The esports industry has heavily evolved over the past few years, and big moves continue to occur – especially out of Saudi Arabia. In this episode, host Aaron Bush is joined by Mike McCabe , COO of the Esports World Cup Foundation, which runs a massive Riyadh-based annual esports festival. It’s gearing up for its second annual event in July, which will host 25 tournaments over 7 weeks with a whopping $70 million prize pool. We chat about the global state of esports, Saudi Arabia’s continued amb...
Jun 10, 2025•54 min
Apple’s forced policy shift following the outcome of its legal battle with Epic Games has opened the door for more flexible Direct to Consumer (DTC) strategies, and game studios are taking notice. Host Devin Becker welcomes Chris Faught , CEO of Neon , to break down what this decision means for developers. Chris clarifies the broader implications of the ruling, the mechanics of implementing DTC models, and how this update impacts developers operating across different genres and regions. The conv...
Jun 03, 2025•1 hr 9 min
Africa’s gaming market is young, fast-growing, and mobile-first. In this episode, host Alexandra Takei , Director at Ruckus Games , is joined by Cordel Robbin-Coker , CEO of Carry1st , and Temi Afolabi , a lead on XBOX’s Global Expansion team, to examine the opportunity and hurdles of scaling games in Africa. They break down Africa’s demographics, monetization challenges, and infrastructure gaps. Cordel highlights Carry1st’s approach — aggregating payments across nearly 80+ payment methods and p...
May 27, 2025•1 hr 5 min
In today's episode, host David Taylor dives into the world of Minecraft’s massive creator ecosystem with two of its most influential creators: Raf is the co-founder of Spark Universe , a studio behind one of the most widely used Minecraft tools, Essential Mod , which connects millions of players through a live services platform. With over 50 million downloads and nearly 2 million monthly active users, Spark Universe is one of the largest Minecraft creative studios. Spark Universe also led the de...
May 20, 2025•56 min
In this episode, podcast David Taylor is joined by Alexander Hicks , the co-founder of Twin Atlas, one of the most innovative studios in the Roblox ecosystem. Twin Atlas is the team behind blockbuster experiences like Creatures of Sonaria, which ranks among the top 30 Roblox games in terms of revenue and engagement according to CreatorExchange.io . At the time of this recording, Twin Atlas experiences are drawing 50,000+ concurrent players, with recent peaks nearing 100,000 CCU. They've also bui...
May 07, 2025•1 hr 6 min
In this episode, host Alexandra Takei , Director at Ruckus Games , sits down with Derek Qiu , Head of Overseas Operations at NetEase, to explore the cross-border distribution journey of Once Human , a supernatural survival game from Starry Studio. They discuss the rapid evolution of China's gaming market, how Chinese developers like NetEase are increasing their presence in the West, and how Once Human represents a new wave of globally ambitious titles. Derek shares why the team prioritized a PC-...
Apr 29, 2025•54 min
Our guest today, has led teams overseeing some of the biggest commercial successes from the MMORPG genre, and has leveraged those experiences to support dozens more through publishing roles for Xbox Game Studios Publishing and ArenaNet. In this conversation, David Taylor sat down with Crystin Cox , Head of Publishing at ArenaNet and a 20-yr veteran of the video game industry, to discuss her experiences leading live-ops on Maple Story, monetization on Guild Wars 2, and publishing at Xbox Game Stu...
Apr 22, 2025•1 hr 14 min
In this episode, host Devin Becker welcomes fellow Naavik host and consultant David Taylor to discuss insights from Naavik’s recent State of UGC Gaming deep dive and beyond. We discuss how leading UGC platforms are evolving and where they face the most promise and challenges, from Roblox’s growing ad and brand integrations to Fortnite’s challenge of escaping its battle royale roots. We also explore emerging contenders like mods, Highrise, speculate on how GTA VI might impact the UGC landscape, a...
Apr 08, 2025•1 hr 12 min
In this episode, host, Alexandra Takei , Director at Ruckus Games , dives into the intersection of brand marketing, live streaming, and culturally relevant branded experiences. Joined by Wiktoria Wójcik , co-founder of InStreamly , the conversation explores how brands can integrate into live streaming platforms like Twitch, YouTube, and Kick. InStreamly connects brands with thousands of streamers, facilitating authentic collaborations through technology that allows for large-scale, interactive c...
