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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

52:32

The Future of Hybridcasual

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2023/10/22

Hybridcasual is a buzzword of late, but what exactly does it mean, and where is it going? As hypercasual continues declining, many games teams are experimenting with either converting their existing hypercasual games to hybridcasual (by adding more casual features) or are building hybridcasual games from the ground up. It’s a rapidly shifting environment with many moving pieces.To help make sense of the evolution, Niek Tuerlings, lead game designer at Moonlit Games and long-time Naavik

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51:53

Microsoft’s Done Deal / Predicting Holiday Hits /...

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2023/10/20

In this week's Roundtable, the squad delves into Microsoft's completed acquisition of Activision Blizzard and speculates on the future landscape of gaming acquisitions. We then touch upon the continued trend of layoffs, this time spotlighting Frontier, and discuss when the tide may shift the other way. Lastly, as the holiday season approaches, we share our predictions on which games are likely to dominate the charts and become festive favorites. Join us for all the latest games business

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61:40

ESL FACEIT Group: Growing Beyond Play (Savvy Games...

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2023/10/15

In 2022, ESL Gaming and FACEIT merged to create one of esports’ most important companies: ESL FACEIT Group (EFG). This operating group, fully owned by Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games Group, manages esports tournaments (via ESL), gaming festivals (via Dreamhack), a platform for superior PvP play (via FACEIT), and gaming audience management tools (via Vindex, acquired this year).In this episode, we chat with EFG’s co-CEOs, Craig Levine and Niccolo Maisto, about how this company came together, how

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69:51

Riccitiello Resigns / Diablo IV On Steam / FC 24 Scores

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2023/10/13

In this week's Roundtable, the squad kicks things off by discussing the resignation of Unity's CEO John Riccitiello and the introduction of the company's new interim CEO. We then delve into the latest on our favorite Swedish aggregators, including Embracer's ongoing setbacks and MTG's acquisition of Warhammer Tacticus developer, Snowprint Studios. Next, we explore the strategy behind Diablo IV announcing its Season 2 launch on Steam and the revelation that Activision Blizzard titles will

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49:05

Driving ROI with Data Analysis – Part 2

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2023/10/12

Together with Dive, one of our Open Gaming Research Initiative partners, we’re exploring the topic of data and games through a limited podcast series called the “Data Corner”.Today’s episode is Part 2 of Driving ROI with Data Analysis. It’s a broad topic that many understand has a lot of value, but not so many know how to engineer it in their gaming studios.In Part 1, we talked about how game teams should think about setting up their data pipelines, data teams, processes and relationships

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64:17

Zynga Enters Web3 with Sugartown

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2023/10/11

On September 13th, Zynga minted its first NFT collection, the Oras, and announced its entry into the Web3 gaming space with Sugartown. There have not been many large, established developers who have taken the plunge into the Web3 waters, especially in the Western markets, and those that have tried to incorporate NFTs or other Web3 elements into their existing games (looking at you, Ubisoft and Ghost Recon Breakpoint) have met with significant player backlash. So to have a big player like

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77:22

How to Disrupt the Shooter Market

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2023/10/08

How red is the ocean of shooters and is there room for innovation in what most consider a wildly competitive and oversaturated space? Roby John, CEO and Co-Founder at Supergaming (a studio building an indo-futurism mobile battle royale called Indus, check out their beta here) and Nikolaj Nyholm, CEO and Co-Founder at Scattershot (a studio building a competitive PvP battle royale shooter called Project Athena) both believe there’s disruption yet to come. Your host Alexandra Takei, Director

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76:58

Monster Hunter Now Launch / Luda Raises For AI Sim /...

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2023/10/06

In this week's Roundtable, the squad starts with covering the successful mobile launch of Monster Hunter Now, giving Niantic another win in location-based gaming. Then we touch on Luda's recent $7M funding for its AI training sim, spotlighting real-time reinforcement training and UGC elements. That's followed up with a conversation around Activision/Blizzard's decision to shut down and revamp the Overwatch League. We also dive deep into the launch of CS:GO 2, its impressive crate opening

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58:00

How Candivore’s Match Masters Innovates in Match 3

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2023/10/01

We’ve all played match 3 games, but the genre itself has seen limited innovation in recent years. However, Candivore and its hit game Match Masters – which features PvP and new monetization mechanics – are changing the narrative. In this episode, we talk to Candivore’s co-founder and CEO Gal Goldstein about the multi-year journey in developing Match Masters, scaling up its success, and raising money (most recently in a ~$100M round led by Haveli). Gal also holds unique perspectives on

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73:47

AAA’s Future / Epic Layoffs / Winners, Losers &...

