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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

74:19

Market Update: UEFN Monetization, Meta’s Vision, and...

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2025/09/24

With the games industry in constant evolution, it’s important to occasionally pause and take stock of where things stand. Host Devin Becker is joined by Aaron Bush, Managing Partner and Co-Founder at Naavik, for a wide-ranging check-in on market trends, strategic moves from platform holders and investors, and how the current landscape might evolve from here. The conversation explores Epic’s latest expansion of user-generated content monetization, plus Meta’s recent AR updates and what it

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57:23

UA Financing Reshapes Mobile Publishing with Tilting...

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2025/09/16

Mobile publishing is a beast of its own, built on speed, data, and above all, user acquisition. In this episode, host Alexandra Takei, Director at Ruckus Games, sits down with Asi Burak, Chief Business Officer of Tilting Point, to unpack the future of mobile publishing and why UA financing has become one of the most talked-about trends in gaming today.Tilting Point, a top 50 global mobile publisher, recently launched a $150M UA fund this past March. In the past, TP made its name scaling

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62:23

On the Front Lines of AI Game Dev

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2025/08/29

With AI taking over the tech industry, its role in game development is slowly shifting from novelty to potential necessity. Host Devin Becker sits down with Francois Courset, Senior Consultant at Naavik with experience around using AI in game development, to explore the current and near-future landscape of AI in game creation. The conversation covers everything from Francois’ high-level perspective on AI's role in the industry to specific tools that are already proving useful, alongside

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66:56

Inside Gaming’s Deepening Labor Crisis with Amir Satvat

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2025/08/12

The video game labor market is in crisis, and few understand it better than Amir Satvat. In this episode, host Alexandra Takei, Director at Ruckus Games, sits down with Amir, Tencent BD Director and founder of the world’s largest grassroots games career community, to break down the structural shifts reshaping the industry. From layoffs and shrinking remote roles to the rise of low-cost development geographies, the duo discusses a data-backed look into the forces pressuring both employers

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53:21

The Business of Esports at EA

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2025/08/05

In this episode, host Aaron Bush sits down with Monica Dinsmore, Head of Esports at EA, to unpack her journey from finance and ops to leading esports strategy at one of the world’s biggest game publishers. Monica shares behind-the-scenes stories from launching the LEC at Riot Games, navigating the operational chaos of COVID-19, and transitioning to EA to help build and scale their esports vision. The conversation dives deep into how esports strategies differ between EA’s franchises (Apex

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86:19

Why the Games Industry Might Triple (Despite Its...

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2025/07/29

Former Nexon CEO Owen Mahoney joins Aaron Bush for a candid, wide-ranging conversation about the current and future state of the games industry. While Owen had a successful decade-long run leading one of Asia’s most important gaming companies, this episode explores what he’s been thinking about since stepping down – namely through his sharp (and sometimes spicy) essays critiquing industry norms and offering a vision for what comes next. We discuss the realities of managing $100M+ budget

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50:11

Launching a Roblox Game Studio with The Gang

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2025/07/16

In this episode, host David Taylor sits down with The Gang. Originally a team of five entrepreneurs, The Gang was one of the first venture-backed studios to go all-in on Roblox back in 2020. They quickly made their mark with Strongman Simulator, which shot to the top of the Roblox charts and has racked up over 1.5 billion plays.While they started with hit original titles, The Gang soon shifted to building branded experiences for some of the world’s biggest entertainment and lifestyle brands

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54:22

The Story of Medal: Shaping the Future of Gaming Content

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2025/07/08

Pim de Witte, founder and CEO of Medal, joins Aaron Bush to discuss his journey building a leading platform for capturing and sharing gaming moments. From running Soulsplit (the most popular Runescape private server) as a teenager to navigating early pivots at Medal, Pim shares what sparked his entrepreneurial path, how Medal evolved from a game studio into a social content ecosystem, and what drove the platform’s explosive and enduring growth over the past several years.The conversation

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68:19

From Imagine Dragons Fame To Night Street’s Shooter:...

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2025/06/24

In this episode, host Alexandra Takei, Director at Ruckus Games, sits down with Mac Reynolds, co-founder and CEO of Night Street Games and Night Street Records, and Matthew Berger, Game Director at Night Street Games. Together, they unpack the journey of building Last Flag — a zany 5v5 hero shooter with capture-the-flag at its heart and music embedded deep in its DNA. From a scrappy prototype built with an outsourced team to a 50+ person studio, they share lessons on pivoting engines,

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61:52

Call of Duty: Origins

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2025/06/17

On this episode, host David Taylor sits down with Dan Bunting, the former Studio Head of Treyarch and one of the key creative leaders behind the Call of Duty franchise. With over 18 years at Treyarch, Dan helped shape some of the most iconic moments in FPS history — from the introduction of Zombies mode in World at War to the rise of the Black Ops series.We explore how Call of Duty became the dominant FPS franchise, and how Treyarch carved out its own identity through bold design decisions,

