Secret Stash

Frank Gibeau, the CEO of Zynga and a former leader at Electronic Arts, offers an optimistic outlook on the gaming industry. He shares insights on transforming company culture and the challenges of mobile gaming. Discussing lessons from his extensive career, he reflects on navigating failures like Shaq Fu and the potential of AI in gaming. Gibeau also highlights strategic shifts in revenue and the importance of direct player engagement, revealing his big industry secret at the end.

Owen Mahoney, former CEO of Nexon and VP at EA, offers a sharp critique of the gaming industry. He argues that fun should take precedence over flashy graphics, emphasizing a return to engaging gameplay. Mahoney discusses the staggering rise in game development costs and the risks they pose, along with the crucial balance between product and distribution. He also shares insights on his favorite M&A deals in gaming and outlines how to create enduring franchises beyond temporary blockbusters. His candid take is both refreshing and thought-provoking.

Most games would kill for a community like Plarium’s RAID: Shadow Legends - and the team behind Hellhades has a lot to do with that. What started out as a hobby YouTube channel, is now a massive community with more than 225,000 followers as well as the go-to website for RAID news, guides, and interactive tools. Recently, the Hellhades team decided to turn the world of game development. They founded the studio Fateless and in 10 quick weeks, raised $6M from their community. In this episode of Secret Stash, hosts Archie Stonehill and Justin Kan sit down with the Fateless team - Simon Lockerby, Sham Saleh, and Dan Francis - and discuss: 👉 The origins of HellHades and its growth into a massive community hub 👉 How a YouTube channel turned into a game studio with a $6M raise 👉 Strategies for building a passionate gaming community 👉 How direct-to-consumer is are reshaping communities Read the highlights here: https://dev.stash.gg/blog/secret-stash-ep-6-fateless

Justin Waldron, at just 19, co-founded Zynga and revolutionized social gaming with its record-breaking IPO. In this conversation, he shares behind-the-scenes stories about Zynga's origins and its innovative business model that helped it thrive. Waldron discusses the intricate dynamics of Zynga's relationship with Facebook and the factors contributing to the rise and fall of social gaming. He also explores the shift toward mobile gaming and the intriguing world of web3 gaming on platforms like Telegram.

Matthew Ball, a renowned thought leader on business and innovation in the entertainment and gaming industry, shares his insights on the metaverse. He clarifies that the metaverse goes beyond just VR and NFTs. The discussion covers streaming wars, particularly Hulu's struggles and winners like Amazon. Ball explains why major tech companies shied away from gaming investments and emphasizes the significance of interoperability in the metaverse's future. He also reflects on mobile gaming's challenges and the impact of tech giants like Apple and Google.

Dennis Fong has had an INSANE career. By age 19, not only had he earned the title as the world’s first esports champion and pro gamer, but also became CEO of a 100-person gaming media company. He's even had a League of Legends character named after him. Since then, he’s gone on to found four additional businesses, all of which have majorly impacted the gaming industry as we know it. (We stopped counting how many social gaming features he invented...). In this episode of Secret Stash, co-hosts Justin Kan and Archie Stonehill sit down with Dennis and walk through a very raw chronology of his career (and life) - from young esports champion in 1996 to five-time CEO in 2024.  Tune in for nostalgic stories from the early days of esports and how he got his start in entrepreneurship. Read the highlights here: dev.stash.gg/blog/secret-stash-ep-3-dennis-fong 0:00 - Intro 2:33 - Dennis’ start in esports 4:14 - The famous Wall Street Journal article 7:38 - Family reactions 9:05 - Winning a Ferrari  12:25 - The birth of esports 14:52 - Who’s Thresh? 15:39 - Esport rivalries  18:37 - Organic communities  22:20 - Fatality takes over 25:19 - Critical mechanics 28:05 - Struggles of a young founder 33:59 - Spinning out Lithium 39:10 - Xfire innovations 48:06 - Raptor 50:13 - GGWP and anti-toxicity 1:04:45 - Distribution 1:07:08 - RIP Avicii  Hit the Subscribe button wherever you listen to your podcasts!Stash is the first of its kind direct-to-consumer platform for games.Learn more about Stash here: https://dev.stash.gg/

Justin Kan and Robin Chan share their journey from meeting in 2007 to becoming co-founders of Goat Capital and Stash. They discuss team building, pivoting, and product excellence. The podcast dives into their unique dynamics, career paths, and anecdotes, revealing the secrets to successful entrepreneurship.

Welcome to Secret Stash, the podcast spilling all the industry's secrets! Meet your hosts: Justin Kan, co-founder of Stash and previously co-founder at TwitchArchie Stonehill, head of product at StashBefore you jump into the first episode, where we have an incredible first guest, we wanted to share a bit about who we are, why we decided to make this podcast, and what you can expect from us. So why are we calling this podcast Secret Stash? We want to give you, our listeners, access to really deep, almost private conversations, stories, and insights with some of the most brilliant minds in gaming and tech. We want you to feel like you’re in the room with us, talking about topics that really matter and conversations that are usually discussed behind closed doors. We’re going to dig into what people were thinking when they made certain decisions and what they really think now.We’re going to use Secret Stash to talk about everything related to Stash's mission - which is to give game developers more control. The way we see it, there have always been platforms getting in the middle of gamers and developers - first the consoles, then Steam, then the app stores. They control nearly everything a developer is allowed to do - from taking a 30% fee from IAPs, to limiting user tracking, etc. At Stash, we’re trying to build toward a future in which developers can be their own platforms for the first time - by delivering really great direct-to-consumer experiences. So on the podcast, we’ll talk about things like the driving forces behind major success stories, changing platform dynamics, new gaming tech, antitrust regulations, and more.No matter the episode, you’ll always come away having learned something new you can take back to your studio.See you in episode 1! Hit the Subscribe button wherever you listen to your podcasts! Stash is the first of its kind direct-to-consumer platform for games. Learn more about Stash here: https://dev.stash.gg/

Legendary investor Mitch Lasky shares insights on the importance of GTM in gaming, missed investment opportunities in Twitch, evolving game investments, designing altruistic monetization systems, and navigating the challenges of the AAA game business model.