Welcome, everyone; this week, we are doing a new format called What If? We want to speculate on several scenarios and evaluate the pros and cons and potential strategic and financial implications based on these hypothetical scenarios. In this episode, we discuss the potential and hypothesize the impact of an Xbox console business carve-out from Microsoft We recorded this episode in 3 parts: #1. Xbox carve-out #2. Gaming smartphone #3. M&A scenarios Stay tuned for future episodes! OUTLINE: 0:...
Jul 09, 2023•39 min
I spoke with Brewed Games, an 8-person indie PC game dev studio based in Bangalore, India, making a souls-like action RPG game. We cover their origin story, challenges, and future opportunity. Check it out! 👇 EPISODE LINKS: - Brewed Games: https://www.brewedgames.com/
Jul 06, 2023•51 min
Feedback and performance evaluation for employees is one of a company's most challenging, political, and sensitive topics. However, without this practice done well, it will be tough to hold performance standards or see improvement in a team or company. I would argue that if you are not doing this well, your team/company is doomed over the long term. I discuss with industry experts and ex-Riot production leaders Ben Carcich and Aaron Smith from Valarin who are some of the most thoughtful and deep...
Jun 26, 2023•1 hr 49 min
We speak to Serkan Toto to get his take on the top Japanese and Korean game companies. Serkan is considered by many to be the foremost expert on the Japanese video games space. Check out more from Serkan: - https://www.serkantoto.com/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/serkantoto OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro 1:25 Key Asian gaming trends, including crypto 4:45 Serkan’s take on the console wars 8:18 Matthew’s take: Mobile never killed console 9:22 Serkan: Traditional Asian game companies killing it on mobile 1...
Jun 24, 2023•1 hr 36 min
From Wargaming, Anton Kolkovskiy founded Bulberry Studio to build mid-core F2P mobile games. As war broke out between Russia and Ukraine, Anton was unable to raise a follow-on round of funding and eventually shut down the studio he had spent so much time, energy, and effort into. What were the lessons he learned from the start to launch to attempting to save the company? What would he do differently knowing what he knows now? Phylicia Koh is a partner at Play Ventures, and while Play did not inv...
Jun 20, 2023•1 hr 31 min
Everyone's saying mobile is dead. Then how do you explain these 5 blow-out mobile game launches over the past year? Lol. Matej Lancaric from 2.5 Gamers and I reviewed the data, launch strategies, and more for each of these Top 5 mobile game launches over the past year. OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro 6:30 Honkai Star Rail 14:49 Monopoly Go 27:00 Survivor!.io 36:03 Marvel Snap 45:48 Frozen City 52:09 JK + Matej Top 5 rankings 👇 EPISODE LINKS: - two & a half gamers YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.co...
Jun 15, 2023•55 min
The market dynamics, strategy, and future outlook of console gaming: Sony vs. Microsoft vs. Nintendo. Microsoft is all in on Game Pass. Is this the last generation of Xbox? OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro 0:56 Impact of PC gaming to console gaming market 4:51 Why Microsoft's console business is in danger 6:26 Microsoft may not care about Xbox and hardware, Starfield will be a good test 7:43 Microsoft = Game Pass or BUST! 10:12 Impact of live services and F2P to console gaming 16:14 Does live service concent...
Jun 13, 2023•37 min
Excerpt from GameMakers full interview: Pixels & Profits #2. Watch the full discussion here: https://youtu.be/fi0RCUiCnfE SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/
Jun 06, 2023•4 min
The Pixel & Profit bros discuss the long history of the console market and the primary players in the market today: Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. We trace back the history from the 6th generation to today and talk "profits." Meaning the key games and market history and dynamics thus far and outlook into the future. OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro 1:05 Console market overview: Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft 9:37 Determinants of success for the console market 12:53 6th Generation: 1998 - 2013 17:18 7th Ge...
Jun 06, 2023•46 min
Taken From: Mobile Growth: IDFA Deprecation Scapegoat or Reality? Podcast YouTube
Jun 02, 2023•6 min
Excerpt from GameMakers full interview: Pixels & Profits #1. Watch the full discussion here: https://youtu.be/2G539NGHfVI SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - 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 |...
