of other shit. Brett was a lead PM on Zynga Poker which was contributing 22% of Zynga's revenue at the time.   Real talk you won't get anywhere else. This talk is for hardcore PMs only!   

Follow this channel if you want to hear more philosophy on current and important issues in the F2P games industry.  

The story behind JK getting assassinated: HERE  

Recommended Books on PM: 

1. The Principles of Product Development Flow by Donald G. Reinertsem 

2. Principles by Ray Dalio 

3. Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink 

4. The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz 

5. Atomic Habits by James Clear 6. The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh  

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

Moonton's Chief Game Designer Skyhook talks about MOBAs and the keys to success for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.  

Questions asked:  

0:00 Intro 0:25 Classification of MOBAs? 

2:14 Difference in design between MOBA and RTS? 

4:07 How did Mobile Legends succeed when other MOBAs failed? 

5:57 What was the hardest challenge in Mobile Legends' success?  

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

In this deep conversation with Lars, we were able to speak to the key challenges that remain behind blockchain and crypto in gaming. 

Key problems discussed: 1. Degraded Blockchain Problem, 2. Some Problems with Play to Earn, and 3. The Problem with Land Sales.  

Links: 

- Lars Blog- The Fortress of Doors

- Degraded Blockchain Article (Lars post from Fortress of Doors)

- Land Speculators Will Kill Your Game's Growth (Game Developer)

Also check out the original, full interview with Lars that has a wider ranged discussion on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency on Super Stonk Bros here 

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

LILA Games CTO Avinash Pandey discusses key tech challenges in scaling mobile F2P games with Epic Games' Technology Evangelist Arvind Neelakantan.  

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

Watch it on the GameMakers YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio

At most companies doing the hard thing is uncomfortable and we avoid addressing some of the most critical issues that can mean the difference between success and failure.

This is an audio read of my Philosophy Monday newsletter post. If you want to hear an audio version of those posts, let me know!

Go to gamemakers.substack.com and comment there and I'll do more of these in the future.

Deep discussion on what global strategic game publishers like Stillfront, SEGA, and Scopely look for when expanding into India from a development or market perspective.  

Moderator:     

- Justin Keeling, General Partner, Lumikai Fund  

Speakers:     

- Alexis Bonte, Group COO, Stillfront Group    

- Saito Go, Executive Officer & Head of Japan Asia Publishing, SEGA Corporation    

- Justin Scarpone, SVP & GM Asia, Scopely  

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

Panelists discuss: 

1. How did you break into this industry? 

2. Gaming career choice versus traditional options? 

3. Different Roles? 

4. Sustained interest?  

Moderator:  

- Vik Agarwal, Lead PM, Zynga   

Speakers: -

 Poornima Seetharaman, Dir of Design, Zynga 

- Karan Gaikwad, Lead PM, Nukebox 

- Shilpa Gaur, Lead Marketing & Strategy, Cympl  

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

Paul Leydon LILA Games Chief Creative Officer and former lead game designer on multiple #1 top grossing titles like King of Avalon (FunPlus) and Game of War (MZ), discusses his design and research methodology. He discusses the importance of doing the work and depth in making a hit game.  

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

Watch it on the GameMakers YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio

In this conversation, we have some of India’s top game industry leaders.   

Speakers: 

#1. Manish Agarwal, CEO of Nazara

#2. Amit Hardi, CEO of Nukebox

#3. Salone Sehgal, Genera. Partner at Lumikai

#4. Anuj Tandon, Head of Corp Dev India & MENA at Krafton

The focus of the conversation is oriented around India as a game development ecosystem. We talk about What’s keeping India from becoming the next China or Turkey, what are the strengths of the Indian game dev scene, and how do we accelerate the local Indian gaming market.  This was the first of 5 sessions from the India F2P gaming conference. Be sure to check this out as well as some of the other sessions.   

Moderator: 

- Joseph Kim, CEO of LILA Games 

And you can always read about it in the GameMakers newsletter and get alerted to new events in the future: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

We talk about the history and future opportunities for Instant Games. Joining us is Lars Doucet who wrote about this in his blog post (linked below) and Emily Greer, who as the former founder and CEO of Kongregate, has a strong perspective on this.  

LINKS: 

- Jon Lai, a16z partner, tweet on Instant Games: https://twitter.com/Tocelot/status/1404914355670437889

- Lars Blog Post "The Future of Games is an Instant Flash to the past": https://www.fortressofdoors.com/the-future-of-games-is-an-instant-flash-to-the-past/ 

- Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

Speakers:

- Lars Doucet, President of Level Up Labs: https://twitter.com/larsiusprime

- Emily Greer, CEO of Double Loop Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilygreer/

Moderator:

- Joseph Kim, CEO of LILA Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/

We talk about real-world data and the implications of IDFA deprecation.

Now there has been a lot of VERY BAD information being published on this topic. So today we have with us 3 real-world practitioners and some real data about what’s actually happening.

More specifically we will discuss:

#1. Real world data and impact of IDFA Deprecation

#2. Specific changes to how we do UA and Marketing based on the effects of IDFA Deprecation

#3. Implications to product and monetization design

#4. Who are likely winners & losers from these changes?

SPEAKERS:

1. Brian Bowman, CEO of Consumer Acquisition:

2. Matej Lancaric, Independent UA & Marketing Consultant:

3. Warren Woodward, Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer at Upptic

Overview: 

0:00 Intro 

2:15 Games Impact: Real Data 

12:02 Winners, Models, Supercell 

16:47 Algo Instability, Lookalikes  

20:43 Google Performance 

23:35 Unity Perf Explained 

26:20 ROAS Loss 

30:05 Specific Marketing Changes 

36:43 SKAdnetwork Conversion Value 

43:17 Creative Testing on iOS 

44:43 Reactivation Campaigns  

46:13 Strategic Maneuvering 

48:56 CPG Marketing 

53:20 Product Implications 

56:42 Winners & Losers

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter!

Conversation with Joe Byrne Director of Business Development and Strategy at SciPlay one of the world’s biggest and most successful social casino game companies.

Topics:

#1. How do the most sophisticated game companies use market intelligence data to inform their product strategy?

#2. How given new changes because of IDFA deprecation for example would create new requirements for the kinds of insights from the data that we look for? 

#3. Strategic insights on how the social casino genre is evolving and new trends for that genre.  

This conversation was facilitated in partnership with AppAnnie who is currently rolling out an update to their gaming taxonomy. Thanks App Annie!  

Speaker:

    - Joe Byrne, Director of Business Development and Strategy at SciPlay

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ 

How do competitive PVP games manage and scale up their tech infrastructure? What did Riot do for Valorant? We spoke to arguably the best two people in the entire world to address this question Riot's Head of Infra & Live Ops Zach Blitz and Network Next CEO Glenn Fiedler. 

SPEAKERS:

   - Zach Blitz, Head of Infra and Live Ops, Riot Games

   - Glenn Fiedler, Founder & CEO, Network Next

Tobi Lutke and Brian Armstrong re-popularized the notion of companies as described as "families" or "high performance sports teams." This impacts 1. employee performance expectations, 2. how to deal with discussions of social issues at the workplace, and 3. dissociating personal vs. professional lives.   

Let's have a nuanced discussion with a strong cross-section of key people from the games industry.  

Speakers:

- Eden Chen, CEO Pragma.gg: 

- Drew Levin, Lead PM Zynga 

- Chong Ahn, Head of PM EA 

- Ken Landen, Sr. PM Blizzard

Relevant Links 

- Initial Netflix Culture document (this seems to be the original popularization of the team-focus theme)

- Tobi Lutke: We are not a family

- Brian Armstrong: Mission focused company

Today we will be talking about the current state of Game Company Growth and the various growth strategies being deployed by different game companies.  

SPEAKERS:

- Joseph Kim, CEO, LILA Games

- Eric Kress, Principal, Gossamer Consulting

- Chris Petrovic, Chief Business Officer, FunPlus

LINKS:

- Four Growth Paradigms on GameMakers Newsletter Part 1

- Four Growth Paradigms on GameMakers Newsletter Part 2

Dive into the future of game development with Joseph Kim as he interviews Ben James, CEO of Atlas, a groundbreaking company at the forefront of integrating AI into the creative process of game design. In this exclusive interview, discover how Atlas's cutting-edge technology is transforming 2D reference images into fully-realized 3D models, propelling the development of immersive 3D MMO worlds into new realms of efficiency and creativity. What You'll Learn: ✔️ The innovative AI technology behind Atlas and its ability to revolutionize the creation of 3D assets. ✔️ How Atlas's platform is making the game development process faster, more efficient, and boundlessly creative. ✔️ The practical applications of Atlas technology in early game concept testing and beyond. ✔️ Ben James's insights on the potential for AI to augment rather than replace human creativity in game development. ✔️ The future of game design and how Atlas is positioning itself to empower developers with new tools for creative expression. Key Takeaways: 🔑 Understand the capabilities and advantages of using AI in game design and asset creation. 🔑 Discover how Atlas is enhancing the workflow of game developers and artists with its AI-driven platform. 🔑 Explore the ethical and practical considerations of AI in creative industries, with a focus on collaboration between human creativity and artificial intelligence. Whether you're a game developer, artist, or enthusiast excited about the future of game creation, this interview offers valuable insights into how AI technology is set to redefine the landscape of game development. Join us as we explore the cutting edge of gaming innovation with Joseph Kim and Ben James. 🎮 Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 01:30 Atlas's Mission and Technology 05:00 Transforming 2D Images into 3D Worlds 10:00 The Impact on Game Development Workflows 15:00 AI's Role in Creative Processes 20:00 Future Possibilities and Ethical Considerations 25:00 Q&A with Viewers

