Deconstructor of Fun

This week, the crew goes back to the metaverse to talk about the many stories coming out of Meta's Horizon Worlds. From lower than forecast engagement numbers to stability issues to low team morale to doctored footage of legs, it seems like Horizon just can't catch a break. Your hosts Eric Kress, Laura Taranto and Ethan Levy also discuss Take Two's shutdown of Playdots studio and why you should expect more as Zynga gets integrated into its new parent company, player response to Overwatch 2's Battlepass and what it's tuning implies about decision making inside the studio, the second death of G4TV and more.

Today we have a true legend of game production on the podcast! There are few in the game whose CV even comes close to Rod Fergusson, who currently serves as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Diablo franchise. With credits including Gears of War, Unreal Tournament, Shadow Complex, Infinity Blade, Bulletstorm, BioShock Infinite, Microsoft Train Simulator and now Diablo, few producers have had a lead role in as many big name franchises as Rod. In this spotlight interview from Ethan, Rod drops some knowledge on us as we talk about how to be a world-class game producer. Whether you've been making games for 2 years or 20, there is plenty to learn in enlightening episode.

This week, the crew does their first ever book club on Matthew Ball’s headline making book “The Metaverse.” What is the Metaverse? Do we believe in it? Can Ball’s vision for the Metaverse ever be achieved and adopted in our lifetime? Or will the laws of nature prevent this Metaverse dream from ever becoming a reality. Your hosts Eric Kress, Eric Seufurt, Laura Taranto and Ethan Levy discuss. We also talk Overwatch 2’s launch, Meta’s expensive new headset, and Playstation studio Haven’s mandate to reinvent game development.

Sean Ryan has a deep history in gaming, from his highly innovative involvement in Sega's early online plays to a decade long stint overseeing gaming partnerships at Facebook. But as this is Tokenomics, of course he's here because he's red pilled on Web3 gaming as the CEO of NFT Marketplace AQUA. In this episode, Ethan talks to Sean about his history in gaming, how Ethan is a verified Sega Boi, and the opportunity he sees that brought him to AQUA to build a new, gaming focused NFT marketplace.

The Two Erics and Laura discuss the end of cloud gaming with the shutdown of Stadia and an update on CD Projekts’ PR shenanigans. Eric Seufert discusses the new world order of user acquisition in mobile.

As games progress through their lifecycle, many games experience increased costs and stalls in growth over time. An excellent way to unlock growth is to find new pockets of players outside of English-centric countries. But what’s the optimal way to find these markets? How do you decide whether to make that investment decision? How much should you localize versus culturalize? What is the potential of these emerging markets?  To answer these questions and more, Nancy Huang and Ludovic Thevelin joined us for an informative discussion.  Nancy is the Head of User Acquisition and Growth Strategy at East Side Games, a publisher known for IP-driven hit games such as “The Office,” “Trailer Park Boys,” and “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Ludovic is an International Growth Consultant at Google who focuses on advising mobile gaming clients on their international expansion strategies.

This week, we get a peak behind the curtains of how videogames are covered in the enthusiast press, thanks to IGN VP & Publisher John Davison. A veteran of games media, game development and entrepreneurship, there is no one better positioned than John to explain how games are covered in the current multimedia era. We use John's recent piece explaining how Squanch Games' High on Life unexpectedly won the Gamescom coverage competition thanks to easily digestible humor and the power of Tik Tok. This episode is chock full of lessons about how to make your game stand out in a crowded field, getting the attention of games journalists, and the importance of easily digestible messaging to helping your game cut through the noise. This interview is hosted by Ethan Levy.

A packed house for this week's TWiG as we delve into some juicy topics. Quick updates on Netflix Games latest hires (of course), Cyberpunk 2077, Apple's platform ruling on NFTs, the GTA VI hacker and more. For our headline topics, we discuss The Battle for Twitch's Soul following their announcement of deprecating the 70/30 revenue split for top streamers. We also go deep on ex-Machine Zone CEO Gabe Leydon's newest company, Web3 outfit Limit Break games, and how they're making waves with their "free-to-own" business model for NFT games. This week’s episode is hosted by Eric Kress, Eric Seufert, Laura Taranto and Ethan Levy.

Born from the ashes of a studio closure, Mighty Bear Games was founded by an experienced team of F2P veterans whose work crossed browser and mobile games. Having built up their studio and tech stack with Butter Royale and Disney Melee Mayhem, the studio's pivot to Web3 has seen it secure a $10m investment to build games for the blockchain. With Mighty Action Heroes nearing its initial mint, Ethan speaks with Might Bear CEO Simon Davis about his studio, his experience in F2P and his transition to Web3 gaming. In addition to Web3, they talk about learning from the pain of crunch and the lessons learned leading games and studios that have led to Mighty Bears culture and focus on the people who make the games.

Laura gives off strong American Psycho vibes with her choice of recording venue. Eric makes us all jealous with his recap of the BITKRAFT conference. Ethan makes mood boards. But more seriously, we talk the latest Call of Duty reveal, Sims 4 going F2P, the big Grand Theft Auto 6 leak and how it will have no negative impact on the product’s eventual sales dominance. We go deep on Nintendo direct and Laura amazes us with her commitment to completing lengthy JRPGs. Ethan tells the story of ex-Rocksteady dev Kim MacAskill, who sets an amazing example in living her values after removing herself from consideration from a Women In Games Lifetime Achievement Award because Rockstead, her former employer and a company she stood up against due to the misogyny experienced therein, was a sponsor of the event. This week’s episode is hosted by Eric Kress, Laura Taranto and Ethan Levy.