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54:04

Exploring the $70M Esports World Cup

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2025/06/10

The esports industry has heavily evolved over the past few years, and big moves continue to occur – especially out of Saudi Arabia.In this episode, host Aaron Bush is joined by Mike McCabe, COO of the Esports World Cup Foundation, which runs a massive Riyadh-based annual esports festival. It’s gearing up for its second annual event in July, which will host 25 tournaments over 7 weeks with a whopping $70 million prize pool.We chat about the global state of esports, Saudi Arabia’s continued

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68:59

Apple vs Epic Aftermath: A New Era for Game DTC

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2025/06/03

Apple’s forced policy shift following the outcome of its legal battle with Epic Games has opened the door for more flexible Direct to Consumer (DTC) strategies, and game studios are taking notice. Host Devin Becker welcomes Chris Faught, CEO of Neon, to break down what this decision means for developers. Chris clarifies the broader implications of the ruling, the mechanics of implementing DTC models, and how this update impacts developers operating across different genres and regions.The

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65:12

2025’s Gaming Landscape: Africa

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2025/05/27

Africa’s gaming market is young, fast-growing, and mobile-first. In this episode, host Alexandra Takei, Director at Ruckus Games, is joined by Cordel Robbin-Coker, CEO of Carry1st, and Temi Afolabi, a lead on XBOX’s Global Expansion team, to examine the opportunity and hurdles of scaling games in Africa. They break down Africa’s demographics, monetization challenges, and infrastructure gaps. Cordel highlights Carry1st’s approach — aggregating payments across nearly 80+ payment methods and

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56:02

Exploring Minecraft's World of Builders & Businesses

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2025/05/20

In today's episode, host David Taylor dives into the world of Minecraft’s massive creator ecosystem with two of its most influential creators:Raf is the co-founder of Spark Universe, a studio behind one of the most widely used Minecraft tools, Essential Mod, which connects millions of players through a live services platform. With over 50 million downloads and nearly 2 million monthly active users, Spark Universe is one of the largest Minecraft creative studios. Spark Universe also led the

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65:36

Launching Original IP on Roblox

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2025/05/07

In this episode, podcast David Taylor is joined by Alexander Hicks, the co-founder of Twin Atlas, one of the most innovative studios in the Roblox ecosystem. Twin Atlas is the team behind blockbuster experiences like Creatures of Sonaria, which ranks among the top 30 Roblox games in terms of revenue and engagement according to CreatorExchange.io.At the time of this recording, Twin Atlas experiences are drawing 50,000+ concurrent players, with recent peaks nearing 100,000 CCU. They've also

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54:17

Cross-Border Publishing: Lessons From Netease’s Once...

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2025/04/29

In this episode, host Alexandra Takei, Director at Ruckus Games, sits down with Derek Qiu, Head of Overseas Operations at NetEase, to explore the cross-border distribution journey of Once Human, a supernatural survival game from Starry Studio.They discuss the rapid evolution of China's gaming market, how Chinese developers like NetEase are increasing their presence in the West, and how Once Human represents a new wave of globally ambitious titles. Derek shares why the team prioritized a

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70:33

The State of Publishing and Live Ops

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2025/04/22

Our guest today, has led teams overseeing some of the biggest commercial successes from the MMORPG genre, and has leveraged those experiences to support dozens more through publishing roles for Xbox Game Studios Publishing and ArenaNet. In this conversation, David Taylor sat down with Crystin Cox, Head of Publishing at ArenaNet and a 20-yr veteran of the video game industry, to discuss her experiences leading live-ops on Maple Story, monetization on Guild Wars 2, and publishing at Xbox Game

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71:42

The State of UGC Games in 2025

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2025/04/08

In this episode, host Devin Becker welcomes fellow Naavik host and consultant David Taylor to discuss insights from Naavik’s recent State of UGC Gaming deep dive and beyond. We discuss how leading UGC platforms are evolving and where they face the most promise and challenges, from Roblox’s growing ad and brand integrations to Fortnite’s challenge of escaping its battle royale roots. We also explore emerging contenders like mods, Highrise, speculate on how GTA VI might impact the UGC

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63:46

The Future of Brands in Live Streaming

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2025/04/01

In this episode, host, Alexandra Takei, Director at Ruckus Games, dives into the intersection of brand marketing, live streaming, and culturally relevant branded experiences. Joined by Wiktoria Wójcik, co-founder of InStreamly, the conversation explores how brands can integrate into live streaming platforms like Twitch, YouTube, and Kick. InStreamly connects brands with thousands of streamers, facilitating authentic collaborations through technology that allows for large-scale, interactive

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58:09

Finding the Fun in VR with Astrobeam and Schell Games

Naavik Gaming Podcast ·

2025/03/28

In this episode, host Sam Distaso dives into the cutting edge of VR game development with Devin Reimer (founder and CEO of Astrobeam) and Ed Saxton (CPO of Schell Games). From the early startup days of VR to the evolution of mixed reality, Devin and Ed share how their studios use first-principles thinking to craft unique experiences. We explore how hit games like Job Simulator and Among Us VR came to life and how these teams operate in a young, constantly evolving market.We also unpack big

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399 results

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