Deconstructor of Fun

Most startup hiring mistakes come down to two things: hiring too fast and hiring too narrow. Garry Hill, head of talent at Makers Fund, sees both across a portfolio of 130+ companies. Before Makers Fund, he recruited at SpaceX, Amazon, Blizzard, PlayStation and Reddit.

We start with the hires who looked perfect on paper and still failed, from pedigreed engineers who burned out at Blizzard to SpaceX's weekend interviews, and how those company cultures really compared. Then we get practical about hiring for game studios and startups discussing referral, interview processes, culture, and how to tell what a big-tech candidate is a fit or not for a startup.

Garry also explains why senior talent should consider fractional roles, how talent needs change from seed to Series A to Series C, what good onboarding looks like, and the "truth serum" question he uses when interviewing co-founders.

A vital listen to anyone hiring or getting hired in startups-

chapters:

00:00 Blizzard, SpaceX, Amazon: the hires who looked great and failed
12:05 What a head of talent does at Makers Fund
14:59 Too fast, too narrow: common founder hiring mistakes
19:56 Culture add, not culture fit
24:53 Vetting big-tech hires: what did you actually do?
31:09 Startup life and going fractional
35:03 Seed, Series A, Series C: how talent needs change
44:36 Testing co-founders and the truth serum question
52:26 Gaming founders vs. tech founders
1:00:18 The tell that a co-founder will actually build

Strip out inflation and the games market has barely grown in a decade.

This week we dig into Newzoo's latest numbers and what they say about where growth comes from: mature Western markets, existing players and five giant companies taking almost all of it. Then we look at how cheap social games like Big Walk and How to Fish cracked the top 10 PC revenue chart, what Naughty Dog's new Last of Us tease means, and why Chinese developers are rushing GTA-style mobile games out ahead of GTA VI.

Topics Covered:

• Mark Pincus and the $400M Supercell deal that almost happened
• Why 2021 is the wrong benchmark for the market
• Real growth after inflation is closer to 2% a year
• Growth comes from mature markets and existing players
• China's advantage at home and abroad
• CPIs keep climbing while mobile installs fall
• Five companies drove almost all of 2025's growth
• Big publishers retreat to their core franchises
• Friendslop games break into the PC top 10
• Naughty Dog confirms more Last of Us
• Chinese GTA-style games launch ahead of GTA VI
• Why nobody can compete with GTA head on

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Intro
01:01 Ethan Returns Industry Layoffs
01:34 Upcoming Events and Newsletter
03:15 Mark Pincus Interview Scoop
09:45 Newzoo Outlook Beyond COVID
11:37 Growth From Mature Markets
15:58 Inflation and Real Growth Math
23:28 Mobile Revenue vs Installs CPI Surge
27:03 Growth Concentrated in Five Giants
29:49 Publishers Retreat to Core Franchises
31:04 PC Market Reality Check
32:53 Friend Slop Breakouts
47:43 Last of Us Future Talk
01:00:54 Why GTA Has No Rivals

War Dogs sold 2.2 million copies in four days and nobody saw it coming.

This episode we break down Bulkhead's early access hit. A hardcore milsim with three teams, no matchmaking and a $40 price tag beat Helldivers 2's launch curve on Steam, and its peak concurrents grew every day of launch week. We get into the persistent cash economy that might be the teamwork fix Battlefield never found, why the 1v1v1 format splits the panel, and whether a sub-100 person studio can pull off a live service with extraction and PvE modes on the way.

Topics Covered:

• War Dogs launch numbers and who is playing
• The persistent cash economy and how it kills gear fear
• How cash rewards fix Battlefield's teamwork problem
• The 1v1v1 format debate
• Metal Gear Solid V and the lineage of in-round economies
• The risks of a cross-mode economy with extraction
• Marketplaces and gambling mechanics in shooters
• Bulkhead's go-to-market and the 5,000 player promise
• Where War Dogs ranks on Steam a year from now

CHAPTERS:

00:00 War Dogs Shock Success
01:42 Sales Metrics Breakdown
08:03 Persistent Cash Economy
16:19 Milsim Critiques and Vision
33:46 Economy Lineage Discussion
34:38 Progression Beyond Cosmetics
35:25 CEO Vision And New Modes
36:45 Cross Mode Economy Risks
39:03 Stakes Gambling And Chaos
40:36 Marketplaces In Shooters
45:15 Launch Strategy And Trust
51:20 Marketing Constraints And Nostalgia
52:23 One Year Predictions Debate
01:01:05 Wrap Up And Next Episode

Mark Pincus founded Zynga that was later acquired of $12.7B by TakeTwo and still thinks he misplayed the hand. On this episode he unpacks the playbook behind Life at the Speed of Play: why all new fails, how to run a company as a democratic dictatorship why anyone lecturing you about culture has a team rolling their eyes behind them.

