Deconstructor of Fun

We’re here today to talk about the current state of M&A aka mergers & acquisitions in the games industry. There’s been a lot of recent activity and there seems to be an open question now of whether the current trend can continue as Zynga seems to indicate or whether we’re likely going to see a major slowdown.  

Specifically we’ll speak to:     

- #1. What has driven the recent spate of M&A in the games industry?     

- #2. Why has Zynga historically sucked at M&A and suddenly seem like they are amazing at it more recently?     

- #3.  Who are the buyers in the market     

- #4. Whoa are the acquisition targets  including speculation on WB?     

- #5 Predictions on M&A trends short term/long term?  

And with us today to speak to all of these issues and more are:     

- #1. Saad Choudri, Chief Commercial Officer, at Miniclip: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saad-choudri-4691384/     

- #2. Jeff Cohen, Research Analyst at Stephens Inc.: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-cohen-29930455/     

- #3. Michael Metzger, Partner at investment banking firm DrakeStar Partners: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmmetzger/

Originally aired on GameMakers.com YouTube channel HERE

Welcome to TWIG #92!

This week we cover:

#1. Microsoft to launch xCloud streaming free with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate in September (The Verge)

#2. China removes  Supercell’s Hay Day and 2500 other games from iOS app Store (Venture Beat)

#3. Glu reloads its war chest for mobile game acquisitions (Venture Beat)

SHOW LINKS:

Watch the M&A YouTube video

FEEDBACK?:

Do you have feedback or comments for us?

You can reach us on Twitter at:

Joseph Kim: @jokim1 (Twitter, Insta)   Eric Kress: @ekress    Adam Telfer: @adamwtelfer    Miska Katkoff: @m_katkoff

This episode is sponsored by Beta Hat (www.betahatMR.com)

Monumental changes are changes are coming to mobile games market. 

First one to bear the hit is the performance marketing ecosystem. As Play Store follows suit, attribution platforms, ad networks and Facebook are struggling to adapt to the new reality. And as the shift happens, performance marketing teams will go through a rapid bottoms up change due to all the changes in the ecosystem. 

In this episode we dive deeper into the implications of the changes to the marketing ecosystem. What happens to CPIs and CPMs? What is the role of cross-promotion going forward? Will IPs be a more important for games looking to grow? How about ad monetization? 

We also discuss the future of various different type of mobile games companies from hypercasual publishers to mid-core developers, from startups to giants with large and diversified portfolios. 

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Our guests:

Eric Seufert

Yevgeny Peres

Welcome to TWIG #91!

This week we cover:

#1. Sony invests $250m in Fortnite’s Epic Games (Financial Times)

#2. Why Tencent is looking to buy Warframe parent company Leyou (Venture Beat)

#3. App Annie: Mobile gamers broke app store records in Q2 2020 (Venture Beat)

#4. Everything we learned on Ubisoft Event (Kotaku)

SHOW LINKS:

As per the News updates, check out the incredibly handsome Joe Kim's blog post on Why Epic Games $18B valuation may actually be too low

FEEDBACK?:

Do you have feedback or comments for us?

You can reach us on Twitter at:

This episode is sponsored by Beta Hat (www.betahatMR.com)

Which one is better: acquiring a new user or getting a lapsed user to re-engage?

Well, it depends. Most of us have been investing into getting new users while struggling at re-engaging our lapsed users. But our lack of success in re-engagement is likely more to do with how we go about it rather than the strategy of getting the lapsed players to return.

In this episode we discuss re-engagment both at strategic and practical level with Ludia's Taylor Lundgren and two powerful Googlers: William Planques and Guy Saig.

Welcome to TWIG #90!

This week we cover:

#1. PUBG Mobile Doubles Lifetime Revenue to $3 Billion in Just Seven Months (Sensor Tower)

#2. Apple Cancels Some Arcade Games in Strategy Shift To Keep Subscribers (Bloomberg)

#3. Amazon and Google are in games for the wrong reasons (GamesIndustry.biz)

SHOW LINKS:

Game Changers is a webinar series featuring exceptional women in the gaming industry. Our goal is to create a platform for female leaders to share their expertise and to create a strong and caring support network for women in our industry.

Isabel Ferreira, Stella Wang and Catalina Lou will join this Thursday, 9th July at 6pm BST to discuss and share their thoughts on Crossing the COVID-19 Bridge: Impact, Outlook and the Silver Lining.

There is a sign up link here - https://lnkd.in/gWZqJ7M

FEEDBACK?:

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You can reach us on Twitter at:

Note to Apple: All hosts do not necessarily share the same opinions!

This episode is sponsored by Beta Hat (www.betahatMR.com)

We’re here today to talk about the kinds of online, live services technology that are required for multiplayer PVP games.   

More specifically we will cover online services (accounts, matchmaking, player stats, and store) rather than the multiplayer networking side.  Speaking with us today is the founding team from Pragma.gg who have incredible backgrounds in online back-end services for massive PVP games like League of Legends and Eve Online.    

Host:

Guests:

You can reach them by email as well: [first name]@pragma.gg   

Topics covered:     

This content originally aired on the GameMakers YouTube channel. You can watch the video there.

Welcome to TWIG #89!

We are joined this episode by the legendary Emily Greer founder of Kongregate and her new game studio Double Loop. A must watch at GDC and one of the OGs of the F2P games industry.

This week we cover:

#1. Abuse in the industry isn't down to a few "bad apples" | Opinion

#2. iOS 14: IDFA is not dead yet, but it’s definitely on life support

#3. Former PlayStation Boss Says AAA Game Development Is Unsustainable

#4. Nintendo Chills Mobile Ambitions After Animal Crossing Success

#5. Pokémon Unite could open competitive gaming to a whole new audience

Do you have feedback or comments for us?

You can reach us on Twitter at:

Today we’re going to be talking about 2 different perspectives on the future of performance marketing.   

Positive View: The changes currently impacting UA will shift the role of a UA marketer but ultimately the changes will not be so dramatic and besides potentially adding some additional skills or shifting to be a bit more strategic and having leaner teams, and the changes will mean more of a shift rather than a fundamental change.  

Negative View: The basic role of performance marketing and having a career as a UA marketer is basically dead. It won’t be the same and the role is fundamentally gone or will be nothing like what it is today.  

And to provide our audience here with some context, I wrote a ggDigest newsletter and medium post titled “The Death of Performance Marketing: The Secret Interview”  

In that post, I wrote about some of the big changes happening that will impact the UA marketing role. I interviewed both Matej who we have on here today as well as a confidential interviewee. We discussed both sides of the argument for what will happen to performance marketing based on the current and potentially even more upcoming changes

Joining us today to talk about all of this and more (Twitter):

Moderator: 

Speakers:

Welcome to TWIG #88!

This week we cover:

#1. Microsoft is shutting down Mixer and partnering with Facebook Gaming

#2. EA details game slate with 'Star Wars,' Switch news

#3. Epic Games and Match Group join Spotify in protesting Apple’s App Store fees

#4. Apple Rejects Facebook’s Gaming App, for at Least the Fifth Time

#5. Epic Offering 750M at 17B Valuation

Do you have feedback or comments for us?

You can reach us on Twitter at: