Schell Games boss Jesse Schell on the advantages of keeping a lean team, how to know the right team size for each project and the art of scaling up and down as development progresses Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 01, 2024•44 min
As part of our GI Sprint series of podcasts, Team Sync's Graham McAllister tells us why the concept stage is the most important one to get right for team efficiency. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 27, 2024•57 min
AI experts Tommy Thompson, Sean Cooper, Aleena Chia, Lauren Maslen and Lucie Migne opens our AI talks by discussing the broad opportunities and challenges of the technology Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 25, 2024•50 min
Welcome to the weekly GI Microcast giving you the latest in video games news. Join James Batchelor and Chris Dring where they give you their take on the biggest stories in video games. Never miss an episode and subscribe to the GI Microcast on all podcasting platforms and YouTube. This week, we discuss the line-up shown at the latest Nintendo Direct, with new Mario, Zelda and Metroid titles on display, and ponder what this says about the Switch's final year before its successor arrives. We also ...
Jun 21, 2024•27 min
Continuing our GI Sprint editorial special - a series of guides on how to make games cheaper, faster and better - this panel looks at the art and importance of failing fast. Prototyping and iterating is a crucial stage of any game's development, but if something isn't quite clicking how much time and effort do you put in before moving on to your next idea? Indie dev Rami Ismail, FreeLives managing director Dominique Gawlowski and Ant Workshop managing director Tony Gowland discuss Learn more abo...
Jun 20, 2024•44 min
GI Sprint is our new editorial series all around making video games cheaper, faster and better. To kick things off, games veteran Shawn Layden speaks with GamesIndustry.biz about the spiralling costs of AAA game development, and why it needs entirely rethinking Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 18, 2024•41 min
Welcome to the weekly GI Microcast giving you the latest in video games news. Join James Batchelor and Chris Dring where they give you their take on the biggest stories in video games. Never miss an episode and subscribe to the GI Microcast on all podcasting platforms and YouTube. Join them every Monday for more video games news. This week, Chris is in Los Angeles to give us a sense of what's happening on the ground among all the showcases of the past week. He joins James to discuss some of the ...
Jun 11, 2024•27 min
Welcome to the weekly GI Microcast giving you the latest in video games news. Join James Batchelor and Chris Dring where they give you their take on the biggest stories in video games. Never miss an episode and subscribe to the GI Microcast on all podcasting platforms and YouTube. Join them every Monday for more video games news. This week, we discuss the annual array of showcases that are filling the void left by E3, starting with last week's State of Play from PlayStation. We discuss the highl...
Jun 05, 2024•34 min
Welcome to the weekly GI Microcast giving you the latest in video games news. Join James Batchelor and Chris Dring where they give you their take on the biggest stories in video games. Never miss an episode and subscribe to the GI Microcast on all podcasting platforms and YouTube. Join them every Monday for more video games news. This week, we discuss (to the extent that we can, given how early into the transition period we are) our change of ownership with IGN parent Ziff Davis acquiring Gamer ...
May 28, 2024•30 min
Welcome to the weekly GI Microcast giving you the latest in video games news. Join James Batchelor and Chris Dring where they give you their take on the biggest stories in video games. Never miss an episode and subscribe to the GI Microcast on all podcasting platforms and YouTube. Join them every Monday for more video games news. This week, we discuss the news from Sony regarding retired CEO Jim Ryan's replacement. Or rather, replacements. Plural. We reflect on the benefits of having long-servin...
May 20, 2024•28 min
Welcome to the weekly GI Microcast giving you the latest in video games news. Join James Batchelor and Chris Dring where they give you their take on the biggest stories in video games. Never miss an episode and subscribe to the GI Microcast on all podcasting platforms and YouTube. Join them every Monday for more video games news. This week, we take a quick dive in Xbox's closure of four Bethesda-owned studios, as well as what this means for Microsoft's wider gaming strategy, the future of the sm...
May 13, 2024•35 min
Welcome to the weekly GI Microcast giving you the latest in video games news. Join James Batchelor and Chris Dring where they give you their take on the biggest stories in video games. Never miss an episode and subscribe to the GI Microcast on all podcasting platforms and YouTube. Join them every Monday for more video games news. This week, we discuss the reported troubles at Take-Two with claims that indie-focused label Private Division, Rollerdrome developer Roll7 and Kerbal Space Program 2 st...
May 07, 2024•22 min
Welcome to the weekly GI Microcast giving you the latest in video games news. Join James Batchelor and Chris Dring where they give you their take on the biggest stories in video games. Never miss an episode and subscribe to the GI Microcast on all podcasting platforms and YouTube. Join them every Monday for more video games news. This week, Chris and James are joined by Neil Long, founder and editor of MobileGamer.biz to discuss Embracer's announcement that it will be splitting into three compan...
Apr 29, 2024•43 min
Welcome to the weekly GI Microcast giving you the latest in video games news. Join James Batchelor and Chris Dring where they give you their take on the biggest stories in video games. Never miss an episode and subscribe to the GI Microcast on all Podcasting platforms and YouTube. Join them every Monday for more video games news. This week, James and Chris are joined by Skillfull founder Gina Jackson to discuss her recent report on the skills crisis in the UK games industry (and the wider indust...
Apr 22, 2024•35 min
Welcome to the weekly GI Microcast giving you the latest in video games news. Join James Batchelor and Chris Dring where they give you their take on the biggest stories in video games. Never miss an episode and subscribe to the GI Microcast on all Podcasting platforms and YouTube. Join them every Monday for more video games news. This week, Chris and James discuss this year's BAFTA Games Awards, the array of winners, and the vibe among industry professionals - both at the ceremony and the London...
Apr 15, 2024•25 min
Welcome to the weekly GI Microcast giving you the latest in video games news. Join James Batchelor and Chris Dring where they give you their take on the biggest stories in video games. Never miss an episode and subscribe to the GI Microcast on all podcasting platforms and YouTube. Join them every Monday for more video games news. This week, we discuss the ongoing conversations around Xbox - from Chris' recent revelation that developers are finding it hard to justify supporting the platform, to X...
Apr 02, 2024•28 min
The GamesIndustry.biz Microcast dives into the biggest stories across the business of video games from the past week. This week, Chris Dring returns from San Francisco to bring us a better sense of the mood at GDC and how it reflects what's happening in the industry, as well as some of the more interesting things he learned around the conference. Subjects that get discussed include the leaked PS5 Pro specs and what impact (if any) a mid-gen refresh might have for the console, why publishers and ...
Mar 25, 2024•31 min
The GamesIndustry.biz Microcast takes a quick dive into the biggest stories from the business of video games over the past week. This week, editor-in-chief James Batchelor is joined by staff writer Jeffrey Rousseau, who makes his Microcast debut while regular co-host Chris Dring is attending GDC 2024. The discussion begins with a look at Embracer Group's $247m sale of Saber Interactive and various studios, as well as which operating groups and subsidiaries the troubled publisher might divest nex...
Mar 19, 2024•41 min
The GamesIndustry.biz Microcast is a weekly podcast with Chris Dring and James Batchelor offering a quick dive into the biggest stories from across the business of video games. This week, we discuss Apple's short-lived ban on Epic Games' developer account, which would have prevented both the return of Fortnite to iOS and the launch of Epic's app store. Far from being another chapter in the ongoing Epic vs Apple saga, this is part of the iOS firm's ongoing efforts to resist the European Union and...
Mar 11, 2024•34 min
The GamesIndustry.biz Microcast offers a quick look at the biggest stories from the business of video games every Monday. This week, Chris Dring and James Batchelor are joined by Remedy communications director Thomas Puha, who talks to us about the studio reclaiming the publishing rights of Control, the success of Alan Wake 2, and the challenges of AAA development in general. We also discuss the mass layoffs at Electronic Arts and Sony, plus how those two companies are adapting their strategies ...
Mar 04, 2024•39 min
Welcome to the weekly GI Microcast giving you the latest in video games news. Join James Batchelor and Chris Dring where they give you their take on the biggest stories in video games. Never miss an episode and subscribe to the GI Microcast on all Podcasting platforms and YouTube. Join them every Monday for more video games news. This week, we discuss the slew of game announcements that emerged from and around the Nintendo Partner Direct, the potential for surprise hits in 2024, and the industry...
