GameMakers

Excerpt from GameMakers full interview: Pixels & Profits #1. Watch the full discussion here: https://youtu.be/2G539NGHfVI SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ 😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! — • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1 • TWITTER → @jokim1 • LINKEDIN → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/ — POPULAR CONTENT — 🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies https://youtu.be/bkd2TOpKt4I 🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021 https://youtu.be/NejFzHtpiZI 🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming https://youtu.be/_QT7O3Wxi2s 🔴 Games Industry M&A https://youtu.be/65nyPk6WNrs 🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games https://youtu.be/tHq3PzmjhLw 🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact https://youtu.be/Ojec4wGKpso 🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score https://youtu.be/5egTSQ6AiRA 🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices https://youtu.be/tmzqqnYbjNY

Like the rest of the world, the games industry has undergone many changes! The impact of the end of ZIRP, global macro trends, and the end of the age of excess leads to many changes. We discuss where we are today, the M&A outlook, and the outlook for major public game companies. M&A discussion - Scopely/Savvy - Rovio/SEGA - Activision/Microsoft Public Companies: - AI + @NVIDIA (NVDA) - Embracer (EMBRAC-B) - Ubisoft (UBSFF) - Take Two (TTWO) - EA (EA) - Unity (U) - Applovin (APP) OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro 3:19 Where are we as a games industry? 7:20 Are games recession-proof? 8:53 JK take on rise of Asia, age of efficiency 13:48 State of M&A 23:06 Rovio + @SEGA 29:08 Scopely + Savvy 32:32 Outlook on Activision acquisition by Microsoft 37:33 AI x Nvidia 47:35 Large vector to small vector game development 50:59 Embracer 52:50 Speculation on lost $2B deal by Embracer 54:50 Ubisoft 59:43 Take-Two 1:06:49 Unity 1:13:25EA 1:16:48 Applovin 👇 EPISODE LINKS: - Matthew Kanterman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-k... - Joseph Kim: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/ - Brian Peganoff: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-peg... 😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! — • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1 • TWITTER → @jokim1 • LINKEDIN → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/

Let's be real. Everyone is blaming IDFA! Listen to the top 3 reasons why any game failed over the past 6 months; it's always IDFA. How real is this? There is a narrative today that IDFA deprecation has destroyed mobile marketing growth and made new game launches dramatically more difficult to even impossible. The counter-narrative more often whispered in private conversations, is that the scapegoating of IDFA is false. Bad games, bad forecasts, and fundamental team problems are more to blame than IDFA. What's the truth? Find out now by tuning into this podcast! OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro 1:05 The real impact of IDFA deprecation 8:47 Approaches to solving IDFA deprecation 16:18 Quantifying impact of IDFA deprecation by genre 21:48 Aren't we just all back to normal? 25:08 Has IDFA deprecation driven M&A activity? 29:08 Impact on UA teams from IDFA deprecation: big losses 36:13 Apple iOS vs. Google Play for UA 39:15 Operational changes to UA 41:01 The biggest future trends to watch for 👇 EPISODE LINKS: - Eran Friedman, CTO at Singular: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eranfried... - Levi Matkins, CEO at LifeStreet: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lmatkins/ - Warren Woodward, CGO at Upptic: https://www.linkedin.com/in/warrendwo... SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ 😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! — • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1 • TWITTER → @jokim1 • LINKEDIN → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/ — POPULAR CONTENT — 🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney    • Economy of the Me...   ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies    • Building the Amaz...   🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021    • Mobile Gaming Tre...   🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming    • Future of PC Gami...   🔴 Games Industry M&A    • Games Industry M&...   🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games    • Netcode for Multi...   🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact    • Apple IDFA Deprec...   🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score    • Trip Hawkins | Th...   🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices    • LiveOps - F2P Sal...  Chapters

Sarah Thomson is a long-time games industry veteran, having had an extremely successful career in business development at companies like IUGO, Gree, Sony (PlayStation), Google, and most recently at Bad Robot Games. We discuss her experience and thoughts on female diversity in the gaming industry. Get ready for a real discussion where we try to address topics more meaningfully. OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro 1:30 How should women be treated in the workplace, if differently from men? 6:45 JK's experience with diversity in India 9:41 Male-to-male vs. male-to-female engagement 14:50 Importance of being open on both sides | Focus on intent, understand emotions 27:30 How to give feedback when bias occurs? 31:17 Risks of giving feedback and retaliation? 36:50 Why is the games industry so male-dominated? 41:14 Benefits of different perspectives and female diversity 48:45 How to encourage diversity? 53:23 Diversity in startups vs. large organizations | Is JK copping out on diversity? 59:37 Is diversity vs. efficiency a false trade-off? The impact of macroeconomy on diversity 1:05:36 Contacting Sarah/final message from Sarah 👇 EPISODE LINKS: • Sarah Thomson LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahthomson/ • Iron Galaxy Studios: https://irongalaxystudios.com/ • Bad Robot Games: https://www.badrobotgames.com/ SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio 😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! — • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1 • TWITTER → @jokim1 • LINKEDIN → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/ — POPULAR CONTENT — 🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies https://youtu.be/bkd2TOpKt4I 🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021 https://youtu.be/NejFzHtpiZI 🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming https://youtu.be/_QT7O3Wxi2s 🔴 Games Industry M&A https://youtu.be/65nyPk6WNrs 🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games https://youtu.be/tHq3PzmjhLw 🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact https://youtu.be/Ojec4wGKpso 🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score https://youtu.be/5egTSQ6AiRA 🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices https://youtu.be/tmzqqnYbjNY

I'm back after a few months. Here are some recent thoughts on dealing with adversity that has come up this year. I really thought 2023 was gonna be easy! Lol. FORTUNATELY, I'm still struggling with challenges which is making me a better person. As my wife recently told me: "Don't focus on what we can't do or can't have, let's focus on what we can do." LFG everybody. Hope you're all killing it!

