Deconstructor of Fun

By Deconstructor of FunLeisure Video Games

Deconstructor of Fun episodes

December 16, 2019 TWIG #61: Why D7 ROAS May Be Bad, What's Next After Facebook VO, and Updates on New XBOX!
Wazzup DOF Nation!
On the pod this week we have myself Joe Kim, Eric Kress, and new daddy club member Adam Telfer.
We are also joined by *the* Nebo Radovic from N3twork. One of the very few handful of people in the world who has bought at massive UA scale for mobile having worked not only at N3twork, but also at MZ and Nordeus (Top Eleven). So we'll kick off with a couple of UA topics which is becoming increasingly important to know about for game executives, PMs, and designers! Don't ding our reviews for talking about marketing and pls do help support us with good reviews if you want us to keep going with this type of content.
Here are the articles we will cover:
#1. why d7 ROAS may be the worst kpi to optimize towards since CPI (written by Nebo and we will talk to the man himself about this)
#2. What comes next after Facebook’s VO campaign strategy?
#3. Mobile game developers are buying into rivals instead of selling out
#4. The Game Awards 2019: the 12 biggest announcements
#5. The Xbox Series X is basically A PC
Hit us up on Twitter with any feedback or suggestions for news to cover. You can reach us at:
@jokim1 @ekress @m_katkoff @adamwtelfer
Guest Twitter:
@eniac
Also be sure to check out JK's latest GameMakers YouTube channel series on mobile marketing/user acquisition: UA Coffee Talk on Creatives Optimization!
If you are interested in the D7 ROAS discussion you can also watch the in depth discussion on this topic that was part 2 of UA Coffee Talk here: Optimizing UA Budgets by D7 ROAS | UA Coffee Talk
Also hit the subscribe button to get notified when we deconstruct the latest news in games!
58 min
December 11, 2019 TWIG #60: Bunch Video Chat for Mobile (We Talk with CEO and Head of BD) and Wildlife Valued at $1.3B!
TWIG #60 Here we go!
Today we have myself Joe Kim, Eric Kress, and Adam Telfer is back from paternity leave. Welcome back new dad!
We also have 2 special guests related to the first article we will cover: Selcuk Atli CEO at Bunch and *the* Greg Essig Head of BD at Bunch.
#1. Bunch scores $3.8M to turn mobile games into video chat LAN parties
#2. Wildlife, Brazilian mobile gaming unicorn, valued at $1.3 billion by Benchmark
#3. CD Projekt Red ending Gwent console support to focus on PC and mobile Elder Scroll Legends is officially Dead
#4. Microsoft is Still planning a cheaper, discless next-gen xbox
#5. Minecraft Earth in Soft Launch
Hit us up on Twitter with any feedback or suggestions for news to cover. You can reach us at:
@jokim1 @ekress @m_katkoff @adamwtelfer
Guest Twitter:
@Selcukatli @gregessig
Also be sure to check out JK's latest GameMakers YouTube channel series on mobile marketing/user acquisition: UA Coffee Talk on Creatives Optimization!
Also hit the subscribe button to get notified when we deconstruct the latest news in games!

1 hr 18 min
December 09, 2019Kolibri's Approach to New Game Development | Secrets to the Success of Idle Miner Tycoon
Kolibri has found great success with its first two mobile game titles Idle Miner Tycoon and Idle Factory Tycoon. Both titles have now amassed about 100M downloads.
How did students coming from University achieve so much success at such a young age?
What were the processes and philosophies they used to develop Idle Miner Tycoon?
What were some of the biggest lessons learned and mistakes made by the team?
Found out all of this and more in this video with Kolibri Co-CEO and Co-Founder Daniel Stammler.
Content Overview:
0:20 Intro to Kolibri

0:50 Origin story of Kolibri

2:00 Daniel’s background

4:00 Process in Building the First Games

7:10 How did they come up with their development process/approach?

9:10 Most important factors in success of games - 11:00 Biggest mistakes made

11:50 Failed titles

12:50 Biggest lessons learned

14:20 Specific game dev process steps

16:40 Soft launch objectives

17:25 Team structure and roles

19:00 Biggest mistakes in new game dev

21:30 Why do big companies fail at new game dev?

24:00 How to come up with game ideas?