Jun 01, 2023•5 min
Excerpt from GameMakers full interview: Pixels & Profits #1. Watch the full discussion here: • Where is the Game... SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - 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 • Economy of the Me... ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies • Building the Amaz... 🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2...
May 31, 2023•4 min
Excerpt from GameMakers full interview: Pixels & Profits #1. Watch the full discussion here: https://youtu.be/2G539NGHfVI SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - 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 |...
May 30, 2023•10 min
Like the rest of the world, the games industry has undergone many changes! The impact of the end of ZIRP, global macro trends, and the end of the age of excess leads to many changes. We discuss where we are today, the M&A outlook, and the outlook for major public game companies. M&A discussion - Scopely/Savvy - Rovio/SEGA - Activision/Microsoft Public Companies: - AI + @NVIDIA (NVDA) - Embracer (EMBRAC-B) - Ubisoft (UBSFF) - Take Two (TTWO) - EA (EA) - Unity (U) - Applovin (APP) OUTLINE:...
May 29, 2023•1 hr 27 min
Let's be real. Everyone is blaming IDFA! Listen to the top 3 reasons why any game failed over the past 6 months; it's always IDFA. How real is this? There is a narrative today that IDFA deprecation has destroyed mobile marketing growth and made new game launches dramatically more difficult to even impossible. The counter-narrative more often whispered in private conversations, is that the scapegoating of IDFA is false. Bad games, bad forecasts, and fundamental team problems are more to blame tha...
May 23, 2023•49 min
Sarah Thomson is a long-time games industry veteran, having had an extremely successful career in business development at companies like IUGO, Gree, Sony (PlayStation), Google, and most recently at Bad Robot Games. We discuss her experience and thoughts on female diversity in the gaming industry. Get ready for a real discussion where we try to address topics more meaningfully. OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro 1:30 How should women be treated in the workplace, if differently from men? 6:45 JK's experience wit...
May 15, 2023•1 hr 7 min
I'm back after a few months. Here are some recent thoughts on dealing with adversity that has come up this year. I really thought 2023 was gonna be easy! Lol. FORTUNATELY, I'm still struggling with challenges which is making me a better person. As my wife recently told me: "Don't focus on what we can't do or can't have, let's focus on what we can do." LFG everybody. Hope you're all killing it!
Apr 02, 2023•7 min
Mayur Bhimjiyani is the CEO and co-founder of Hypernova, an India-based F2P games studio building a GTA-like game focusing on the Indian market. Mayur speaks about his background, the history behind Hypernova, and why they are building Mayanagari, a game Mayur hopes to become as successful as GTA. OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro 1:02 Why do so many Indian game devs call Hypernova the most exciting game studio in India? 4:45 Why build Mayanagari - the GTA for India? 16:33 The history behind Hypernova 22:07 M...
Mar 27, 2023•46 min
OUTLINE: 0:00 Sequoia Capital India introduction 0:49 Intro to Shailesh Lakhani and Prachi Pawar 3:29 Type of investments and founders they seek 4:36 Surge pre-Series A program 5:30 Specific opportunities and trends in India 9:04 Gaming opportunity in India 13:51 Specific gaming investment opportunities they seek 14:59 Why did Sequoia India invest in Lila Games? 16:30 Current investment environment, macro factors 19:19 Advice to founders based on current trends 21:10 Outlook on Web3 22:51 Advice...
Mar 21, 2023•25 min
OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro 0:33 The "brutal" game dev environment 2:11 Current market environment vs. before 3:50 More about Funcraft and the business situation 8:15 Funcraft's biggest challenge 9:40 How do you determine what game to make? 11:52 Biggest lessons and challenges of startups vs. big companies to achieve success 14:54 Challenge of new game dev from big companies 17:20 Lessons for mobile gaming startups in current market environment 19:50 Focus vs. "don't bet the farm" 22:12 Keep going or do...
