

Deconstructor of Fun
Deconstructor of Fun
Deconstructor of Fun podcast is created by games professionals for games professionals. We explore the business side of the games industry with the goal of bringing listeners content that is relevant, insightful, and entertaining on a weekly basis.
Hosts:
Michail Katkoff www.linkedin.com/in/michailkatkoff/
Eric Kress www.linkedin.com/in/erickress/
Phillip Black www.linkedin.com/in/phillip-black-economist/
Jen Donahoe www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferdonahoe
Hosts:
Michail Katkoff www.linkedin.com/in/michailkatkoff/
Eric Kress www.linkedin.com/in/erickress/
Phillip Black www.linkedin.com/in/phillip-black-economist/
Jen Donahoe www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferdonahoe
Episodes
Mentioned books

19 snips
Mar 29, 2022 • 1h 33min
How Wooga's Switchcraft Aced the Soft Launch!
Many of us know how to develop a game. Many of us are experienced in running live operations. Yet only a few of us truly know how to successfully navigate through a soft launch and ship a modern mobile game. In this episode, Annelie Biernat (Game Director at Wooga) and Aaron Hiscox (Business Development Manager at Google Play) shared their insights and learnings on how to successfully complete a soft launch in today's market.
Links:
Questions and Feedback
The Newsletter
The Slack Group
Hosts:
Mishka Katkoff
Sponsors:
ironSource, Appsflyer, Google

Mar 25, 2022 • 57min
Tokenomics #6 The Bored Apes $450M Pitch Deck for an MMO
If you’ve been following the blockchain space, the “blue chip” NFT project Bored Ape Yacht Club is inescapable. And as BAYC owner Yugalabs has progressed, it is clear that gaming is central to their future ambitions. There’s been a flurry of news recently, from their partnership with Animoca Brands to P2E game Benji Bananas to the launch of ApeCoin and the leaked investor deck pitching their big metaverse play. In today’s episode, we go deep on the investor deck, look into our crystal balls, and make our prediction on if the Bored Apes will one day rule the metaverse.
We also bring some crypto-gaming news updates from the past two weeks, including FTX’s big gaming hire, Com2Us’s crypto game platform fundraise, and NFTU’s week 1 sellout.
Hosts: N3TWORK Executive Producer Ethan Levy, Play Ventures Principal Anton Backman, and Savage Games Studios CEO himself, Mr. Michail Katkoff.

Mar 24, 2022 • 1h 8min
TWIG #175 Bored Ape Yacht Club raises $450M for an MMO / Are fully remote studios just a fad?
News:
Bored Ape Yacht Club creator raises $450 million to build an NFT metaverse
CD Projekt confirm The Witcher is coming back for a new game
Sony Interactive Entertainment To Acquire Haven Entertainment Studios Inc.
Links:
The Istanbul Event
Questions and Feedback
The Newsletter
The Slack Group
Hosts:
Mishka Katkoff, Eric Kress, Adam Telfer and Ethan Levy, Eric Seufert
Sponsors:
Google, ironSource, Appsflyer, PlayerWon
HELP UKRAINIANS:
For refugees fleeing to Poland: Polish Humanitarian Action, or the Polish Center for International Aid. For medical assistance on the ground in Ukraine: Médecins Sans Frontières or the Ukrainian Red Cross.

Mar 22, 2022 • 45min
The Secret Sauce of Scaling Successfully with Joshua Wilson, CEO of SciPlay
Joshua Wilson is the CEO of SciPlay, a publicly-traded gaming company with a strong social casino portfolio. In this episode, we discuss the CEO's role in building a culture and how to successfully continue scaling an organization with hundreds of employees worldwide. We also get to talk about what's the best and the worst thing about being a CEO of a publicly-traded games company.
Links:
The Istanbul Event
Questions and Feedback
The Newsletter
The Slack Group
Hosts:
Mishka Katkoff
Sponsors:
ironSource, Appsflyer

Mar 17, 2022 • 1h 1min
TWIG #174 Daddy's Back!
HELP UKRAINIANS:
For refugees fleeing to Poland: Polish Humanitarian Action, or the Polish Center for International Aid. For medical assistance on the ground in Ukraine: Médecins Sans Frontières or the Ukrainian Red Cross.
News:
NFT game sales hit $5.17B in 2021
FIFA Ultimate Team cards aren’t gambling, Dutch court says
Links:
The Istanbul Event
Questions and Feedback
The Newsletter
The Slack Group
Hosts:
Mishka Katkoff, Eric Kress, Adam Telfer and Ethan Levy, Eric Seufert
Sponsors:
Google, ironSource, Appsflyer, PlayerWon

