

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 @mkatkoff www.linkedin.com/in/michailkatkoff/
Eric Kress @ekress
www.linkedin.com/in/erickress/
Laura Taranto @laurataranto www.linkedin.com/in/laurataranto/
Phillip Black @econosopher www.linkedin.com/in/phillip-black-economist/
Jen Donahoe @Jen_Donahoe www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferdonahoe
Hosts:
Michail Katkoff @mkatkoff www.linkedin.com/in/michailkatkoff/
Eric Kress @ekress
www.linkedin.com/in/erickress/
Laura Taranto @laurataranto www.linkedin.com/in/laurataranto/
Phillip Black @econosopher www.linkedin.com/in/phillip-black-economist/
Jen Donahoe @Jen_Donahoe www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferdonahoe
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 27, 2019 • 44min
TWIG #45: Respawn CEO apologizes for devs & Sony Acquires Insomniac
In the latest TWIG we discuss:
Apple Arcade: $4.99 per month is likely for family access to 100 games
Respawn CEO apologizes for devs who insulted Apex Legends fans
GameStop lays off 120, 14% of total staff
Sony Agrees to Acquire Spider-Man Video-Game Developer Insomniac
Hit us up on Twitter (@@jokim1, @adamwtelfer, & @ekress) to let us know, which news topics you want us to talk about next or more in-depth. Or to just let us know how we can improve.
Also, hit the subscribe button to get notified when we deconstruct the latest news in games.
Shout-out to Ironsource for sponsoring GPM Forum in Vancouver! https://gpmforum-vancouver.splashthat.com/
Montreal up next!
Also, be sure to check out JK's GameMakers YouTube channel! https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio

Aug 26, 2019 • 1h 46min
#13 Super Scale With No Strings Attached with Ivan Trancik
Welcome to the final episode of our Mobile Publisher Series. In each of the episode we sat down with the CEO of top mobile publisher and discussed how they approach publishing, what is their company’s strategy, how do they work with developers and how do they see the future of publishing on mobile.
In case you missed the previous episode:
Mobile Publishing #1: Deconstructing Scopely's path to $1B with Scopely’s Javier Ferreira (Co-CEO)
Mobile Publishing #2: Behind Tilting Point's $132M War Chest with President Samir El Agili
Mobile Publishing #3: Former Publishing CEO Spills the Beans with Klaas Kersting
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Shout out to our awesome partners:
AppAnnie
Play Ventures
ironSource
GameRefinery

Aug 24, 2019 • 1h 2min
TWIG #44: Tencent doubling down on Season Pass, Ninja Jumps to Mixer!
In this episode of This Week in Games we discuss: #1. Tencent doubling down on Season Pass, #2. Ninja quickly getting 1M subs on Mixer, #3. Roblox Surpassing Minecraft with 100 MAU, #4. Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, require loot box disclosure, and #5. Apex Legends Forums Furious as Devs Call Players "Ass-Hats" and "Freeloaders"
Today we're joined by guest host, Josh Burns from Digital Dev Connect!
Hit us up on Twitter (@m_katkoff, @jokim1, @adamwtelfer, @ekress)!

Aug 18, 2019 • 1h 1min
#12 Former Publishing CEO Spills the Beans with Klaas Kersting
Welcome to the third episode of our Mobile Publisher Series. In each of the episode we sat down with the CEO of top mobile publisher and discussed how they approach publishing, what is their company’s strategy, how do they work with developers and how do they see the future of publishing on mobile.
In case you missed the previous episode:
Mobile Publishing #1: Deconstructing Scopely's path to $1B with Scopely’s Javier Ferreira (Co-CEO)
Mobile Publishing #2: Behind Tilting Point's $132M War Chest with President Samir El Agili
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Shout out to our awesome partners:
AppAnnie
Play Ventures
ironSource
GameRefinery