25:40 Data vs. intuition

27:00 What’s next for Kolibri?
29 min
December 03, 2019 TWIG #59: Top 1% of Publishers Drive 80% of Downloads (or not?) and Why NPS Sucks!
Welcome everybody to TWIG #59!
Today we have myself Joe Kim, Eric Kress, and Miska Katkoff joins in to defend himself on his Call of Duty prediction.
We are also joined by Consumer Insights expert Stan Kwon from research firm BETAHAT.
We discuss the following articles:
1. The top 1% of app store publishers drive 80% of new downloads
2. Valve’s Half-Life series continues with Half-Life: Alyx for VR
3. Microsoft's Xbox streaming app isn't official yet, but it's already way better than Google's new video game service
4. Where Net Promoter Score Goes Wrong
Hit us up on Twitter with any feedback or suggestions for news to cover. You can reach us at:
@jokim1 @ekress @m_katkoff
Also hit the subscribe button to get notified when we deconstruct the latest news in games!
53 min
November 26, 2019 TWIG #58: $40M Raise for N3twork - Should We Be Worried? and Tencent's Timi Studio Expanding West - Not A Level Playing Field!
Namaste everyone and welcome to TWIG #58!
Today we have just myself Joe Kim and Eric Kress.
Miska and Adam are out for the rest of the year.
The full news we discuss is as follows:
#1. N3twork raises $40 million for platform to help mobile games gain traction
#2. How a Chinese Developer at Tencent Is Shaping the Future of Gaming
#3. Has the hypercasual game genre peaked?
#4. We review some of the predictions and actuals for Call of Duty Mobile, Harry Potter, Mario Kart, and other predictions we've made
Hit us up on Twitter with any feedback or suggestions for news to cover. You can reach us at:
@jokim1 @ekress @adamwtelfer @m_katkoff
Also hit the subscribe button to get notified when we deconstruct the latest news in games!
28 min
November 19, 2019 TWIG #57: Ninja/Shroud No Impact on Twitch, Epic Games Launcher, & Stadia Flop City
Welcome to TWIG #57.
Today we have your usual hosts Joe Kim, Eric Kress, and Adam Telfer (Miska's out for the rest of the year). We do have a guest host Alex Collins though: a software engineer at Jam City and DOF blog contributor.
The full news we discuss is as follows:
#1. Mixer + Shroud + Ninja
#2. Everything Announced at X019’s Inside Xbox Conference
#3. Fortnite’s Android installer is now a launcher for Epic mobile games
#4. The world is waiting for Google Stadia to flop
Hit us up on Twitter with any feedback or suggestions for news to cover. You can reach us at:
@jokim1 @ekress @adamwtelfer @m_katkoff
Also hit the subscribe button to get notified when we deconstruct the latest news in games!
47 min
November 14, 2019 TWIG #56: DECA Games Buys 4 Games from GREE and Super Evil Megacorp Hands Vainglory to Rogue Games
Welcome to TWIG #56 everybody. This week we focus on live ops companies like DECA and now Rogue Games who will live operate Vainglory for Super Evil Megacorp.
Today we have your usual hosts Joe Kim, Eric Kress, and Adam Telfer (Miska's out today). Joining us however is Ken Go CEO of DECA who will talk about DECA's business and the business of live ops specialists.
The full news we discuss is as follows:
#1. Deca Games plays F2P’s long tail, buying 4 one-time hits from GREE
#2. Super Evil Megacorp raises $10.5 million, moves on to new game, and hands Vainglory off to Rogue Games
#3. Supercell cans Rush Wars
#4. BlizzCon 2019’s biggest announcements: Diablo 4, Overwatch 2, and an apology
Watch the Ironsource Gamefest video on GameMakers: HERE
Watch the video interview with Mike DeLaet CEO of Rogue Games on GameMakers: HERE
Hit us up on Twitter with any feedback or suggestions for news to cover. You can reach us at:
@jokim1 @ekress @adamwtelfer @m_katkoff
Also hit the subscribe button to get notified when we deconstruct the latest news in games!

55 min
November 04, 2019 TWIG #55: Scopely Raises $200M and Zynga Has Record Blow-out Quarter!
Welcome to TWIG #55 everybody.
This week we get a bit of a battle between Eric and Miska over Zynga growth prospects so stay tuned for that!
This week we cover:
#1. EA games are coming back to Steam
#2. Mobile game firm Scopely raises $200 million
#3. One Million players now subscribe to PlayStation Now
#4. Zynga posts record-setting revenues, net bookings in Q3
Hit us up on Twitter with any feedback or suggestions for news to cover. You can reach us at:
@jokim1 @ekress @adamwtelfer @m_katkoff
Also hit the subscribe button to get notified when we deconstruct the latest news in games!
1 hr 4 min
October 31, 2019 Apple Arcade: Service Analysis and Future Prospects
Apple Arcade launched on September 19 earlier this year and has been praised by many in the media and significantly backed by Apple. Having said that:
#1. What are the future prospects for this service?
#2. Who is the audience?
#3. What are key strengths/weaknesses of the service?
#4. Finally, how well do we think Apple Arcade will do in the long-term?
Find out in our discussion today with myself Joseph Kim, Eric Kress (Principal, Gossamer Consulting), and Steve Palley (Head of Business Development & Strategy, Pixelberry Studios).
Comments? Questions?
Hit us up on Twitter: @jokim1 (JK Kim), @ekress (Eric Kress), @spall03 (Steve Palley)
50 min
October 28, 2019 TWIG #54: Ghost Recon Breakpoint's Spectacular Bomb and Google Stadia Update!
Welcome to TWIG 54!
This week we cover:
#1. Ghost Recon Breakpoint’s spectacular bomb blows up Ubisoft’s plans for 2019
#2. Google is making a "spectrum of bets" on Stadia content
#3. Fallout 76 Now Has a $100-a-year subscription service, Fallout 1st
#4. Why have hyper-casual games replaced gacha in Japan?
Hit us up on Twitter: @jokim1, @ekress, @adamwtelfer, @m_katkoff
Let us know which news topics you want us to talk about next or more in-depth. Or to let us know how we can improve.
Also hit the subscribe button to get notified when we deconstruct the latest news in games!
42 min

About Deconstructor of Fun

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Deconstructor of Fun podcast is created by games professionals for games professionals. We explore the business side of the games industry with the goal of bringing listeners content that is relevant, insightful, and entertaining on a weekly basis.