Deconstructor of Fun

Welcome to TWIG #91! This week we cover: #1. Sony invests $250m in Fortnite’s Epic Games (Financial Times) #2. Why Tencent is looking to buy Warframe parent company Leyou (Venture Beat) #3. App Annie: Mobile gamers broke app store records in Q2 2020 (Venture Beat) #4. Everything we learned on Ubisoft Event (Kotaku) SHOW LINKS: As per the News updates, check out the incredibly handsome Joe Kim's blog post on Why Epic Games $18B valuation may actually be too low FEEDBACK?: 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 This episode is sponsored by Beta Hat (www.betahatMR.com)

Which one is better: acquiring a new user or getting a lapsed user to re-engage? Well, it depends. Most of us have been investing into getting new users while struggling at re-engaging our lapsed users. But our lack of success in re-engagement is likely more to do with how we go about it rather than the strategy of getting the lapsed players to return. In this episode we discuss re-engagment both at strategic and practical level with Ludia's Taylor Lundgren and two powerful Googlers: William Planques and Guy Saig.

Welcome to TWIG #90! This week we cover: #1. PUBG Mobile Doubles Lifetime Revenue to $3 Billion in Just Seven Months (Sensor Tower) #2. Apple Cancels Some Arcade Games in Strategy Shift To Keep Subscribers (Bloomberg) #3. Amazon and Google are in games for the wrong reasons (GamesIndustry.biz) SHOW LINKS: Game Changers is a webinar series featuring exceptional women in the gaming industry. Our goal is to create a platform for female leaders to share their expertise and to create a strong and caring support network for women in our industry. Isabel Ferreira, Stella Wang and Catalina Lou will join this Thursday, 9th July at 6pm BST to discuss and share their thoughts on Crossing the COVID-19 Bridge: Impact, Outlook and the Silver Lining. There is a sign up link here - https://lnkd.in/gWZqJ7M FEEDBACK?: 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 Note to Apple: All hosts do not necessarily share the same opinions! This episode is sponsored by Beta Hat (www.betahatMR.com)

We’re here today to talk about the kinds of online, live services technology that are required for multiplayer PVP games.    More specifically we will cover online services (accounts, matchmaking, player stats, and store) rather than the multiplayer networking side.  Speaking with us today is the founding team from Pragma.gg who have incredible backgrounds in online back-end services for massive PVP games like League of Legends and Eve Online.     Host: Joe Kim, @jokim1 (Twitter) Guests: Eden Chen, CEO: @edenchen (Twitter)     Chris Cobb, CTO  Nick Tittley, Co-Founder You can reach them by email as well: [first name]@pragma.gg    Topics covered:      What are the key issues/challenges to pay attention to for scaled PVP games like Riot’s League of Legends or CCP’s Eve Online or Epic’s Fortnite when it comes to online services.      What current tools exist and what are the biggest technical challenges tp solve?  Cross-platform considerations, challenges, and trends   Matchmaking challenges   Reputation and Behavior      Scaling challenges   This content originally aired on the GameMakers YouTube channel. You can watch the video there.

Welcome to TWIG #89! We are joined this episode by the legendary Emily Greer founder of Kongregate and her new game studio Double Loop. A must watch at GDC and one of the OGs of the F2P games industry. This week we cover: #1. Abuse in the industry isn't down to a few "bad apples" | Opinion #2. iOS 14: IDFA is not dead yet, but it’s definitely on life support #3. Former PlayStation Boss Says AAA Game Development Is Unsustainable #4. Nintendo Chills Mobile Ambitions After Animal Crossing Success #5. Pokémon Unite could open competitive gaming to a whole new audience 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’re going to be talking about 2 different perspectives on the future of performance marketing.    Positive View: The changes currently impacting UA will shift the role of a UA marketer but ultimately the changes will not be so dramatic and besides potentially adding some additional skills or shifting to be a bit more strategic and having leaner teams, and the changes will mean more of a shift rather than a fundamental change.   Negative View: The basic role of performance marketing and having a career as a UA marketer is basically dead. It won’t be the same and the role is fundamentally gone or will be nothing like what it is today.   And to provide our audience here with some context, I wrote a ggDigest newsletter and medium post titled “The Death of Performance Marketing: The Secret Interview”   In that post, I wrote about some of the big changes happening that will impact the UA marketing role. I interviewed both Matej who we have on here today as well as a confidential interviewee. We discussed both sides of the argument for what will happen to performance marketing based on the current and potentially even more upcoming changes Joining us today to talk about all of this and more (Twitter): Moderator:  Joe Kim (@jokim1) Speakers: Matej Lancaric (@matejlancaric) Filippo De Rose (@free2play_games)

Welcome to TWIG #88! This week we cover: #1. Microsoft is shutting down Mixer and partnering with Facebook Gaming #2. EA details game slate with 'Star Wars,' Switch news #3. Epic Games and Match Group join Spotify in protesting Apple’s App Store fees #4. Apple Rejects Facebook’s Gaming App, for at Least the Fifth Time #5. Epic Offering 750M at 17B Valuation 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

Huge changes are coming to the role of user acquisition (UA) and what it means to be a performance marketer in mobile.   #1. What are the big changes coming and the trends that are driving the changes?  #2. How big will brand marketing be in the future? Will it take over performance marketing?  #3. What new skills will performance marketers need to build to prepare for the future? Find out about these issues and more with: Joe Kim, DOF Host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/ Nebo Radovic: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nebojsaradovic/ Jon Lau: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-y-lau/ Matej Lancaric: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matejlancaric/

Welcome to TWIG #87! This week we cover: #1.; Call of Duty Publisher Wins First Amendment Trademark Suit Against Humvee Manufacturer (Gamma Law) #2. Selena Gomez Sues Mobile Game Company for $10M for Stealing Likeness (Gamma Law) #3. This is the PlayStation 5 (The Verge) #4. Valorant is Performing Below Expectations According to Twitch Stats (GameLife) #5. How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies (ggdigest.com) LINKS This week we are joined by guest David Hoppe of Gamma Law: http://gammalaw.com/ David Hoppe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbhoppe/ (LinkedIn) GAMEMAKERS BATTLE PASS EVENT THIS THURSDAY! Sign up here: https://gamestalk-allaboutbattlepass.splashthat.com/ Joakim Achren's Elite Game Developer's Podcast with Kristian Segerstrale https://elitegamedevelopers.com/egd-062-kristian-segerstrale-super-evil-megacorp/ 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

Despite lots of talk about the use of data science in game studios, surprisingly, there's a lot of misunderstandings about how data science is actually used and how best to utilize data scientists. Today we discuss the following with Andre Cohen who is Head of Data Science at our friends over at Tilting Point: #1. What is the role of data science within a games studio? #2. What are the primary applications data science is being used for? #3. What does a data science team look like in terms of structure and team size? #4. How to hire the data science team #5. Biggest mistakes made with data science teams #6. The future of data science in game studios Originally aired on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/nKFGU2w8gE4