Mar 17, 2023•44 min
OUTLINE: 0:00 Bloomberg article on stack ranking at Blizzard 1:01 Introduct to speakers: Matthew Kanterman, Drew Levin, and Brett Nowak 1:48 High level thoughts on stack ranking as a practice 5:33 Stack ranking poll results - Majority are against 7:30 JK hypothetical situations to use stack ranking 25:40 Character vs. cruelty in stack ranking during recruiting 36:30 Management rationale behind stack ranking 39:27 Should the Blizzard manager have been fired? 47:10 Stack ranking ties to capability...
Feb 18, 2023•1 hr 29 min
OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro 0:50 Jordan Phang self intro 1:35 Mobile shooter game market size 2:53 Competitive concentration in mobile shooter and Asia 4:25 Success in China 5:40 US market and games to watch out for 6:50 Adapting games for specific markets like Japan and China 8:25 Naavik's shooter taxonomy and problems with classification 12:52 Explanation of extraction shooter sub-genre 14:15 Current extraction shooter games: Lost Light, Arena Breakout 15:22 The thesis behind extraction shooter as the...
Feb 16, 2023•30 min
Moritz Baier-Lentz is a partner at Lightspeed Gaming, heading up their gaming investment practice. Today we discuss viewing life as a game and how to optimize your own goals towards life by thinking about life as a game and how to break the meta. You won't want to miss this unique and interesting discussion, so check it out! SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an...
Jan 22, 2023•57 min
Happy Thanksgiving! I'm in India this year and had a Mexican burrito bowl in the office by myself. Lol. As I sat in the office late at night, I recorded another cringe and weird video for my kids. Too many people undervalue opportunity! I just wanted to let you know that I'm grateful this Thanksgiving for the opportunity to try to build something meaningful. It's not looking good right now, but that's what entrepreneurship is all about: how do we take a low-probability scenario and turn it into ...
Nov 26, 2022•2 min
We deep dive on eSports. Current market and growth projections, what kinds of games do well, business model, structure, prize pools, key trends, geographic differences, and more! Join us with our esteemed group of speakers: Ilaria Caputo (EA), Matthew Kanterman (Ball Metaverse Research Partners), and Hugo Tristao (Newzoo). Speaker links below. 👇 EPISODE LINKS: Ilaria Caputo, https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilaria-caputo/ Matthew Kanterman, https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-kanterman-cfa-b6345133/...
Nov 11, 2022•49 min
Stoffer Touborg was a lead game designer on Eve Online at CCP, led Wild Rift at Riot, and currently acts as Executive Producer on Bitcraft Online for Clockwork Labs. Stoffer is one of the most thoughtful game industry executives I know, and I regularly ask Stoffer for advice on leadership, organizational principles, and recruiting. Today we talk about not just about coming up with a desired set of company values and culture, but how to actually implement or install these within a company. SUBSCR...
Oct 25, 2022•43 min
I speak to Rahul Chowdhri, an investor at Stellaris Venture Partners, about the venture capital market in India, the current state of investment here, and his outlook on investments in gaming in India. OUTLINE: 0:00 General landscape of venture capital in India 2:20 Specialist vs. generalist VCs, the definition of micro-VC 3:35 Sudden investment interest in gaming in India 4:48 Should investors invest early in gaming or wait for talent to emerge? 5:17 Info on Stellaris and what they look for fro...
Sep 26, 2022•17 min
Predicting a game's success during concept or development is an incredibly difficult problem. What are typical ways companies, especially big companies think about and manage their green light process? What kinds of corporate nonsense occurs that hurts game outcomes? SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersSt...
Sep 09, 2022•1 hr 16 min
Today's focus will be on the F2P game design discipline. How it’s evolved, what does it take to be successful as a game designer, the tools and practice of a F2P game designer, and where does John think the future is headed for F2P game design. 👇 EPISODE LINKS: - PlaySimple Games: https://playsimple.in/ - John Kelly LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-kelly-99b3966/ SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.you...
Sep 08, 2022•48 min
I interview Matthew Emery aka "The Games Consultant" about what it means to build a F2P liveops "Playbook." Listen to this Q&A between me and Matt! SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro 1:01 Matt's 19-Year Background & Current Business 2:24 High-Level Framework for Thinkin...
Sep 03, 2022•44 min
