Naavik Gaming Podcast

In this Metacast episode, Yonatan Raz-Fridman, Devin Becker and Abhimanyu Kumar join your host Nicolas Vereecke to discuss - #1: Take-Two buys Zynga for $12.7BFor context, here is the press release. #2: Is Roblox Exploiting Young Game Developers?We discuss the first and second videos released by People Make Games. And as this week’s bonus segment, we are making bold predictions about M&A in 2022.Other key links referenced in the discussion:EA buys Glu - LinkGTA Online recurring revenue - Link Zynga's experience porting IP to mobile - LinkMax Payne Mobile (I don't think Manyu knew!) - Apple & GoogleTake-Two's purchase of SocialPoint - LinkSupersocial (gotta plug Yon!) - LinkCORE - LinkRobux DevEx FAQ - Link If you would like us to discuss any another gaming-related topics, do reach out at nicolas@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! Join the discussion: DiscordLearn more: Newsletter or Go Premium Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Website

Over the past months, we’ve seen a significant backlash from the gaming community when gaming companies announced they were experimenting with NFTs in their games. In this Naavik Metacast Crypto Corner episode, Lars Doucet and Ethan Levy join your host Nico to have an open-minded discussion about whether these concerns are really valid, and what the blockchain gaming community can do to address them. If you would like us to discuss any other blockchain gaming-related topics, do reach out at nicolas@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! Join the discussion: DiscordLearn more: Newsletter or Go PremiumFollow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Website

For many in the games industry, 2021 was a rollercoaster ride. We saw Roblox going public, Apple’s ATT come into effect, discriminatory practices in the largest game companies come to light, play-to-earn burst onto the scene and so much more.In this special Metacast Roundtable episode, Fawzi Itani, Ryan Foo and Florian Ziegler join your host Nicolas Vereecke to look back at 2021 and share their biggest learnings.  If you would like us to discuss any another gaming-related topics, do reach out at nicolas@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! Join the discussion: DiscordLearn more: Newsletter or Go PremiumFollow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Website

In this Metacast Crypto Corner episode, Khaled Alroumi, Anton Backman and Sebastian Park join your host Nico to take a deep dive into the complexities of Blockchain Games and high level competition + esports.If you would like us to discuss another blockchain gaming-related topic, do reach out at nicolas@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! Join the discussion: DiscordLearn more: Newsletter or Go Premium Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Website

In this Metacast episode, Chong Ahn, David Amor and Florian Ziegler join your host Nicolas Vereecke to discuss; #1: The Rise of Blockchain Gaming Ecosystem FundsAll over the Crypto Gaming space, blockchains are partnering up with Venture Capital funds to create Blockchain Gaming Ecosystem funds. The goal of these funds is to support games teams to build on these respective blockchains. This is a solid strategy to kickstart network effects, but we are wary of these ecosystems becoming too closed off from the rest of the Blockchain Gaming world. #2: Rec Room Raises $145MRec Room, the social gaming and UGC platform, has seen 450% MAU growth over the past year, which explains the valuation of $3.5b only nine months after raising $100m at a $1.25b valuation. The company is on a strong growth trajectory, and will now need to focus on providing great experiences and tools for its creators to sustain it.  #3: Amazon Prime Gaming Partners with Blankos Block Party to give NFTs to its SubscribersAfter linking their account, subscribers of Amazon Prime Gaming were able to receive a free Blankos Block Party NFT to play with on the Blankos platform. Chong, VP of Product at Mythical Games, walks us through the rationale behind the partnership, and its results.  As this week’s bonus segment, we are predicting the major topics in the games industry for 2022. If you would like us to discuss any another gaming-related topics, do reach out at nicolas@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! Join the discussion: DiscordLearn more: Newsletter or Go Premium Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Website

In this Metacast Crypto Corner episode, Derek Lau and LordOfAFew join your host Nico to take a deep dive into how we’ll scale Blockchain Games.If you would like us to discuss another blockchain gaming-related topic, do reach out at nicolas@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! Join the discussion: DiscordLearn more: Newsletter or Go Premium Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Website

In this Metacast episode, Aaron Bush, Yonatan Raz-Fridman and Miikka Ahonen join your host Nicolas Vereecke to discuss; #1: PlayStation SpartacusSony is (allegedly) planning a new subscription service to compete with Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass. The service will allow PlayStation owners to pay a monthly fee for access to a catalog of modern and classic games.Launch expected in spring, the service will merge Sony’s two existing subscription plans, PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now. #2: Tencent to Increase Supercell StakeSupercell has seen revenue fall nearly every year since Tencent’s acquisition of a majority stake in 2016. The Information now reports that the Chinese internet giant is to boost that stake in Supercell at a valuation of roughly 11b. This is 10% higher than the valuation in 2016.It will do that by buying some of the shares held by the partners that bought in back in 2016. Note - our recording happened minutes before this went live. #3: The Game AwardsThe Game Awards is an award show honoring the best video games of the year. It was held in LA on Thursday last week, and was live streamed globally. I Takes Two won Game Of The Year, but we feel that the awards are very niche and too focused on AAA console/PC games. Aaron now plans to launch the Naavik Games Industry Awards Show.  And as this week’s bonus segment, we are predicting what will be the most successful game of 2022.  If you would like us to discuss any another gaming-related topics, do reach out at nicolas@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! Join the discussion: DiscordLearn more: Newsletter or Go Premium Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Website

In this Metacast Crypto Corner episode, your host Nico is joined by Ryan Foo and Oweh Soh to take a deep dive into the Wolf Game phenomenon. If you would like us to discuss another blockchain gaming-related topic, do reach out at nicolas@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! Join the discussion: DiscordLearn more: Newsletter or Go Premium Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Website

What is a MMOCG or Massively Multiplayer On-Chain Game? How does it work? What can we do with it? Is this going to be a thing?Find out this and more in this week’s roundtable!In this Metacast episode, Florian Ziegler, David Amor and Matej Lancaric are joined by your host Nicolas Vereecke to discuss; Massively Multiplayer On-Chain GamesMMOCGs are games that are both Open-Source and Open-State. The whole game lives completely on the blockchain, which has some profound and interesting consequences.  Ubisoft takes a first step into NFTsUbisoft announced the first implementation of blockchain technology into one of its games with the addition of NFTs to the PC version of Ghost Recon Breakpoint. The response was overwhelmingly negative, and the company removed the announcement video from YouTube. The move feels like a conservative experiment into NFTs, and we can only applaud Ubisoft for being the first AAA publisher to do it. Moon Active raises $300m at a $5b valuationMoon Active, the maker of Coin Master, is killing it. The company is not afraid to experiment with different types of games, and it’s paying off. We’re curious to see what they’ll do with this war chest!  As this week’s bonus segment, we are giving bold predictions about Ubisoft.  If you would like us to discuss any another gaming-related topics, do reach out at nicolas@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! Join the discussion: DiscordRead more: NewsletterFollow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Website

In this Metacast CryptoCorner episode, your host Nico is joined by Lars Doucet, Ryan Foo and Miko Matsumura to discuss the sustainability of Play-to-Earn Economies.If you would like us to discuss another blockchain gaming-related topic, do reach out at nicolas@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! Join the discussion: DiscordLearn more: Newsletter or Go Premium Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Website