The Naavik Gaming Podcast is a business-focused exploration of the companies, trends, strategies and leaders that are defining the future of games. To learn more and see other great content visit www.naavik.co.
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The sub-AA/AAA world of games has become increasingly competitive in recent years, and yet Serenity Forge, a diverse 40-50 person publisher based out of Colorado, has found a way to grow, develop, and publish games with very high success rates. How do they do it? To answer this question, host Aaron Bush is joined by Zhenghua (Z) Yang , the founder and CEO of Serenity Forge . They discuss Z’s inspiring story, how publishing has evolved over the past decade, and how Z goes above and beyond to ensu...
Writing and directing for transmedia is an often overlooked part of world building in video games, but as consumers it is one of the most memorable elements of any game we play. Our host, David Taylor sat down with Neel Upadhye , a creative powerhouse who has left his mark on some of the most iconic franchises in gaming. From shaping the lore of Star Wars: The Old Republic and Battlefield 2042 to crafting Stories from the Outlands for Apex Legends , Neel’s work has been viewed tens of millions o...
Botting, an often misused term that encapsulates multi-accounting, cheating, and fraud, plays a pivotal role in gaming — sometimes enhancing experiences but often undermining them. Our host, Alexandra Takei , Director at Ruckus Games , sits down with Henry LeGard , CEO and co-founder of Verisoul , and George Ng , CTO and co-founder of GGWP , to unpack the botting phenomenon. Their nuanced conversation covers why gaming is rife with bots, when bots are good, when bots are bad, and what gaming can...
In this episode of the Naavik Gaming Podcast, host Niko Vuori interviews Antti Hattara , co-founder and CEO of StarBerry Games, about their successful mobile game, Merge Mayor. As the game surpasses the $25 million revenue milestone, the conversation covers the game's journey from an idle game that pivoted into a merge-2 (along the lines of Metacore’s Merge Mansion), the challenges of the merge category, and the importance of community engagement through platforms like Discord. Antti shares insi...
AI is increasingly touching every corner of the games industry, and one of the areas it may have the largest impact on is user acquisition. Today, host Aaron Bush is joined by Robert Huynh , co-founder and CEO of Reforged Labs , to discuss how AI will transform the way gaming creatives are made, experimented with, and ultimately convert consumers. They dive into how the world of online content and digital marketing may evolve in the coming years, what Reforged Labs is building to help mobile gam...
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 and Apple Music. Sam shares the story behind Wavlake, its current mission, and how its collaboration ...
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 demographics, and the impact of blockchain technology through their AppCoins initiative. The conversation...
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 more adaptable. Host, Alexandra Takei , Director at Ruckus Games , sits down with Kevin Mariano , C...
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. We unpack how AI and machine learning are used to identify patterns and predict fraudulent payment ac...
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 challenges posed by bots in gaming and the shifting geographic distribution of players. The discussion the...
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 Management at LinkedIn, to discuss the strategic intent behind games on LinkedIn and their unique approach...
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 the traditional distribution models of Apple and Google. We explore the evolving landscape of mobil...
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 evolving the market, especially with the younger UGC-native generation and as UGC creation gets more...
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 'Reload.' What will it take for Epic's $500 million investment to turn into a thriving UGC ecosystem that...
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 gaming product offers users real-world prizes without the element of consideration. Removal of consi...
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 emerging AI-based tools will increase the baseline requirements for competing in game development an...
In this episode, SciPlay's Chief Strategy Officer Danny Moy provides an in-depth look into the social casino gaming market. He explores how SciPlay leverages its connection to Light and Wonder's real-money gaming IP to attract both traditional casino fans and casual players, emphasizing the importance of live operations and meta-features for retention. Moy also touches on the challenges of user acquisition in a post-IDFA landscape, the cross-pollination between social and real-money gaming, and the emerging role of AI in game design, highlighting the sector's continued growth and innovation.
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 people in person, 130 people remote during the pandemic, everyone brought back in person again, and ...
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 enhance live operations with scalable metagame features. The conversation also explores how metagame eleme...
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 prompts. We’re seeing a number of companies emerge that are taking advantage of AI in order to compete wi...
“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 Play, Watch, Create, and Connect. We explore why this strategy is not only well-suited for the current g...
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 exploded onto the scene over the past few months. Top titles like Hamster Kombat, with deceptively simple ye...
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 Rendered VC, joins host Aaron Bush to discuss how the state of game tech is holding developers back...
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 games). Rohit Gupta , Founder and CEO of Dream Games Studios , joins our host, Alexandra Takei , Dir...
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 vary greatly depending on the execution. As advertisers, the cost per play session in a branded experie...
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 CSO of Activision Blizzard King, join host Alexandra Takei, Director at Ruckus Games , to delve into...
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 it as easy possible for anyone, at any age, and anywhere in the world to build their own virtual wo...
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 innovation on an even broader scale: hundreds of thousands of online artists and creatives are at risk, a...
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 largest licensor, Disney, which includes powerhouse franchises like Marvel and Star Wars. David Taylor...
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 like Build a Rocket Boy and OCP from diving headfirst into the space. Build a Rocket Boy recently close...