Subscribe to our channel for more insights into game development, interviews with industry leaders, and the latest trends in game technology. Don't forget to hit the like button and share this video with fellow gaming aficionados. Your support helps us bring more exciting content your way! #GameDevelopment #AIInGaming #AtlasTech #3DModeling #GameDesignInnovation

Today we are going to be talking about game publishing, the strategy behind consolidated studio organizations, and the future of the industry.   

Our speakers include:

  - Alexis Bonte, Group COO, Stillfront

  - Nadir Khan, COO, Candywriter

  - Tobias Kringe, Founder and Managing Director, Bytro Labs

Our hosts include

  - Joseph Kim, CEO, LILA Games

  - Eric Kress, Principal, Gossamer Consulting

  - Chris Petrovic, Chief Business Officer, FunPlus

Speakers:

    - Joseph Kim. CEO, LILA Games 

   - Eric Kress. Principal, Gossamer

   - Chris Petrovic. CBO, FunPlus (former SVP & Head of Corporate Strategy, M&A and Business Development at Zynga) 

Content Overview:

• 1:15 Intro / Context 
• 4:15 EA's Acquisition of Glu 
• 11:16 Glu Reorganization
• 15:30 Zynga + AdTech
• 25:35 Industry Consolidation
• 38:40 Best M&A Targets
• 44:15 Smaller M&A Targets 
• 50:00 Final Words

Today we are going to be talking about the Solana Blockchain, the Metaverse, and how it all ties to games.

To speak to these issues we spoke to Michael Wagner, co-founder and CEO of Star Atlas, the company making a Metaverse game using the Solana blockchain.

SPEAKER:

- Michael Wagner, CEO Star Atlas

LINKS:

- Upcoming Star Atlas drops: http://play.staratlas.com/

- Star Atlas Social Links: Twitter | Telegram | Medium | Youtube | Instagram | Discord | Reddit | Facebook | Linkedin

- Joseph Kim, CEO LILA Games

- LILA Games: We're Hiring! Especially Systems & Economy Designer, Product Manager, and Level Designer!

- GameMakers YouTube Channel

As game companies become desperate for growth, what are the different strategies they will pursue?

Zynga, Applovin, Skillz, and Jam City represent 4 different growth paradigms in F2P gaming. This week I discuss their different approaches to growth and the potential risks these companies face.

LINKS:

   - Joseph Kim, CEO LILA Games

   - LILA Games: We're Hiring! Especially Systems & Economy Designer, Product Manager, and Level Designer!

   - GameMakers YouTube Channel

Epic Games recently announced MetaHuman Creator, a cloud streamed application that enables the creation, live captured animation, and potentially, in the future, fully AI capable life-like NPCs.  What are the implications of this new technology to games? In terms of cost, capabilities, and production value?  

SPEAKER: 

   - Arvind Neelakantan, Tech Evangelist at Epic Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arvind-ne... 

HOSTS:  

  - Joseph Kim, CEO at LILA Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/ 

  - Avinash Pandey, CTO at LILA Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/avinash-p...

LINKS:

#1. Sign up for the GameMakers Newsletter

#2. Check out the GameMakers YouTube Channel

Key advancements in data infrastructure tech are driving big new changes in game development studios' approach to liveops data.

We're seeing rapid adoption of technologies from companies like Snowflake, Grafana, Prometheus, etc. What are the technologies and companies we need to be aware of and how does this impact F2P game live ops?

Speaking on this we have world-class experts in André Cohen (Head of Data Science at Tilting Point), Gaurav Gupta (Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, board member Grafana), and Oliver Löffler (former CTO KOLIBRI).

