GameMakers

We talk about the history and future opportunities for Instant Games. Joining us is Lars Doucet who wrote about this in his blog post (linked below) and Emily Greer, who as the former founder and CEO of Kongregate, has a strong perspective on this.  

LINKS: 

- Jon Lai, a16z partner, tweet on Instant Games: https://twitter.com/Tocelot/status/1404914355670437889

- Lars Blog Post "The Future of Games is an Instant Flash to the past": https://www.fortressofdoors.com/the-future-of-games-is-an-instant-flash-to-the-past/ 

- Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/

Speakers:

- Lars Doucet, President of Level Up Labs: https://twitter.com/larsiusprime

- Emily Greer, CEO of Double Loop Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilygreer/

Moderator:

- Joseph Kim, CEO of LILA Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/

We talk about real-world data and the implications of IDFA deprecation.

Now there has been a lot of VERY BAD information being published on this topic. So today we have with us 3 real-world practitioners and some real data about what’s actually happening.

More specifically we will discuss:

#1. Real world data and impact of IDFA Deprecation

#2. Specific changes to how we do UA and Marketing based on the effects of IDFA Deprecation

#3. Implications to product and monetization design

#4. Who are likely winners & losers from these changes?

SPEAKERS:

1. Brian Bowman, CEO of Consumer Acquisition:

2. Matej Lancaric, Independent UA & Marketing Consultant:

3. Warren Woodward, Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer at Upptic

Overview: 

0:00 Intro 

2:15 Games Impact: Real Data 

12:02 Winners, Models, Supercell 

16:47 Algo Instability, Lookalikes  

20:43 Google Performance 

23:35 Unity Perf Explained 

26:20 ROAS Loss 

30:05 Specific Marketing Changes 

36:43 SKAdnetwork Conversion Value 

43:17 Creative Testing on iOS 

44:43 Reactivation Campaigns  

46:13 Strategic Maneuvering 

48:56 CPG Marketing 

53:20 Product Implications 

56:42 Winners & Losers

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter!

Conversation with Joe Byrne Director of Business Development and Strategy at SciPlay one of the world’s biggest and most successful social casino game companies.

Topics:

#1. How do the most sophisticated game companies use market intelligence data to inform their product strategy?

#2. How given new changes because of IDFA deprecation for example would create new requirements for the kinds of insights from the data that we look for? 

#3. Strategic insights on how the social casino genre is evolving and new trends for that genre.  

This conversation was facilitated in partnership with AppAnnie who is currently rolling out an update to their gaming taxonomy. Thanks App Annie!  

Speaker:

    - Joe Byrne, Director of Business Development and Strategy at SciPlay

Read about it in the GameMakers newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ 

How do competitive PVP games manage and scale up their tech infrastructure? What did Riot do for Valorant? We spoke to arguably the best two people in the entire world to address this question Riot's Head of Infra & Live Ops Zach Blitz and Network Next CEO Glenn Fiedler. 

SPEAKERS:

   - Zach Blitz, Head of Infra and Live Ops, Riot Games

   - Glenn Fiedler, Founder & CEO, Network Next

Tobi Lutke and Brian Armstrong re-popularized the notion of companies as described as "families" or "high performance sports teams." This impacts 1. employee performance expectations, 2. how to deal with discussions of social issues at the workplace, and 3. dissociating personal vs. professional lives.   

Let's have a nuanced discussion with a strong cross-section of key people from the games industry.  

Speakers:

- Eden Chen, CEO Pragma.gg: 

- Drew Levin, Lead PM Zynga 

- Chong Ahn, Head of PM EA 

- Ken Landen, Sr. PM Blizzard

Relevant Links 

- Initial Netflix Culture document (this seems to be the original popularization of the team-focus theme)

- Tobi Lutke: We are not a family

- Brian Armstrong: Mission focused company

Today we will be talking about the current state of Game Company Growth and the various growth strategies being deployed by different game companies.  

SPEAKERS:

- Joseph Kim, CEO, LILA Games

- Eric Kress, Principal, Gossamer Consulting

- Chris Petrovic, Chief Business Officer, FunPlus

LINKS:

- Four Growth Paradigms on GameMakers Newsletter Part 1

- Four Growth Paradigms on GameMakers Newsletter Part 2

Today we are going to be talking about game publishing, the strategy behind consolidated studio organizations, and the future of the industry.   

Our speakers include:

  - Alexis Bonte, Group COO, Stillfront

  - Nadir Khan, COO, Candywriter

  - Tobias Kringe, Founder and Managing Director, Bytro Labs

Our hosts include

  - Joseph Kim, CEO, LILA Games

  - Eric Kress, Principal, Gossamer Consulting

  - Chris Petrovic, Chief Business Officer, FunPlus

Speakers:

    - Joseph Kim. CEO, LILA Games 

   - Eric Kress. Principal, Gossamer

   - Chris Petrovic. CBO, FunPlus (former SVP & Head of Corporate Strategy, M&A and Business Development at Zynga) 

Content Overview:

Today we are going to be talking about the Solana Blockchain, the Metaverse, and how it all ties to games.

To speak to these issues we spoke to Michael Wagner, co-founder and CEO of Star Atlas, the company making a Metaverse game using the Solana blockchain.

SPEAKER:

- Michael Wagner, CEO Star Atlas

LINKS:

- Upcoming Star Atlas drops: http://play.staratlas.com/

- Star Atlas Social Links: Twitter | Telegram | Medium | Youtube | Instagram | Discord | Reddit | Facebook | Linkedin

- Joseph Kim, CEO LILA Games

- LILA Games: We're Hiring! Especially Systems & Economy Designer, Product Manager, and Level Designer!

- GameMakers YouTube Channel

As game companies become desperate for growth, what are the different strategies they will pursue?

Zynga, Applovin, Skillz, and Jam City represent 4 different growth paradigms in F2P gaming. This week I discuss their different approaches to growth and the potential risks these companies face.

LINKS:

   - Joseph Kim, CEO LILA Games

   - LILA Games: We're Hiring! Especially Systems & Economy Designer, Product Manager, and Level Designer!

   - GameMakers YouTube Channel