Life at the Speed of Play: https://www.lifeatthespeedofplay.com/

Key timestamps:

00:00 — Intro
1:30 — Why Mark wrote Life at the Speed of Play
8:49 — How to test instincts: proven, better, new
15:45 — “Know your goal or suffer death by a thousand compromises”
20:36 — The “democratic dictatorship” approach to leadership
26:59 — Getting people to do the right things when you’re not in the room
29:34 — Getting teams to take bold risks and innovate
36:14 — Why CEOs should spend time on product
39:15 — What Pincus would do differently at Zynga
44:04 — Reflecting on the games industry and missed opportunities
50:40 — ADHD as a feature for product makers, anchored by a singular vision
52:14 — Why most MVPs don’t succeed

Xbox is cutting niche studios and signing a niche Kojima project in the same month. We try to make it make sense.

Sony pulled funding on Physint after budget concerns, and Xbox picked it up as a franchise with film and TV rights attached. Meanwhile Microsoft keeps restructuring into clean verticals, with Halo moving under Activision and Obsidian joining Bethesda, which has us asking whether Xbox is getting organized to sell. We also look at Build A Rocket Boy closing after roughly $250M raised and one troubled launch, Apple's new ATT prompt in Europe, and why AppLovin's CEO is suddenly on every stage talking about a $50B mobile ad market.

Topics Covered:

• Apple rewrites the ATT prompt in five EU countries.
• Sony ends Physint funding and Xbox picks it up.
• The transmedia bet behind Xbox's Kojima deal.
• Halo moves to Activision in the latest Xbox cuts.
• Is Microsoft packaging Xbox to spin off or sell?
• Build A Rocket Boy closes after MindsEye.
• What big gaming losses do to investor sentiment.
• AppLovin's buyback, Axon and the fingerprinting debate.
• Why AppLovin's CEO is on a speaking tour.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Intro
01:35 DICE Athens Hometown Events
03:07 LA Games Conference Plug
04:36 Roundtables and Global Meetups
05:41 Newsletter and Founder Story Tease
10:08 Apple ATT Prompt Changes EU
13:30 Kojima
27:41 Microsoft Restructure and Halo Shift
30:06 CoD Studios Under Pressure
33:45 Can Xbox Be Sold Off
36:10 Halo Moved to Activision
46:34 Build A Rocket Boy Collapse
51:05 AppLovin Stock and Axon
53:58 Fingerprinting Cheating Debate
58:01 Why the CEO Is Touring
01:02:25 Wrap Up and Sign Off

Disney Solitaire is one of the biggest launches of the year, and it might be too successful for its own parent company.

This episode breaks down how SuperPlay turned a solitaire game into a Disney-powered hit, why Playtika's debt and earn-out deal could push it to sell, and how Disney Solitaire stacks up against Tiki Solitaire, Grand Harvest and Candy Crush Solitaire. We also look at the full solitaire market, the live ops gap between Disney and everyone else, and whether solitaire can ever rival puzzle.

Topics Covered:

• Why games that scale in tier two and three markets struggle in tier one
• Playtika's debt, the SuperPlay earn-out and a possible sale
• Revenue dropping slower than downloads as a health signal
• How big the solitaire market actually is
• MobilityWare and the ad-only solitaire model
• Disney Solitaire as a reskin of Domino Dreams
• Why the second game in an IP is half the size of the first
• The social casino pay-to-play economy in Tiki Solitaire
• Candy Crush Solitaire's hold slot and card design choices
• How Disney Solitaire handles its IP and meta
• Near wins and a puzzle-style level funnel
• Disney's 25 to 30 live events per week versus competitors
• Why IP owners may not be the best builders of their own games
• Is solitaire coming for puzzle?

CHAPTERS:

0:00:00 Introduction & Tier 1 Market Performance
0:03:12 Why Playtika May Have to Sell Disney Solitaire
0:09:31 The History & Size of the Solitaire Market
0:10:58 Why Solitaire Has Struggled to Monetize
0:16:20 Disney Solitaire vs. Domino Dreams
0:21:12 How Solitaire Games Monetize: The Casino Mechanic
0:24:51 Tiki, Grand Harvest & Candy Crush Solitaire
0:28:23 What Disney Solitaire Does Differently
0:33:41 Live Ops, Streaks & the Disney Advantage
0:36:51 Why IP Owners Struggle to Extend Their Games
0:38:02 Is Solitaire Coming for Puzzle?
0:40:00 Final Thoughts & Outro

Michael Martinez, co-founder and CEO of FunCraft, tried to sell his mobile game studio in 2025. Trusted people said "don't do it yet". He chose otherwise. A banker pitched the company to 40 buyers. Zero offers. Then the company doubled to a $50M run rate with just 15 people.

Rejection like that either breaks a founder or forces a better business. For FunCraft, it did the second.

In this episode, Michael breaks down what went wrong in the M&A process, what a failed sale really costs, and how a 15-person team shifted its focus from valuation to profit.

Essential viewing for founders thinking about selling, buyers looking at lean and profitable studios, and anyone in mobile gaming, UA, or ad monetization.

00:00 — Funcraft’s failed sale attempt
06:27 — Why Michael wanted to sell
13:37 — Building a successful business first
18:16 — Launching games in just six weeks
23:20 — Platform and user acquisition risks
29:14 — Balancing growth and profitability
34:45 — Building a high-trust remote culture
43:12 — Rebuilding the game engine with AI
46:18 — Staying focused while scaling