CHECK OUT:

#1. This episode on YOUTUBE

#2. GameMakers Substack NEWSLETTER

Sign up for the newsletter everybody: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

JK talks about 5 big changes that will potentially cause huge structural shifts in the games industry all coming to a head in 2021:

#1. Post-COVID Renormalization

#2. Lack of M&A Targets for Growth

#3. Impact of IDFA Deprecation

#4. Game Studio + Ad-Tech Vertical Integration

#5. The Rise of China

RELATED LINKS:

- Game Biz #1: Chris Petrovic, Eric Kress, and I talk M&A in 2021

- Mobile Ad Revenue in 2021+: With Josh Chandley (Wild Card Games), Sofia Gilyazova (Social Point), and Offer Yehudai (Fyber)

- Modifying Payment Behavior in Games: Clash of Clans: Bigger, Better, Battle Pass by Eino Joas

We talk about game development methodologies and best practices with how to structure and execute game development.   

SPEAKERS:  

   - Chris Cobb, co-founder and CTO of Pragma Platform, who also formerly worked as an engineering lead at Riot Games, and held software development roles at both Popcap and Microsoft.  

   - Noemi Rouleau, Associate Producer at Square Enix Montreal. Noemi also worked in production at Ubisoft on games like RainbowSix Siege , For honor, and Assassin’s Creed Origins  

   - Xiang Shen, CTO at Century Games. Century is a multi-billion revenue Beijing-based games developer and publisher. Xiang also formerly founded mobile games studio Outact, and was formerly a technical director at Roblox, and worked in software engineering at Tencent, EA, and Ubisoft.    

TOPICS: 

0:00 Intro 

1:18 Team Structure 

9:00 Dev Team Roles 

20:40 Game Dev Phases 

36:18 Engineering Practices (CI, Code Review, Coding Standards) 

50:27 Dev Methodology 

1:03:18 Sprint Estimates  

1:14:10 Final Message

Today we speak to Shahar Sorek to answer a core and fundamental question behind video games. We will discuss the question: Why do people play video games?

JK discusses how Shahar's concepts are very similar to the Japanese game design concepts around "user needs": basically that players will play games to fulfill some latent psychological need or desire manifested through playing games.

Tom Kalinske has had a career as the King of Brands.

Tom first became well known for marketing Flintstone vitamins and then reviving Barbie and Hot Wheels at Mattel and then Launching Masters of the Universe.

In the games industry and perhaps most famously Tom’s efforts to turn around SEGA of America were chronicled in the book and recent CBS documentary Console Wars.

Tom famously turned around the SEGA console business growing SEGA of America from $72M to more than $1.5B in revenue.

Learn the lessons of how Tom revitalized the old, and created new massive hit brands. 

Supercell's Brawl Stars recently had a huge surge in downloads and daily revenue. How did they do it?

We discuss with Matej Lancaric and Jakub Reimar from 2.5 Gamers and Ken Landen (former Kongregate, Scopely, Blizzard, and Hit Factor PM).

Riz Virk is Executive Director of Play Labs @MIT.

Prior to that Riz has had a very successful entrepreneurial career as part of the founding team of TapJoy and CEO and co-founder of GameView Studios (makers of TapFish) that was sold to DeNA.

More recently in addition to his work at MIT Riz has written three books:

#1. Treasure Hunt: Follow Your Inner Clues to Find True Success

#2. Startup Myths and Models: What you Won’t Learn in Business school

#3. An MIT computer scientist shows why AI, Quantum Physics and Eastern Mystics all agree we are in a video game

In addition to his books, Riz writes articles including most recently a piece for NBC News titled “Trump uses TikTok and WeChat to challenge China. Welcome to a new conflict: The app wars.”

In this far ranging discussion we talk about App Wars, why Riz believes we live in a simulation/video game, and critical start-up lessons and how they can apply to game start-ups today.

In today’s episode, Randy Nelson from Sensor Tower interviews me (Joseph Kim) about gaming trends in 2020 and potential impacts for the future including 2021 specifically.

In this discussion we talk about not only the defining trends of 2020 and what will be the longer term impacts from 2020 into 2021 and beyond but in addition:

• The nature of the firm
• Building not only product, but also organizational advantage
• How to think about and build structural advantage
• How we view India from the perspective of LILA Games
• Release schedules
• Remote work
• How to think about Multiplayer games
• How to pick game markets and knowing a secret
• Impact of gaming on kids and future opportunity
• Changes to game studios in 2021 including the adoption of better scenario analysis and building framework to deal with unexpected events, and a potential rationalization of the market
• Trends to midcore games
• Game communities and influencers
• Facebook gaming

So a SUPER wide ranging conversation... don't miss it!

In this episode Joseph Kim, Paul Leydon, and Avinash Pandey the three co-founders of LILA Games talk about each of their personal reasons for wanting to create the new company.