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PODCAST

Naavik Gaming Podcast

The Naavik Gaming Podcast is a business-focused exploration of the companies, trends, strategies and leaders that are defining the future of games. To learn more and see other great content visit www.naavik.co.

business video games

All Episodes

48:50

Paying players to play

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2024/05/07

In the dynamic landscape of gaming, the fusion of cutting-edge financial technology and innovative incentives is shaping a new era of player acquisition and engagement. Host Devin Becker leads an insightful discussion with Ben Cousens, Chief Strategy Officer of ZBD, and Paul West, Founder of Fumb Games, on the transformative power of Bitcoin rewards in gaming. Delving into Fumb's utilization of ZBD technology, they both unveil how this synergy propels gaming retention and LTV through

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60:25

The New Business of Narrative

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2024/05/03

A new era of game developer has arrived to shake up narrative game making. In this episode, host Alexandra Takei, Director at Ruckus Games, welcomes Emily Pitcher, founder of Sondering, and Karla Reyes, founder of Anima Interactive, two Forbes 30 under 30 game developers focused on narrative innovation and socially conscious storytelling. The discussion delves into the evolution of narrative in games, innovative storytelling mechanics, the importance of representation, and finally, the

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60:44

Nyan Heroes: Cats, Mechs & Esports in Web3

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2024/04/30

Nyan Heroes is a team-based hero shooter featuring small cats piloting giant mechs. The studio was founded in Singapore in 2021 and is staffed by industry veterans from hit franchises like Marvel’s Avengers, Destiny, and Halo. Combining web3 and web2 elements, the game aspires to competitive gameplay and has already secured partnerships with top names in the esports space. The game also has garnered impressive reviews and early stats. Nyan Heroes is a top 5 most wishlisted game on the Epic

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57:11

From Scrappy to Success: Strategies for Gaming Founders

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2024/04/26

What does it take to stand out and succeed as a games industry entrepreneur these days? And how should smart venture capitalists best identify and work with these best founders? To help answer these questions, host Aaron Bush is joined by David Kaye, serial entrepreneur and general partner of F4 Fund. We discuss why David believes 99% of games studios aren’t fit for venture capital and what makes that top 1% so special. We also cover how early-stage teams, especially in a post-cheap money

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62:26

Fortnite Creative Origins

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2024/04/23

Epic Games paid $320 million to over 25,000 creators in the last 12 months and during that time saw UGC content capture a whopping 35% of total Fortnite engagement. That means there are over 1 million players engaging in UGC content on Fortnite during peak hours. With other top franchises like GTA and The Sims currently working to build out their own UGC platforms in time for planned launches in the next couple years, it’s the perfect time to look back at how and why the biggest video game

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59:07

TikTok: Gaming’s New Discovery Platform

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2024/04/19

TikTok is undeniably changing the game for game developers and creating a new marketing and distribution playbook across mobile, console, and PC. In this discussion, Alexandra Takei, Director at Ruckus Games, speaks with Assaf Sagy, Head of Global Gaming at TikTok, and Rema Vasan, Head of Global Gaming Marketing at TikTok, about the impact TikTok has on consumer behavior. We discuss why TikTok has set up a vertically integrated business focusing solely on gaming, and our discussion covers

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35:01

Tactical Advice for Building Healthy Player...

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2024/04/16

In the ever-evolving world of gaming, understanding and managing player interactions through technology is becoming increasingly critical. Host Devin Becker sits down with Solomon-Ruiz Lichter, Senior Director of Global Gaming at CleverTap, to delve into segmenting players, crafting personalized offers, and fostering a more engaging gaming environment. We explore the importance of live ops in maintaining a dynamic relationship with players and discuss the future of this practice,

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70:50

The Bleeding Edge: Building Games on Discord,...

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2024/04/12

There’s no shortage of conversation around how new technologies are changing the way games are made, but that technological change doesn’t end there. New platforms are also contending for player attention, and where and how games are distributed is all destined to evolve, likely in bigger ways than most people think. We all know about Roblox and UEFN, but what about Discord, ChatGPT, and whatever new AI-focused consumer platforms may emerge? Could other large social and messaging platforms

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56:36

Guild of Guardians on Immutable + Web3 Pulsecheck

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2024/04/02

Guild of Guardians, Immutable’s second major game after Gods Unchained, is one of the most anticipated web3 games of 2024. The game recently pivoted from a real-time RPG to an auto-battler, and is set for a May 15th global release. Guild of Guardians is one of the first games on Immutable’s new ZK-EVM blockchain, which Naavik covered in the January 24, 2024 episode of the podcast with Immutable founder, Robbie Ferguson. In the second half of the episode your host, Niko Vuori, and Naavik’s

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60:30

GDC Vibes / data.ai x Sensor Tower / Epic...

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2024/03/29

In this week's Roundtable, the squad takes a deep dive into the unique atmosphere of this year's Game Developers Conference (GDC), marked by a spirit of camaraderie and innovation amidst widespread industry layoffs. We then pivot to discuss the monumental acquisition of data.ai by Sensor Tower, setting the stage for what could become the definitive source of mobile app data. The conversation heats up as we explore Epic Games' showcase of Unreal Engine, UEFN, and the bombshell announcement

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63:43

Century Games: How a Top 20 Mobile Publisher Found...

