Naavik Gaming Podcast

“UGC Gaming is Gaming 3.0” says Uri Marchand, CEO and co-founder of Overwolf, a software platform that powers one of the biggest modding communities in the world and recently signed a massive partnership with EA for the Sims4. In this episode, your host Alex Takei chats all things UGC, the role of IP in creating the metaverse, centralization and moderation in a creator economy, and whether any of this really needs the blockchain.Uri Marchand: https://www.linkedin.com/in/urimarchand/If you would like us to discuss any other blockchain gaming-related topics, do reach out at metacast@naavik.co. We’d love to hear your general thoughts and feedback too! And as always, if you like the episode, you can help others find us by leaving a rating or review!TLDListen?: Episode summaryWatch the episode: YouTube video Join the discussion: Naavik DiscordRead more: Naavik DigestWatch more: YouTube channelGo premium: Naavik ProFollow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | WebsiteSound design by Gavin Mc Gabe.

Why didn’t Blizzard renew its partnership with NetEase? How will they return to mainland China’s market? We dive into the latest game business news with Matt Dion, David Amor, Marie Mejerwall, and your host Maria Gillies.00:00 - Start05:20 - Gameloft’s Cross-Platform Strategy08:55 - Generative AI’s Valuable Disruption17:40 - Embracer Group Earnings Analysis19:20 - Sony Patent For NFT and Blockchain Technology23:52 - Blizzard Does Not Renew Contract with NetEase40:12 - Google Struck Deals to Prevent Play Store Competition56:46 - OutroAlso, a big thanks to data.ai for supporting all of Naavik's mobile data needs. If your team requires a market and competitive intelligence tool for tracking the mobile games industry, monitoring KPIs, and spotting opportunities across games, check out data.ai's robust platform.If you would like us to discuss any other gaming-related topics, reach out at metacast@naavik.co. We’d love to hear your feedback! And as always, if you like the episode, you can help others find us by leaving a rating or review!Go premium with Naavik Pro to access an ever-growing library of deep exclusive research including free-to-play and blockchain game deconstructions, and market analysis. Use the promo code METACAST to save 10%. TLDListen?: Episode summaryWatch the episode: YouTube video Join the discussion: Naavik DiscordRead more: Naavik DigestWatch more: YouTube channelGo premium: Naavik ProFollow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | WebsiteSound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.

In web2, the marketing stack is rich in every area that matters - when a marketer wants to spend on a game, they have many places to do it, they can scale budget up and down as needed, they have the tools to measure how effective the spend is by channel, they can measure revenue events and many other different kinds of downstream activity for days, weeks, months and even years down the line. They have the analytics tools to segment and understand their player personas, and can effectively target these users across a wide variety of channels that serve particular niches. Incredibly accurate LTV models can be built from the data available, and ROAS can be calculated even on a long time horizon. And none of this is true in web3! The anonymity and pseudonymity of web3 makes segmentation and understanding of personas hard if not impossible, and while everything on-chain is by default completely transparent and open, having the wallet and the tokens it contains be the primary identifier is severely limiting. In this episode, your host Niko Vuori talks to three leading minds in web3 marketing - Quinn Campbell (VP of Growth at Sky Mavis), Justin Vogel (Co-Founder at Safary) and Warren Woodward (Co-Founder at Upptic) about the challenges web3 marketers face, the tools that need to be built and the current tactics that need to be employed to grow a web3 game. Sky Mavis: https://www.skymavis.com/ Safary: https://www.safary.club/ Upptic: https://upptic.com/ The ~80 web3 marketing leaders tracked by Safary: https://twitter.com/Safaryclub/status/1580235410147377158 If you would like us to discuss any other blockchain gaming-related topics, do reach out at metacast@naavik.co. We’d love to hear your general thoughts and feedback too! And as always, if you like the episode, you can help others find us by leaving a rating or review!TLDListen?: Episode summaryWatch the episode: YouTube video Join the discussion: Naavik DiscordRead more: Naavik DigestWatch more: YouTube channelGo premium: Naavik ProFollow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | WebsiteSound design by Gavin Mc Gabe.