Aug 12, 2019 • 1h 13min
#11 Behind Tilting Point's $132M War Chest with President Samir El Agili
Welcome to the second episode of our Mobile Publisher Series. In each of the episode we sat down with the CEO of top mobile publisher and discussed how they approach publishing, what is their company’s strategy, how do they work with developers and how do they see the future of publishing on mobile.
If you missed our last episode with Scopley’s Co-CEO Javier Ferreira, I encourage you listen to it after this episode.
In this episode we had a pleasure to talk to Tilting Point’s President and CPO, Samir El Agili. We talked about the company’s unique progressive model to free-to-play games publishing, discussed how Tilting Point is organised, how Samir sees the future of mobile publishing and - shed some light on that massive $132M user acquisition war chest the company has been flashing around.
Shoutout to our awesome supporters:
AppAnnie
Play Ventures
ironSource
LevelUP a podcast series by ironSource
GameRefinery
Get in touch:
Contact Deconstructor of Fun

Aug 6, 2019 • 1h 22min
#10 Scopely's path to $1B with Co-CEO Javier Ferreira
Welcome to the first episode of our Mobile Publisher Series. In each of the episode we sat down with the CEO of top mobile publisher and discussed how they approach publishing, what is their company’s strategy, how do they work with developers and how do they see the future of publishing on mobile.
In this episode Scopely's Co-CEO, Javier Ferreira, dives deep into the company's product strategy, organisation and team structure as well as talks about the company's technology platform. We also discuss Scopley's mindset to launching new games and their attitude towards both original and IP-games.
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kudos to our Sponsors:
AppAnnie (www.appannie.com)
Play Ventures (www.playventures.vc)
Spotify (www.spotify.com)
GameRefinery (www.gamerefinery.com)

Aug 5, 2019 • 53min
TWIG #43: EA, Ubisoft, Zynga, and Glu Earnings Recap and Outlook!
This week "J Money" Kim, Eric Kress, and Jeff Cohen from Stephens break down the latest info from earnings calls from public companies EA, Ubisoft, Zynga, and Glu.
What happened? What did we learn? And what is the outlook for these companies?
You can also listen to Eric gloat about his call on Glu.
We'll be doing these podcasts quarterly after every earnings period.
Have feedback give us a shout on Twitter!

Jul 30, 2019 • 42min
TWIG #42: Disney Should Buy This Games Company...
In this episode of This Week In Games we discuss:
#1 What Video Game Company Should Disney Buy (That Isn’t Activision Blizzard)?
#2 Pokémon Masters hands-on
#3 Facebook migrating Instant Games away from Messenger
Hit us up on Twitter (@m_katkoff, @jokim1. @adamwtelfer & @ekress) to let us know, which news topics you want us to talk about next or more in-depth. Or to just let us know how we can improve.
Also, hit the subscribe button to get notified when we deconstruct the latest news in games

Jul 23, 2019 • 1h 1min
TWIG #41: Exploitative Game Publishing Deals and Tinder Bypasses Play Store!
In this episode of This Week In Games we discuss:
#1 Ubisoft reveals over 100 games for its Uplay+ subscription gaming service for September
#2 How to spot an exploitative mobile game publishing deal -- fro a former publishing CEO
#3 Tinder is now bypassing the Play Store on Android to avoid Google’s 30 percent cut
#4 PUBG Officially Becomes The World’s Most Popular And Highest Grossing Mobile Game
Hit us up on Twitter (@m_katkoff, @jokim1. @adamwtelfer & @ekress) to let us know, which news topics you want us to talk about next or more in-depth. Or to just let us know how we can improve.
Also, hit the subscribe button to get notified when we deconstruct the latest news in games

Jul 16, 2019 • 1h 7min
TWIG #40: Subscriptions Are The Future of App Monetisation
In this episode of This Week In Games we discuss:
#1 Subscriptions are the future of app monetization
#2 Mike Morhaime's highlights and lessons of nearly three decades at Blizzard
#3 Glu Mobile: Highly Likely To Beat Estimates For Q2 2019
#4 HQ Trivia Lays off ~20% as It Preps Subscriptions
Hit us up on Twitter (@m_katkoff, @jokim1. @adamwtelfer & @ekress) to let us know, which news topics you want us to talk about next or more in-depth. Or to just let us know how we can improve.
Also, hit the subscribe button to get notified when we deconstruct the latest news in games