Mayur Bhimjiyani is the CEO and co-founder of Hypernova, an India-based F2P games studio building a GTA-like game focusing on the Indian market. Mayur speaks about his background, the history behind Hypernova, and why they are building Mayanagari, a game Mayur hopes to become as successful as GTA. OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro 1:02 Why do so many Indian game devs call Hypernova the most exciting game studio in India? 4:45 Why build Mayanagari - the GTA for India? 16:33 The history behind Hypernova 22:07 Mayanagari stage and launch plans 26:10 Mayanagari monetization model 33:30 The evolution of the India games industry- RPGs 35:38 New game dev vs. liveops in India (Zynga vs. Hypernova) 40:07 Positive areas and areas of improvement for new game dev in India 44:30 What do you look forward to from India game dev market? 45:20 How to contact Mayur or find out more about Mayanagari?

OUTLINE: 0:00 Sequoia Capital India introduction 0:49 Intro to Shailesh Lakhani and Prachi Pawar 3:29 Type of investments and founders they seek 4:36 Surge pre-Series A program 5:30 Specific opportunities and trends in India 9:04 Gaming opportunity in India 13:51 Specific gaming investment opportunities they seek 14:59 Why did Sequoia India invest in Lila Games? 16:30 Current investment environment, macro factors 19:19 Advice to founders based on current trends 21:10 Outlook on Web3 22:51 Advice to founders who would pitch Sequoia India SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube:    / gamemakersstudio   👇 EPISODE LINKS: - Sequoia Capital India Website: https://www.sequoiacap.com/india/ - Shailesh Lakhani: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shailesh-... - Prachi Pawar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prachi-pa...

OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro  0:33 The "brutal" game dev environment   2:11 Current market environment vs. before  3:50 More about Funcraft and the business situation  8:15 Funcraft's biggest challenge  9:40 How do you determine what game to make?  11:52 Biggest lessons and challenges of startups vs. big companies to achieve success  14:54 Challenge of new game dev from big companies  17:20 Lessons for mobile gaming startups in current market environment  19:50 Focus vs. "don't bet the farm"  22:12 Keep going or do you tap out? When to pivot or quit?  26:55 The benefit of just being alive  28:20 Current primary challenges  31:45 Thoughts around selling your company   34:10 Advice to new entrepreneurs in F2P gaming  36:30 Thoughts on current marketing challenges  39:40 Future trends and opportunities  41:50 Final thoughts on state of market and overall market outlook  43:05 How to reach Michael 👇 EPISODE LINKS: - Michael Martinez, CEO of Funcraft: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinezmichaelj/ - FunCraft: https://www.funcraft.com/ SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio

OUTLINE: 0:00 Bloomberg article on stack ranking at Blizzard 1:01 Introduct to speakers: Matthew Kanterman, Drew Levin, and Brett Nowak 1:48 High level thoughts on stack ranking as a practice 5:33 Stack ranking poll results - Majority are against 7:30 JK hypothetical situations to use stack ranking 25:40 Character vs. cruelty in stack ranking during recruiting 36:30 Management rationale behind stack ranking 39:27 Should the Blizzard manager have been fired? 47:10 Stack ranking ties to capability of management layer 50:45 Stack ranking for performance evaluation 1:07:10 Why employees should get close to company value creation to avoid layoffs 1:08:40 JK's crazy stack ranking performance evaluation idea - investing virtual $ in co-workers 1:26:40 Final thoughts on getting canceled 👇 EPISODE LINKS: - Matthew's reference to The Office Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wqQXu13tLA - Matthew Kanterman, Director of Research at Roundhill Investments: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-kanterman-cfa-b6345133/ - Drew Levin, Director of Product at Riot Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drew-levin-7a225626/ - Brett Nowak, CEO at Liquid & Grit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-nowak-8920675/ SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio 😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! — • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1 • TWITTER → @jokim1 • LINKEDIN → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/ — POPULAR CONTENT — 🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies https://youtu.be/bkd2TOpKt4I 🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021 https://youtu.be/NejFzHtpiZI 🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming https://youtu.be/_QT7O3Wxi2s 🔴 Games Industry M&A https://youtu.be/65nyPk6WNrs 🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games https://youtu.be/tHq3PzmjhLw 🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact https://youtu.be/Ojec4wGKpso 🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score https://youtu.be/5egTSQ6AiRA 🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices https://youtu.be/tmzqqnYbjNY

OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro  0:50 Jordan Phang self intro  1:35 Mobile shooter game market size  2:53 Competitive concentration in mobile shooter and Asia  4:25 Success in China  5:40 US market and games to watch out for  6:50 Adapting games for specific markets like Japan and China  8:25 Naavik's shooter taxonomy and problems with classification  12:52 Explanation of extraction shooter sub-genre  14:15 Current extraction shooter games: Lost Light, Arena Breakout  15:22 The thesis behind extraction shooter as the next big subgenre in mobile shooters  17:18 Monetization of shooter games  21:50 The future mobile shooter games to watch out for  23:38 Warzone Mobile  24:38 Players looking for something new  27:00 Problems with Apex Legends Mobile (we recorded this in Jan 2023, before the shutdown announcement)  28:15 Outlook for 2023: Get excited! 👇 EPISODE LINKS: - Get the free Naavik Pro report on Mobile Shooters here: https://naavik.co/deep-dives/genre-report-shooter-preview?rq=mobile%20shooters - Jordan Phang: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-phang-8137b710/