Feb 26, 2024•27 min
Chris Dring and James Batchelor take a look at the biggest stories from the business of video games in the last week. We start by discussing Xbox's announcement of four first-party titles coming to other platforms, as well as Microsoft's wider games strategy, before delving into PlayStation's latest financials, the challenges it faces and the revelation that there will be no major launches from existing franchises until April 2025 at the earliest. We finish off with the recent reports that Switc...
Feb 19, 2024•27 min
James Batchelor and Chris Dring discuss the biggest news from the past week. The main topic this week is the recent rumours that Microsoft may bring key first-party exclusives such as Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle to other platforms, including PlayStation 5. We talk about Microsoft's history of exploring 'rival' platforms, and why it does and doesn't make sense for these titles to be ported. We also discuss the recent report that the majority of developers are working on live ...
Feb 05, 2024•27 min
GamesIndustry.biz's James Batchelor and Chris Dring discuss the biggest stories of the past week. First, we discuss the Eidos Montreal layoffs and the cancellation of a new Deus Ex title, as well as the implications for the future of this franchise - and many of the other franchises, such as fan favourite (and Chris favourite) TimeSplitters, whose future depends on the outcome of the Embracer Group restructure. Next, we delve into the changes proposed by Apple to comply with the European Union's...
Jan 30, 2024•30 min
Chris Dring and James Batchelor discuss some of the biggest stories about the business of video games from the past week. This week's Microcast kicks off with Chris' report on the industry bracing itself for further difficult times, with investors, publishers and developers expecting up to two years of closures, changes to the release schedule and investment opportunities, and more. We also discuss the reaction to our interview with Ubisoft's Philippe Tremblay and the notion that subscriptions w...
Jan 22, 2024•30 min
James Batchelor and Chris Dring once again discuss some of the biggest stories from the past week, including the divisive agreement between union SAG-AFTRA and AI voice tech firm Replica Studios to use AI voice acting in video games. The discussion inevitably extends to the broader implications of AI, including Steam's revised policies that will allow "the vast majority of games using it" to launch on the leading PC marketplace. We also discuss comments from our recent interview with Nacon head ...
Jan 15, 2024•23 min
Chris Dring and James Batchelor return with our weekly dive into the biggest news stories from the business of video games. 2024 has barely started and the ongoing trend of layoffs across the games industry continues. We discuss some of the wider factors that are driving this, and what else we can expect in the year ahead. We also discuss recent stories about the use of generative AI in promotional art, including an ID@Xbox image that was published before the holidays, and the recent report of a...
Jan 08, 2024•23 min
For our final podcast of the year, The GamesIndustry.biz team gathers around their mics to discuss their favourite games of the past twelve months. You may well have read our extended thoughts in our Games of the Year articles, and this conversation wraps things up, as well as gives some nods to our honourable mentions. From the relaxing trials of Pikmin 4 to the freeform adventures of Baldur's Gate 3, from the political commentary and fast-paced gameplay of Bomb Rush Cyberfunk to the creepy and...
Dec 18, 2023•1 hr 16 min
The GamesIndustry.biz team gathers around their mics to reflect on the past year, as well as the biggest stories and trends we've covered. The discussion inevitably begins with the waves of layoffs we've seen throughout 2023, and what they say about both the state of the industry and what we can expect in 2024. We also discuss the debate around using AI in games development, the quality of games released this year, and the implications of the Epic vs Google trial (note: this was recorded before ...
Dec 13, 2023•1 hr 6 min
Chris Dring and James Batchelor discuss the biggest stories of the past week, on (potentially) our final Microcast of 2023. Today's discussion begins with the reveal of Grand Theft Auto 6, from the changes at Rockstar since GTA 5 to the sales expectations and potential impact the game will have on 2024 and 2025, plus our own thoughts on this first look at the game. We also discuss this year's The Game Awards, including the range of winners, the discourse around developers' winners speeches, and ...
Dec 11, 2023•28 min