Deconstructor of Fun

The games industry is not taking any time off for summer vacation as we're seeing another absolutely monster week of news. The Vision Pro is here, is Kress impressed by Apple's attempt at changing the world of computing again? Diablo IV is live and Phill breaks down their record setting launch. Jen explains everything you need to know about the latest change to ad tech - Apple's Privacy Manifests. Ethan demands that Kress bow down to MihoYo's global dominance as Honkai Star Rail is crowned the King of May Revenue. Laura analyzes if there are any up and coming puzzle games that can put a dent in the dominance of Candy Crush, Royal Match and Gardenscapes. Line your stomach with a glass of milk and give us a listen, because this is a spicy one!

Halo, Destiny, Hearthstone, Warcraft, Fable, Mass Effect, Shadowrun. What do all these classic series have in common? They've all been improved thanks to the UX research and tactics by John Hopson and the talented teams he has worked on. When Deconstructor of Fun Slack member Hopson shared the release of his book - The Secret Science of Fun - I loaded it up on audible and was blown away. It is filled with pragmatic, no nonsense, hands on advice on how to use the art of user experience research to improve you games with budgets ranging from monumental to microscopic. Ethan and John go deep on what UX research is, how it is best integrated into your game's development, and how the true art of UX research is when to be scientific, and when to be science-ish. If you enjoy this podcast, you'll love the audiobook of The Secret Science of Fun which you can get on Audible.

Over 500m Tik Tok users watch gaming content every month, according to Jen's recent trips on the conference circuit, and this audience is one that the crew things you should be building your game thesis around from day one! Detective Ethan is on the case making wild conjecture on who may have been the counter-party that suddenly pulled out of Embracer's $2b deal last week. Laura unpacks Voodoo's latest strategic shift from hypercasual to hybridcasual. Is there more to this rebranding than wordplay? Phil uses the recent announcement of Bungie's Marathon extraction shooter to explain his oft cited Game Thesis framework. The full crew dissects Flood Rush and Squad Busters, the two latest Supercell soft launch games aiming for that $1b+ a year brass ring. And Kress goes deep on Sony's Playstation Showcase event that featured Marathon, Spiderman 2, Assassin's Creed, Metal Gear, Alan Wake, Final Fantasy, the non-Vita Project Q handheld streaming device and of course, some VR games. This week was filled to the brim with news and, as ever, your loyal TWiG crew is here to digest it for you.

First, join us all in welcoming Jen Donahoe as the new, full time member of the TWiG crew! This week, Kress talks about the Embracer implosion, Phil falls for Fall Guys' new creator mode, Jen explains PUBGs reenlistment in India, Ethan unpacks the critical production blunder that was the root cause behind Overwatch 2's PvE cancellation, and Laura takes the MC microphone for a drive.

This week the tables are turned as Ethan is the one being interviewed by Savage Games Studio GM and friend of the pod Sophie Vo. Ethan appeared on Sophie's conscious leadership podcast - Rise and Play - to talk about how your life has to be bigger than just your career. After 20 years of hard work, dedication and sacrifices Ethan reflects on his many regrets, the importance of living a balanced life, setting boundaries between your work and your personal life, modeling these values and behaviors for your employees and more. If you enjoy this episode, be sure to check out Rise and Play where Sophie has a wealth of podcasts and educational material to improve your skills as a conscious leader in the games industry.

New week, new guest host. This week, Director of Product Tiffany Keller gets behind the mic to talk about Omega Striker's cross-platform strategy. Laura talks about the "games for good" trend and if it can help Peridot or Longleaf Valley stand out from the pack. Kress explains why Superman is a terrible IP for gaming, and is bewildered by EA Mobile's seeming lack of support for their big Lord of the Rings launch. Despite the revelation that he is, in fact, a good 'ol Carolina boy, Phil loves talking about Eurovision for some reason. Ethan explains what superheroes he most wants to use to punch countless baddies in open world AAA games. And, we eventually get around to talking about Diablo IV's inevitable sales dominance and live ops plans. Also, we almost make it a week without talking about Microsoft Cloud Gaming, but Ethan just can't let it lay. Until next week, Twiggies!

With their mysterious, high drama, high production value advertisements featuring soap opera worthy twists and turns, Metacore's creative game for Merge Mansion has always been top notch. But last March, the chart topping merge game made waves when it released a series of live action advertisements staring The Mandalorian himself, Pedro Pascal. How did Metacore land one of Hollywood's hottest stars at the absolute peek of his fame? How have these ads performed? And just what is Granny Ursula hiding in that mansion? To answer these burning questions, Tapio Tuomola and Mika Tammenkoski join Ethan in conversation to reveal everything. Everything, that is, except for Granny Ursula's master plan.

The crew is dropping heat with another action packed week of news. Guest host extraordinaire Jen Donahoe returns to the podcast to educate us on how to be a better ally in the wake of the Activision and Riot gender discrimination settlements. Phil breaks down the incredible admission of defeat on the part of Xbox's Phil Spencer as he, in Kress's words, says the quite part out loud. Laura defends the honor and integrity of free-to-play games and Ethan explains how Apple Arcade and Netflix aren't competing against each other, but against the hundreds of free, ad supported games launched on mobile every day. As every Twiggy knows, it's tough to beat with free! Plus we cover the Call of Duty: Warzone delay, the big DOtA 2 update, Nintendo Live 2023 and the absolute dominance of Hogwarts' Legacy.

As every Twiggy knows, successful marketing tactics are the cornerstone of any top grossing free-to-play game. So Ethan was delighted to be joined this week by Brian Murphy, the Head of Gaming at Appsflyer, to discuss their recently released report on the state of game app marketing in 2023. And he was especially delighted because, as you'll hear, Ethan is extremely lazy and does not have time to read and digest an 80 slide report chock full of information about marketing your gaming app. So he perused the key findings page and then spent the following hour grilling Brian about it, as though he read the whole report. The sheer gall! So join in on this conversation, and you too can pretend you've deeply studied Appsflyer's state of game marketing report for 2023.

Hold on to your hats, Twiggies! This week and for the first time ever, we have a female host majority on TWIG! We welcome Jen Donahoe to the guest host hot seat to break down the pros and cons of working with Netflix as a publisher, with special insight into the brand and marketing aspects, and debate Laura on the best use cases for the Subway Surfers IP. Nintendo’s move to join Gamescom this year is a surprise to all and Kress supposes that a big announcement is coming. All this and more in the latest episode of This Week in Games from Deconstructor of Fun.