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2023/09/29

In this week's Roundtable, the squad starts off by reflecting on Unity’s business model changes and Jim Ryan’s retirement after a strong 30 year run at PlayStation. Then we discuss comments from both Xbox’s Phil Spencer and Capcom’s Haruhiro Tsujimoto that put into question AAA games’ pricing and the evolving role of publishers. We also touch on the breaking news of Epic Games’ major layoffs and divestments before digging into 2023’s biggest winners and losers so far. Lastly, we close with

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57:57

What Fully On-Chain Games Mean for Gamers & Developers

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2023/09/26

Amitt Mahajan, co-creator of cultural icon and Internet treasure Farmville, has been working at the intersection of gaming and technology for his entire career. Now, Amitt has set his sights on web3, and more specifically, building true fully on-chain “forever games” and the technical tools to power them, in order to facilitate autonomous worlds, ensure game longevity, and create a more immersive player experience. His company, Proof of Play, recently announced a $33 million seed round led

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60:12

India’s Blue Gaming Ocean

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2023/09/24

India’s gaming market is well known for its betting and gambling companies, including unicorns like Dream11 and Mobile Premier League, but what does the next decade of gaming behavior in India look like? Salone Sehgal, founder and GP of Lumikai, one of India’s first dedicated games and interactive media funds, and Abhaas Shah, co-founder of Studio Sirah, join us to talk about the size of India’s gaming market, their conviction in the untapped potential of Hindu and Indian lore and

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71:54

Unity Backpedals / Playtika Acquires / Next-Gen...

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2023/09/22

In this week's Roundtable, the squad shares some personal updates including a recap of Korea Blockchain Week, streetball with Fat Joe, and two new Naavik deep dives. Then we cover the latest in Unity's evolving monetization saga, including why the company got itself into this situation in the first place and why it’s (perhaps partially) backpedaling on its monetization policy announcements. We also cover Playtika’s acquisition of Innplay Labs, and dig into the court document leaks that

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59:35

Driving ROI with Data Analysis – Part 1

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2023/09/19

Together with Dive, one of Naavik's Open Gaming Research Initiative partners, we’re exploring the topic of data and games through a limited podcast series called the “Data Corner”.Today’s episode is about “Driving ROI with Data Analysis” — a broad topic that everyone understands is valuable but most don't know how to effectively engineer into their game studios. After all, ROI from data analysis goes beyond simply analyzing the data and also covers the entire activity funnel. For example,

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61:55

Overwolf: Building the All-In-One UGC Ecosystem

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2023/09/17

User generated content is a multi-decade wave that continues to grow and transform the games industry. One company pioneering this future is Overwolf, which is creating an all-in-one platform for creating, sharing, and monetizing in-game apps, mods, and game servers. As is laid out in the episode, Overwolf is looking to help creators earn billions of dollars over time by essentially enabling all game studios to build their own versions of UEFN for their games. It’s a big, exciting vision,

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73:03

Unity Sparks an Uproar / YouTube Instant Play /...

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2023/09/15

In this week's Roundtable, the squad discusses a wide range of fun topics. We start by digging into the potential sales of Jagex and Gearbox, YouTube’s new Playables feature for instant gaming, and Story Protocol's $54M raise for its unique web3 take on IP. Then we dive into the week's main headline: Unity’s major installs-based monetization addition, which is sparking a major backlash from game developers. Lastly, we wrap up by discussing takeaways from the Roblox Developers Conference,

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62:32

Surveying the Web3 Gaming Landscape

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2023/09/13

In 2011, Sean Ryan was hired to build out Facebook’s nascent gaming business just as Zynga and other social gaming start-ups were gaining traction on the platform. A decade later, Sean’s responsibilities eventually encompassed numerous other initiatives, including Facebook’s forays into blockchain. In this episode, Sean explains why he felt compelled to leave Facebook to start his own web3 gaming company, why he believes the notion of digital ownership is as big of a watershed moment as

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61:23

AI and Player Psychology

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2023/09/10

“Show me how you play, and then I’ll tell you who you are”, says Joe Schaeppi, CEO and Co-Founder of AI powered studio Solsten. Today, Joe, Alex, and Kishen Patel, the author of “The Infinite Power of Play” in collaboration with our partners at Lightspeed, talk about the use cases of AI in games (#1: Cost and Time Reduction, #2: New Genres of AI Powered Games), what it means to understand not only player behavior but the psychographics of your player demo, and where we actually are in any

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43:04

Starfield Launches / Actors Strike May Hit Games /...

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2023/09/08

In this week's Roundtable, the squad highlights data.ai’s new 2023 Gaming Spotlight Report (link below) and adds more details around PlayStation’s decision to raise subscription prices. Then we cover Starfield’s launch, including its impact on Game Pass and the viability of its windowing strategy, followed by discussion on how the writers and actors strike could impact the games industry. Lastly, we wrap up by exploring Humble Bundle's quiet yet interesting expansion strategies. Join us for

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64:33

AI x Games: What’s the Path Forward?

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2023/09/03

AI is all the rage right now, but unless you’re in the thick of it, it can be hard to make perfect sense of what’s possible today and where we’re headed. Will AI be a sustaining or disruptive innovation for the gaming industry? Why is the "open source vs. closed source" conversation so important? How will business models change as technology evolves? What role will humans play as AI takes over more workflows? What’s overhyped right now?To help navigate all of these questions, Aaron Bush is

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