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2024/03/26

Finding success on Roblox can be very challenging. There are over 20 million experiences created every year, and the play patterns are quite different from their more traditional mobile and console counterparts. That’s why UGC games analyst, David Taylor, sat down with Xiang Shen, the CTO of Century Games, a top 20 mobile publisher and the creators for the recent breakout hit Whiteout Survival, which drew in $500 million in in-app purchases over the past year according to recent

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59:29

P2E is Dead? Long Live P2E! With Pixels.xyz

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2024/03/19

After the meteoric rise - and equally meteoric fall - of Axie Infinity, the term “Play-to-Earn” lost much of its cachet, and web3 developers avoided the term throughout the 2022-23 crypto winter. Adjacent concepts such as “Play-and-Earn” or “Play-to-Own” proliferated instead while developers and investors largely ignored the genre, and P2E was effectively declared dead.But not all developers felt this way. Through the crypto winter, Pixels.xyz continued to believe in their thesis, that if

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47:09

A Mario Movie Sequel / Activision's New Union /...

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2024/03/15

In this week's Roundtable, the squad dives into the exciting news of a greenlit sequel to the Super Mario Brothers movie, with production once again helmed by Illumination. We speculate on the potential for spinoffs and the broader implications for video game adaptations. The conversation then shifts to Microsoft's landmark recognition of Activision Blizzard's 600-person union, which focuses on quality assurance employees, sparking a debate on whether this will pave the way for more unions

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59:03

The Past, Present, & Future of Live Service Games

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2024/03/13

RallyHere builds on the back of years of experience in Live Service, before the term was even coined, as Hi-Rez Studios under the leadership of CEO Stewart Chisam. RallyHere bottles this expertise into a toolset that can provide a huge edge for teams that want to leverage the power of live services in games. Hi-Rez Studios is behind many popular and long running live service games like Smite, Paladins, Tribes: Ascend, Rogue Company, Realm Royale. Not only is the expertise of Hi-Rez baked

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56:38

Esports Infrastructure, by the Numbers

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2024/03/12

GRID has seen the value of data in esports since 2018 thanks to Founder and CEO Moritz Maurer's direct experience in the scene. Working directly with game developers, GRID is able to surface unmatched competitive game data from some of the biggest games like League of Legends, DotA 2, Valorant, PUBG, and Rainbow 6: Siege. GRID is leveling up the understanding of competitive player and match data for players, teams, esports organizations, and even the game developers themselves. With its

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54:09

Neopets: A New Frontier

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2024/03/10

Neopets has always been a metaverse, says Dominic Law, CEO of The World of Neopia. If you were born prior to the 2000s, you’ll remember how much Neopets took the internet world by storm. By 2011, Neopets had 35M unique users, amassed 1 trillion page views, and was responsible for compelling an entire generation of children to internet proficiency and adoption. Not only that, but Neopets was free to play (before free to play), UGC (before UGC), web3-esque (before the blockchain), and a

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62:46

Emulator Armageddon / Netflix Ports / Private Equity...

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2024/03/08

In this week's Roundtable, the squad unpacks the seismic impact of Nintendo's legal victory, securing a $2.4M settlement against the Switch emulator Yuzu, a move that has dramatically reshaped the emulation landscape. We then pivot to Netflix's strategic foray into gaming, spotlighting its latest coup in bringing the critically acclaimed indie darling Hades to mobile platforms, signaling a deeper commitment to integrating premium gaming into its ecosystem. The conversation shifts to the

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42:22

Web3 Mech Combat with MetalCore

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2024/03/05

Studio369 is preparing to launch MetalCore, an open world player-versus-player mech combat game that combines the engagement of high-quality traditional gaming with true asset ownership via web3.It has been in the works for about three years, with the game expected to hit a closed beta by the end of March and an open beta test by May 2024. It’s being built by a team of experienced developers familiar with the mech combat genre from LucasFilm, Disney, and Activision, among others.In this

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62:24

How to Succeed in MENA (with Sandsoft Games)

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2024/03/03

The games industry can no longer ignore the MENA region, encompassing markets like Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, and more. With approximately 800 million people, a young and growing audience of gamers, expanding wealth, rising ARPUs, and emerging talent, it’s abundantly clear that MENA will be much more important to the games industry’s future than it was in the past.To tell us more about what’s going on here, host Aaron Bush sat down with David Fernandez, CEO of Sandsoft Games. We dig

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65:51

Age of Empires Mobile / Balatro’s Success / Sony...

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2024/03/01

In this week's Roundtable, the squad dives into the recent announcement of Age of Empires Mobile, sparking debates on whether it will meet the high expectations of its loyal fanbase or simply blend into the crowded market of 4x strategy games. We then shift gears to discuss the surprising success of Balatro, a poker roguelike game from a solo developer that turned profitable within just an hour of its release, highlighting the trend of unexpected hits in the gaming industry this year. The

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413 results

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