Deconstructor of Fun

Welcome to TWIG #86!  This week we cover: #1. Why Zynga bought Peak Games #2. Glu Announces Pricing of Public Offering of Common Stock #3. Game and UA Teams That Work Together, Grow Together Hosts this Week: Today we are joined by guest host Nebo Radovic from N3twork: Nebo Radovic: @eniac (Twitter) 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

Join us for potentially the MOST IN DEPTH AND TACTICAL discussion on optimizing ad creatives for mobile marketing published ever in the world!  Joining us for that discussion is the former Head of UA for Superscale: Matej Lancaric.  Matej was with Superscale at the time of the recording, but now independent.  Matej talks to us today discussing how to develop a framework for managing Ad Creatives.  Creatives have now become the #1 lever to drive profitable ad spend.   MATEJ CONTACT: https://lancaric.me/  Superscale has helped many games studios profitably spend millions of dollars in user acquisition. Clients include Electronic Arts, FingerSoft (Hill Race Climbing), Supercell's Frogmind, and many others. Speakers: Joe Kim: @jokim1, Twitter/Insta Matej Lancaric: @matejlancaric, Twitter

Welcome to TWIG #84! This week we cover: #1. Twitch gets a new channel for news, exclusives, and more (The Verge) #2. Sony Confirms PS5 Event for June 4 (Gamespot) #3. Mark van Ryswyk On Why The Pandemic Is A Unique Moment To Reach New Consumers (Alist Daily) #4. Interview: Why Scopely and PierPlay spent three years perfecting Scrabble GO (Pocketgamer) Today we are joined by guest host Josh Burns from http://www.digitaldevconnect.com/ 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_katkof

The focus of our conversation today will be about how to think about user acquisition during times of crisis or more generally under situations of sudden change. When a change happens e.g., Real money gaming impacting social gaming, recession, a new game mode like Autochess cannibalizes other strategy games or game modes... What do you do? Just wait for data? How can we think about a framework or systematized way of thinking to navigate and optimize UA spend? Find out in our conversations with our hosts: Joe Kim: @jokim1 (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/ (LinkedIn) Matej Lancaric: @matejlancaric (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/in/matejlancaric/ (LinkedIn) Jon Lau: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-y-lau/ (LinkedIn) For the video version of this discussion pls check out the GameMakers YouTube channel, and you can find the video HERE.

Creatives are the talk of 2020, everyone claiming they are the last lever. But, what does that actually mean for a studio today? What do they need to do? What does the future studio look like? How does the UA teamwork with the creative team and the developer team? How can studios maximise the impact of creatives and identify the biggest opportunities? Lots of questions. But luckily, Steven Chard, CEO of Luna Labs is here to answer them. visit: www.lunalabs.uk www.appsflyer.com/customers/kabam-offline-campaign-QR-code/

Welcome to TWIG #83! This week we cover: #1. Ubisoft Sues Apple and Google Over Mobile Rainbow Six Siege Clone (IGN) #2. Ubisoft announces Ubisoft Forward on July 12 (GamesIndustry.biz) #3. Crucible is Amazon’s attempt at a shooter League of Legends (Polygon) 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

In gaming, sandbox creator platforms to become the next ROBLOX have been the talk of investors over the past few years. The latest entry into the space is Manticore with their CORE platform led by ex-Zynga executives Frederic Descamps (CEO) and Jordan Maynard (CCO).   How will Manticore's CORE platform compete against ROBLOX? Who are they targeting? How will developers on CORE make money?   To get a better understanding of the offering and the big future opportunity they are chasing we spoke to Frederic and Jordan about: 1. Product Vision 2. Target Audience 3. Business Model 4. Key Challenges 5. Future Roadmap   HOSTS (Twitter):  - Joe Kim, @jokim1 - Adam Telfer, @adamwtelfer GUESTS:     - Frederic Descamps, Manticore - Jordan Maynard, Manticore CORE Related Links:   Manticore website Download CORE Developer Demo (with Frederic and Jordan) Core CPO Arash Nia on Road Ahead

Welcome to TWIG #82! This week we cover: #1. 10 LEARNINGS FROM 10 YEARS (Supercell Blog) #2. Game of War developer Machine Zone acquired by AppLovin (gamesindustry.biz) #3. Valorant and Twitch build symbiotic relationship of success (Venture Beat) #4. Ubisoft says 11 games sold over 10 million copies each in PS4/Xbox One era (Venture Beat) KEY LINKS: Joe Kim's AppLovin post: I am AppLovin! Behind the company acquiring MZ 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

Welcome to TWIG #81! This week we cover: #1. Cloud Gaming: Why It Matters And The Games It Will Create #2. Fortnite’s “Party Royale” mode ditches the guns, asks players to “chill” #3. 10 Years of Excellence - Deconstruction of Supercell #4. Design + Behavioral Economics = Apple 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

We're joined by Joe Schaeppi who is the CEO of 12trait. 12traits is a different kind of tool to understand your players. It doesn't look that much at what they did. Instead 12traits focuses on understanding the players through deep psychological insights. Why is understanding your players more intimately important? Well, it allows you to create experiences which optimize for healthy long-term engagement that in turn drives the LTV. After all, our players’s best interest is your company's best interest.