Apr 01, 2025•1 hr 4 min
In this episode, host Sam Distaso dives into the cutting edge of VR game development with Devin Reimer (founder and CEO of AstroBeam) and Ed Saxton (CPO of Schell Games). From the early startup days of VR to the evolution of mixed reality, Devin and Ed share how their studios use first-principles thinking to craft unique experiences. We explore how hit games like Job Simulator and Among Us VR came to life and how these teams operate in a young, constantly evolving market. We also unpack big ques...
Mar 28, 2025•58 min
For the first time in Naavik’s history, we’re excited to bring a live audience show experience to air! At GDC, host, Alexandra Takei , Director at Ruckus Games , sat down with Nick Popovich , CEO and Founder of Monomi Park , in San Francisco for a conversation centered around “doing it all yourself” in the indie games market — no external funding, crowd financing, or publishing support. In 2014, Nick and his co-founder decided to start a studio and launch Slime Rancher in 2016. They sold 10M uni...
Mar 21, 2025•58 min
In this episode, host Niko Vuori interviews Justin Stolzenberg , co-founder of Metica , a startup aiming to revolutionize gaming analytics through AI-driven insights and personalized experiences. Founded by ex-King and ex-Apple employees, Metica’s approach is a unique combination of King’s iterative, hyper-data-driven approach and Apple’s high-polish culture. The company recently announced their $9 million seed round . The episode covers the challenges of launching in the saturated analytics mar...
Mar 18, 2025•44 min
In this episode, our host, Alexandra Takei , Director at Ruckus Games , sits down with Kyu Lee , Chief Business Development Officer at Com2Us, Partner at CRIT Ventures , and ex-president of Com2Us USA. They explore Com2Us Holdings' evolution from its early days as Gamevil to becoming a global mobile powerhouse with hits like Summoners War, one of the industry’s biggest mobile IPs that has generated over $3B+ in revenue. Kyu shares insights on the company's pivotal shifts, including its focus on ...
Mar 07, 2025•1 hr 3 min
In this episode, host Niko Vuori speaks with Jeff Zirlin , co-founder of Sky Mavis and the play-to-earn OG, Axie Infinity , about the significant developments in the web3 gaming space, particularly the transition of the Ronin blockchain to a permissionless model. They discuss Jeff's background and journey into web3, the origin story and wild ride of Axie Infinity, the evolution of the Ronin blockchain, the introduction of the Ronin Developer Console, and the impressive growth metrics of the Roni...
Mar 04, 2025•59 min
Over the years, Spatial has undergone a wide-ranging evolution. It evolved from an AR collaboration platform to a Roblox competitor (with 2M+ creators), and it's now a VR game developer with the top earning VR game on the Meta Quest store (Animal Company). Spatial has raised almost $50M, according to Crunchbase, based on the founders’ convictions that 3D virtual spaces are the future of social experiences. In this conversation, our host, David Taylor , sat down with Anand Agarawala , the Founder...
Feb 26, 2025•1 hr
In this episode, host, Alexandra Takei , Director at Ruckus Games , is joined by Jacob Rapoport (CEO and Co-Founder) and Nico Vereecke from Evil Plan to discuss their groundbreaking project in AI-powered, unscripted fantasy entertainment. The conversation explores the future of interactive storytelling, where community influence and fully AI-driven narratives combine to create an entirely new genre of entertainment. Jacob and Nico express their belief in AI’s potential to address the “cost probl...
Feb 21, 2025•1 hr 4 min
Cloud technology is transforming the way games are developed, hosted, and maintained. In this episode, host Devin Becker is joined by Chris Melissinos , AWS Principal Evangelist for video games, to discuss the growing role of cloud services in game development. Chris highlights how Amazon Web Services (AWS) is empowering developers with tools that reduce production costs, streamline workflows, and enable innovations like off-client AI processing. We also explore how AWS helps address challenges ...