What can we learn from Unity, AppLovin, Roblox, Krafton and Nintendo earnings? What’s the next evolution of community play? We dive into the latest game business news with Aaron Bush, Tammy Levy, Elyssa Goldberg, and your host Maria Gillies.00:00 - Start03:12 - Unity Earnings Analysis05:27 - NewZoo Forecasts Market Decline13:41 - AppLovin Earnings Analysis15:26 - Roblox Earnings Analysis20:10 - Impacts of FTX on Gaming29:14 - Krafton Earnings Analysis35:46 - Nintendo Earnings & Strategy Analysis55:19 - Future of Community Play01:07:20 - OutroAlso, a big thanks to data.ai for supporting all of Naavik's mobile data needs. If your team requires a market and competitive intelligence tool for tracking the mobile games industry, monitoring KPIs, and spotting opportunities across games, check out data.ai's robust platform.If you would like us to discuss any other gaming-related topics, do reach out at metacast@naavik.co. We’d love to hear your feedback! And as always, if you like the episode, you can help others find us by leaving a rating or review!Go premium with Naavik Pro to access an ever-growing library of deep exclusive research including free-to-play and blockchain game deconstructions, and market analysis. Use the promo code METACAST to save 10%. TLDListen?: Episode summaryWatch the episode: YouTube video Join the discussion: Naavik DiscordRead more: Naavik DigestWatch more: YouTube channelGo premium: Naavik ProFollow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | WebsiteSound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.

Should you build your game on Solana or Polygon? L1, L2, or sidechain? What are the technical, financial, ideological, and game design frameworks a web3 developer should think about when making this decision? In this week’s episode, your host, Alex Takei, talks all things chain choice with Aron Beierschmitt, CEO of Laguna Games, the studio responsible for Crypto Unicorns, and Sridhar Muppidi, co-founder of YesGnome, a skill based mobile gaming company. PLUS hot takes on the FTX debacle and what implications it might have for Solana given SOL is Alameda’s second largest token ecosystem holding.Aron Beierschmitt: https://twitter.com/abearschmittSridhar Muppidi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sridharmuppidi/If you would like us to discuss any other blockchain gaming-related topics, do reach out at metacast@naavik.co. We’d love to hear your general thoughts and feedback too! And as always, if you like the episode, you can help others find us by leaving a rating or review!TLDListen?: Episode summaryWatch the episode: YouTube video Join the discussion: Naavik DiscordRead more: Naavik DigestWatch more: YouTube channelGo premium: Naavik ProFollow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | WebsiteSound design by Gavin Mc Gabe.

In this episode, Alexis Bonte – COO of Stillfront Group – joins Naavik co-founder Aaron Bush to discuss:#1 His journey as an entrepreneur and executive, and how he ended up at Stillfront#2 How Stillfront operates, including how it provides autonomy to studios while still creating synergies across the entire organization#3 Stillfront’s M&A strategy, including lessons learned after 18 acquisitions#4 The future of Stillfront (and whether Stillfront is thinking about web3)To learn more, make sure to visit Stillfront’s website, investor relations page, and you can find Alexis on LinkedIn and Twitter.As always, if you like the episode, you can help others find us by leaving a rating or review!Go premium with Naavik Pro to access an ever-growing library of deep exclusive research including free-to-play and blockchain game deconstructions, and market analysis. Check out the link to request a demo, and use the promo code METACAST to save 10% on your first payment. TLDListen?: Episode summaryWatch the episode: YouTube channelJoin the discussion: Naavik DiscordFree newsletter: Naavik DigestGo premium: Naavik ProFollow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | WebsiteSound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.

What can we learn from Take-Two and EA’s earnings? Are we observing an increase in VC capital deployment? We dive into the latest game business news with Aaron Bush, Seb Park, and your host Maria Gillies.00:00 - Start02:10 - What’s Next for eSports?05:40 - Japan’s PC Gaming Market07:03 - China’s Declining Mobile Gaming Market08:30 - Unity x ironSource Deal Closed11:12 - Embracer Closed Former Square Enix Montreal12:56 - Dapper Labs and Mythical Layoffs22:20 - Take-Two Earnings Analysis40:35 - EA Earnings Analysis50:18 - Increasing Deployment of VC CapitalAlso, a big thanks to data.ai for supporting all of Naavik's mobile data needs. If your team requires a market and competitive intelligence tool for tracking the mobile games industry, monitoring KPIs, and spotting opportunities across games, check out data.ai's robust platform.If you would like us to discuss any other gaming-related topics, do reach out at metacast@naavik.co. We’d love to hear your general thoughts and feedback too! And as always, if you like the episode, you can help others find us by leaving a rating or review!Go premium with Naavik Pro to access an ever-growing library of deep exclusive research including free-to-play and blockchain game deconstructions, and market analysis. Use the promo code METACAST to save 10%. TLDListen?: Episode summaryWatch the episode: YouTube video Join the discussion: Naavik DiscordRead more: Naavik DigestWatch more: YouTube channelGo premium: Naavik ProFollow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | WebsiteSound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.