5 snips
Mar 14, 2022 • 1h 8min
Playtest to Success with Christian Ress, CEO of PlaytestCloud
Christian Ress is the CEO and co-founder of PlaytestCloud, a platform I’ve been using for 8 years. PlaytestCloid is an essential platform for any and all mobile game developers. It allows us to conclude all kinds of playtests easily, quickly, and with great targeting. In this podcast Christian shares valuable insights on how to use playtest on your trail to successful game launch and beyond.
Links:
The Istanbul Event
Questions and Feedback
The Newsletter
The Slack Group
Hosts:
Mishka Katkoff
Sponsors:
ironSource, Appsflyer, PlayerWon

Mar 11, 2022 • 1h 2min
Tokenomics #5 Line Goes Up - What Is The Problem With NFTs Anyways?
It’s the 2.5-hour documentary railing on NFTs that everyone on your Twitter feed pretended to watch but merely skimmed. With over 6m views, Dan Olson’s Line Goes Up is a fantastic and wide-ranging video essay railing against NFTs, Web3, and all things crypto. The Tokenomics crew has watched the whole thing so you don’t have to, and in this episode we discuss Line Goes Up and where we agree and disagree with @FoldableHuman’s takedown of NFTs.
We also bring some crypto-gaming news updates from the past two weeks, including Void Runners’s playable, allowlist experiment, Jam City’s Champion’s Ascension Pre-Sale, Sandbox’s Alpha Season 2, and more.
Hosts: N3TWORK Executive Producer Ethan Levy, Play Ventures Principal Anton Backman, and Savage Games Studios CEO himself, Mr. Michail Katkoff.

Mar 9, 2022 • 56min
TWIG #173 Why gaming companies are really leaving Russia / Court rules that loot boxes are not a game of chance
HELP UKRAINIANS:
For refugees fleeing to Poland: Polish Humanitarian Action, the Polish Association for Legal Intervention for refugee rights, the Polish Center for International Aid. For medical assistance on the ground in Ukraine, Médecins Sans Frontières or the Ukrainian Red Cross.
News:
Backbone raises $40 million to bring console and PC games to mobile
'loot boxes' in computer games are not a game of chance
Links:
The Istanbul Event
Questions and Feedback
The Newsletter
The Slack Group
Hosts:
Mishka Katkoff, Eric Kress, Adam Telfer and Ethan Levy, Eric Seufert
Sponsors:
Google, ironSource, Appsflyer, PlayerWon

Mar 3, 2022 • 1h 2min
TWIG #172 How the War in Ukraine impacts Games Industry / Gabe Newell on the Metaverse / Playtika is for Sale
PLEASE HELP UKRAINIANS:
For refugees fleeing to Poland: Polish Humanitarian Action, the Polish Association for Legal Intervention for refugee rights, the Polish Center for International Aid. For medical assistance on the ground in Ukraine, Médecins Sans Frontières or the Ukrainian Red Cross.
News:
Games industry rallies behind Ukraine
Playtika Announces Exploration of Strategic Alternatives
Gabe Newell on the metaverse
Netflix Announced Plans to Acquire the Finnish Mobile Studio Next Games
Links:
The Istanbul Event
Questions and Feedback
The Newsletter
The Slack Group
Hosts:
Mishka Katkoff, Eric Kress, Adam Telfer and Ethan Levy, Eric Seufert
Sponsors:
Google, ironSource, Appsflyer, PlayerWon

Feb 28, 2022 • 1h 7min
Thetan Arena - the game that combines F2P and P2E
Free-to-Play and Play-to-Earn seem to be two contradicting business models. But what if you could make a game that takes the best of both worlds? A game with infinite upside while being scalable, never-ending, and generally fun to play. Enter Thetan Arena...
Links:
The Istanbul Event
Questions and Feedback
The Newsletter
The Slack Group
Hosts:
Mishka Katkoff, Ethan Levy, Javier Barnes
Sponsors:
ironSource, Appsflyer, PlayerWon,