Feb 11, 2025•1 hr 13 min
In this episode, host Alexanda Takei , Director at Ruckus Games , sits down with Spike Laurie , Partner at Hiro Capital , to dissect gaming finance's grim reality in 2025. The conversation starts with a discussion on the industry's downturn, marked by studio closures and a reduction in funding, particularly at the Series A level. Venture capital, once a goldmine for game studios, is now retreating, and if not retreating, shifting many of their investments to infrastructure. The duo discuss hard ...
Feb 07, 2025•1 hr 7 min
In this episode of the Naavik Gaming podcast, host Niko Vuori welcomes back Luke Barwikowski , founder and CEO of Pixels.xyz, to discuss whether Play-to-Earn mechanics can, in fact, be sustainable. Luke shares the evolution of Pixels, its unique approach to Play-to-Earn gaming, and the strategies that have led to significant user growth (10 million registered users) and revenue generation (over $20 million in the past 12 months). The conversation delves into the sustainability of Play-to-Earn mo...
Feb 04, 2025•1 hr 2 min
The intersection of anime, games, and technology takes center stage in this episode. Host Aaron Bush is joined by Kun Gao , a serial entrepreneur known for co-founding Crunchyroll , the world’s leading anime streaming platform, and now charting new paths in the games industry with GGWP , an AI-driven moderation platform, and Forge , which is enabling direct-to-consumer loyalty programs for games teams. In this conversation, we explore the many lessons Kun learned from scaling Crunchyroll and nav...
Jan 31, 2025•57 min
Today, we dive deep into the world of gaming innovation with a guest who’s been at the forefront of some of the industry’s most exciting trends — from enabling user generated content to launching the first commercially successful game leveraging AI agents. In this conversation, our host, David Taylor , sits down with Ran Mo , the Founder and CEO of Proxima, to unpack the lessons learned from Proxima’s success with the viral sensation Suck Up!, a game developed where players act as vampires that ...
Jan 28, 2025•55 min
The role of community management in gaming has never been more critical. In this episode, our host Alexandra Takei , Director at Ruckus Games , joins Andrew Beegle , founder of Beegle Productions and Gravity Gang, and Tim Smith , co-founder of Cohezion AI , to discuss the evolving discipline of community management. Together, they explore the transformation of community roles over the past decade, from the decline of forums to the rise of Discord and influencer-driven strategies. The discussion ...
Jan 24, 2025•1 hr 12 min
In this episode, host Niko Vuori is joined by Naavik’s own web3 analyst, Devin Becker , to dive into the current state of web3 gaming, reflecting on the past year and looking ahead to 2025. They discuss the industry's significant developments, including the emergence (finally!) of quality games, the evolving regulatory landscape, and the shifting dynamics of funding, particularly for indie studios. The conversation also touches on the challenges faced by AAA games in adopting web3 technologies a...
Jan 21, 2025•1 hr 9 min
To kick off the new year, host Alexandra Takei , Director at Ruckus Games , interviews Songyee Yoon , former President and Chief Strategy Officer of NCSoft and now founding partner at PVP Ventures, which recently raised a $100M fund to invest in AI startups . They explore NCSoft’s transformation from its early days to a global gaming powerhouse, focusing on strategic pivots like transitioning from subscription models to free-to-play, embracing mobile gaming, and forging key partnerships with Ten...
Jan 10, 2025•57 min
In this episode of the Naavik Gaming Podcast, host Niko Vuori interviews Nigel Eccles , the co-founder and former CEO of FanDuel, exploring his journey in the online gaming world, the origin story of FanDuel, its competition with DraftKings, and the regulatory challenges faced by the fantasy sports industry. Nigel shares the inside scoop on the FanDuel multi-billion dollar class action lawsuit and the evolving landscape of sports betting and gaming technology. Transitioning from FanDuel to his n...
Jan 07, 2025•1 hr 9 min
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...
Dec 20, 2024•1 hr
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...
Dec 17, 2024•53 min
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...
Dec 13, 2024•1 hr 1 min
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...
Dec 10, 2024•1 hr 10 min
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...
Dec 06, 2024•50 min