 In just a single year since launching, NFT marketplace Magic Eden has grown to dominate on Solana, with over 85% of the trading market share, and increasingly taking share from OpenSea on Ethereum as well. They started with digital collectibles, but very early on made a bet on gaming NFTs as their second major vertical. Now, they sport a $1.6 billion valuation in their latest funding round, and have recently announced that they will be making direct minority equity investments in gaming companies. In this episode, your host Niko Vuori talks to Zhuoxun Yin, Co-founder & COO of Magic Eden and Tony Zhao, who leads gaming investments at Magic Eden about why Magic Eden is pushing so hard on gaming, where they see web3 gaming trends going and what the role of an NFT marketplace is as it relates to promoting and elevating games. Magic Eden Games: https://magiceden.io/games If you would like us to discuss any other blockchain gaming-related topics, do reach out at metacast@naavik.co. We’d love to hear your general thoughts and feedback too! And as always, if you like the episode, you can help others find us by leaving a rating or review!TLDListen?: Episode summaryWatch the episode: YouTube video Join the discussion: Naavik DiscordRead more: Naavik DigestWatch more: YouTube channelGo premium: Naavik ProFollow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | WebsiteSound design by Gavin Mc Gabe.

In this episode, Caro Krenzer – co-founder and CEO of Trailmix, the company behind Love & Pies – joins Naavik co-founder Aaron Bush to discuss:#1 Caro’s games industry origin story and what led her to found Trailmix#2 How Love & Pies pivoted away from a failed game mechanic and turned into a hit#3 Lessons in inclusive game design, including how to build a great company culture that supports it#4 What Caro learned from working at King, how Supercell supports Trailmix as an investor, and what she’s excited about nextTo learn more, you can visit Trailmix’s website or find Caro on LinkedIn.As always, if you like the episode, you can help others find us by leaving a rating or review!Go premium with Naavik Pro to access an ever-growing library of deep exclusive research including free-to-play and blockchain game deconstructions, and market analysis. Check out the link to request a demo, and use the promo code METACAST to save 10% on your first payment. TLDListen?: Episode summaryWatch the episode: YouTube channelJoin the discussion: Naavik DiscordFree newsletter: Naavik DigestGo premium: Naavik ProFollow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | WebsiteSound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.

What can we learn from Microsoft, Meta, Sony and Rovio’s earnings? What does Meta’s tanking stock mean for VR/AR Gaming? We dive into the latest game business news with David Amor, Matt Dion, and your host Maria Gillies.00:00 - Start03:33 - Sony/PlayStation Earnings06:50 - TikTok Playable Games Tab08:20 - Netflix Acquires Spry Fox11:30 - Rovio Earnings13:33 - Microsoft/Xbox Earnings31:17 - Meta Earnings & VR/AR MarketAlso, a big thanks to data.ai for supporting all of Naavik's mobile data needs. If your team requires a market and competitive intelligence tool for tracking the mobile games industry, monitoring KPIs, and spotting opportunities across games, check out data.ai's robust platform.If you would like us to discuss any other gaming-related topics, do reach out at metacast@naavik.co. We’d love to hear your general thoughts and feedback too! And as always, if you like the episode, you can help others find us by leaving a rating or review!Go premium with Naavik Pro to access an ever-growing library of deep exclusive research including free-to-play and blockchain game deconstructions, and market analysis. Use the promo code METACAST to save 10%. TLDListen?: Episode summaryWatch the episode: YouTube video Join the discussion: Naavik DiscordRead more: Naavik DigestWatch more: YouTube channelGo premium: Naavik ProFollow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | WebsiteSound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.