Deconstructor of Fun

In this episode I'm joined by Christian Calderon as we cover it all: 1) How to make a great hypercasual game 2) What were the implication of COVID on hypercasual games 3) Hybridcasual and how to make it work 4) Effects of IDFA depreciation 5) IDFV and rising appetite for M&A

Welcome to TWIG #103! This week we cover: #1. U.S. gaming platform Roblox prepares to go public #2. Among Us drives record Discord installs #3. Cyberpunk 2077 Publisher Orders 6-Day Weeks Ahead of Launch  You can reach us on Twitter at: Joseph Kim: @jokim1 (Twitter, Insta)    Eric Kress: @ekress     Guest Speakers: Kenny Liu: @kliuless Josh Burns, LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshmburns/

King's Head of Growth, Antoine Le Nel, and Head of Ad Monetization, Tom Mapham deconstruct company's three phases of growth and discuss key learning along the way. Topics covered: 1. How has King’s marketing evolved over the years? From the early days of numerous puzzle game launches to the Activision era with a focus on franchises. What have been the biggest wins and the most important learnings overt the years? 2. Top of the funnel vs. User Acquisition. King has done some massive brand campaigns over the years. What were the goals of these campaigns, why do they fit in King's strategy and how does King measure the impact of these top-of-the-funnel campaigns. Will King doing more of these in the future? 3. Performance marketing trends and long-term approach. King didn’t jump on the somewhat absurd performance marketing trends of last years such as shockvertaising and fake-playables that are integrated into the game. Why did King choose not to run after the trends? 4. How is King preparing for IDFA depreciation?   5. IDFV. King has a massive portfolio of puzzle games. It seems that IDFA depreciation and the importance of IDFV will be a big advantage for the company that has previously mastered cross-promotionö 6. Ad monetization. King held out from implementing ads for a long-time. It has now been few years that King’s games had ads in them. 

Welcome to TWIG #102! This week we cover: #1. Monday’s Hearing May Foreshadow Epic v. Apple Outcome #2. Blizzard cofounder Mike Morhaime launches new gaming endeavor Dreamhaven #3. PlayCo raises $100M at $1B Valuation for Instant Games #4. Luna, Amazon’s new Streaming Service Do you have feedback or comments for us? You can reach us on Twitter at: Joseph Kim: @jokim1 (Twitter, Insta)   Eric Kress: @ekress    Adam Telfer: @adamwtelfer    Miska Katkoff: @m_katkoff Guest Speaker: David Hoppe, Partner from Gamma Law: https://gammalaw.com/

Welcome to TWIG #101! This week we cover: #1. 'Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile' Seemingly Leaked in Activision Job Post #2. Stillfront Group acquires Nanobit and expands the portfolio with narrative and lifestyle games #3. Welcoming the Talented Teams and Beloved Game Franchises of Bethesda to Xbox - Xbox Wire  #4. Eric Talks: Sony vs. Microsoft next-gen strategy Do you have feedback or comments for us? You can reach us on Twitter at: Joseph Kim: @jokim1 (Twitter, Insta)   Eric Kress: @ekress    Adam Telfer: @adamwtelfer    Miska Katkoff: @m_katkoff

Today we are going to be discussing Unity’s IPO. I think we all know Unity’s business as a cross-platform game development engine… but in particular, we will discuss: #1. Current business and sources of revenue #2. Growth prospects #3. Key risks #4. Competition #5. Valuation And with us today to speak to all of these issues and more are (Twitter): Jason Chapman from Konvoy Ventures (@konvoyventures) Aaron Bush from The Motley Fool and Master the Meta Newsletter (@aaronbush100) Matthew Kanterman from Bloomberg Intelligence (@theKantoarbot) Host: Joe Kim from LILA Games (@jokim1) LINKS: Unity Files for IPO (Konvoy Ventures) Analyzing First Game Engine IPO (Master the Meta)

Did you know that nearly half of players say that genre is important when deciding which new mobile game to try, exceeding factors like friends or family recommendations and app store reviews?  This insight ☝️ is just one of numerous you'll find in Facebook's recent Genre and Great Games report. It's a fantastic deep dive into four key mobile genres (Strategy, RPG, Puzzle and Hypercasuas) focusing on four key countries (US, UK, Japan, Korea), What makes the report unique is not only all the Facebook data but also the way it is structured based on genre characteristics, community, IAP preferences and ad monetization. In this episode we are joined by Kyle Ranally, Vertical Insights Marketing Strategist at Facebook IQ and Joel Julkunen, Head of Game analysis at Game Refinery. Both of the gentlemen we instrumental in crafting up the Genre and Great Games report. Get the Full Report here: www.fb.gg/genre2020

Welcome to our 100th episode retrospective episode! In this podcast, we will look back on the origins of TWIG, talk about lessons learned, biggest news, future, and finally what are some of the best episodes you should definitely try to catch. Hosts: Twitter, Insta Miska Katkoff: @m_katkoff Joseph Kim: @jokim1   Eric Kress: @ekress     Adam Telfer: @adamwtelfer    

Today we discuss how to do writing for games the right way! And speaking with us on this topic is one of the most experienced writers in the industry Susan O'Connor. Susan has worked on over 25 titles, from AAA to indie. Titles in her portfolio have sold over 30 million copies and generated over $500 million in sales. Listen to find out more about the opportunity for writing in games, the process, key considerations, how to work with and hire a writer, how to write great characters, and more! Find out more about Susan here: https://www.susanoconnorwriter.com/ Host: Joseph Kim, @jokim1 Guest: Susan O'Connor

Mid-core game marketing is know for either massive marketing campaigns that flood the market or those incredibly divisive creatives that have usually nothing to do with the game itself. Either way, scaling a mid-core game is an expensive undertaking. So how should you launch and scale if you have a great game but limited resources and no brand recognition?  In this episode we're joined by Riku Rakkola (CEO of Traplight Games) and Filippo De Rose (Chief Growth Officer of Traplight Games) who walk us through how they developed, launched and scaled Battle Legion. One of the most innovative mid-core games to hit the market in recent years.