Deconstructor of Fun

Eric, Eric and Laura are joined by guest David Nelson, former head of the experimentation group at King, to discuss the last 10 years of Candy Crush Saga and the Blizzard and NetEase divorce. Seufert shares his experience at Slush last week in Helsinki and Kress blames the switch hardware for the lackluster performance of the otherwise interesting new Pokemon game, Scarlet and Violet. And lastly, it wouldn’t be an TWIG episode without at least 1 mention of Netflix. Until next week.

In Esports giant 100 Thieves, Nadeshot, John Robinson, Valkyrae and their army of competitors, streamers and content creators have built one of the most impressive lifestyle brands and marketing superpowers in all of gaming. Now, they've brought on industry legend Pete Hawley to run their brand new game studio. Just a few weeks into development and they've already released the initial footage and play test of Project X. In this week's spotlight, John and Pete sit down with Ethan to tell us about the history of 100 Thieves, where it sits on the spectrum of streamer, competitor and lifestyle brand, why they decided to build out their own game studio and game, and how they are embracing open, collaborative, community driven development with their very first game. With a marketing reach over 150 gamers strong, and despite John and Pete's humbleness in the matter, it is clear that 100T has an absolute monster on its hands.

Eric and Laura cover their respective trips and dig into a few positive updates on Landmark’s funding and new game. The two rehash Nintendo’s partnership with DeNA, discuss releasing games in China, and rant on Newzoo’s mobile market update. Kress offers an update on Microsoft and Activision Blizzard acquisition.

It's big #20! In this latest episode of Tokenomics, Ethan sits down with Koh Kim, Head of Ecosystem at Sui maker MystenLabs. The company, formed by ex-Meta veterans, has raised a $300m treasure trove to build a new and better Layer1 blockchain purpose built for Web3 gaming. Koh tells us about her history in gaming, how she red-pilled on Web3 and why she joined up with Mysten, and how the Sui blockchain is the Layer1 that will allow gamedevs like you and me to build better Web3 game experiences.

Ethan and Eric S are in the house to talk about all the dramatic news this week! We're talking about massive layoffs across the tech industry and gaming in particular, new mobile game studios from NetEase and Nintendo, Playtika's latest earnings report, the dramatic and sudden collapse of FTX and the ongoing creator royalty debate going on in the world of NFTs.

Kress’s Corner - I sat down with Jason Chapman at Konvoy to discuss how VC’s really work.. How they invest, why they invest and most importantly how much money they make… We also explore how VCs navigate the booms and busts in the business cycle

Laura, Seufert, and Kress discuss TikTok's standalone gaming channel and evaluate whether the Xbox pass is profitable. The team also discusses Modern Warfare II topping $800M in sales, Rovio's new Barcelona studio, and Netflix's acquisition of SpryFox. TWIG wouldn't be what it is without a public apology. In this episode, Eric Seufert walks back his statements on Marvel Snap after being bombarded by product managers and designers around the world. Kress hit a D 365 of not drinking. Send him a congrats message on LinkedIn or via Slack, if you've gained access to the community...

Kress sits down with Robin Astrom at Wehype to discuss how influencer marketing can be an alternative/supplement to traditional marketing and how it can help products and brands find audiences in a hostile user acquisition market.  And how is it working with these Gen Z influencers…

This week, the team talks about Microsoft Xbox' plan on having their store on mobile, Snapchat's parent company's uphill battle after IDFA depreciation and the upcoming launch of Age of Empires Mobile. Your hosts Eric Kress, Laura Taranto and Eric Seufert also discuss the launch of Marvel Snap by Second Dinner and dive into the implications of Apple's SKAdNetwork 4.0.

Animoca Brands owned Sandbox is an undisputed pioneer and leader in the blockchain gaming space. That's why we are beyond excited to have Sandbox COO Sebastien Borget speaking with Ethan on the podcast this episode. Sebastien tells takes us through the history of Sandbox, which started as a mobile, free-to-play game, and explains how the Sandbox team saw the early potential in blockchain gaming lightyears ahead of most other established players in the space. From the token, to the land sales, to the brand partnerships to the creator tools, you will exit this episode with a much deeper understanding and appreciation for The Sandbox than when you started it.