How Games Make Money

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Chris Charla, the director of ID@Xbox, joins me to talk about bringing indie games onto the Xbox platform. Chris explains where that program is headed, but we also dive into how far it has come since the days of 50MB limits and publishing requirements on the early Xbox 360. I loved this conversation, and I hope you will to.

Stephanie Tinsley joins me to talk about running public relations for a number of video game developers and publishers. Stephanie has her own shop where she provides a much-needed connection between the people who make games and the media as well as consumers. During our conversation, Stephanie and I talk about what it’s like to miss E3, teaching developers how to avoid big mistakes, and the similarities she sees in herself as a mom and a PR person.

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Tim Nixon, the director of online experience at Thatgamecompany, joins host Jeff Grubb to talk about designing Sky, which is the studio’s followup to Journey and Flower. Unlike those previous games, though, Sky is a live-service game that is meant to run for months and years. It has already had six seasons of content, and Tim explains how Thatgamecompany uses behavioral data to understand and build relationships with players based on respect.

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On this week's episode of How Games Make Money, host Jeff Grubb talks with Stuart Morton, publishing director of indie publisher The Irregular Corporation. Morton and Irregular focus on producing simulation and tycoon style games. That includes PC Building Simulator and Balse Model Flight Sim from some of the creators of Kerbal Space Program. Morton explains how important it is to find a game that is easy to share as a GIF on Twitter. He also provides thoughts on the difficulties of working with the tools that platforms like Steam and the Nintendo eShop provide.

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I talk to Jeffery Thompson, Jr. who is one of the founder of Epoch Media. Epoch is a gaming startup that is currently part of the ReaktorX accelerator program in Poland. And it is Jeff’s goal to become the first black American to get venture-capitalist funding in that country. We also talk about the racial biases he faces and whether we should have strong alternatives to the VC-funding system.

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This week I’m talking with Paul Croft and Dave Bailey from Mediatonic, which is sort of morphing into Tonic Games Group. Paul and Dave are cofounders of Mediatonic, which is an indie developer that does a lot of work-for-hire business. But now, the pair are building Tonic Games Group as an overarching publishing company to oversee multiple game-making labels. In our conversation, we talk about what it looks like to build a resilient studio, how live-service games have enabled developers to thrive, and more.

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This is the How Games Make Money podcast. On for this episode, host Jeff Grubb speaks with PC Gamer editor-in-chief Evan Lahti about The PC Gaming Show. Every June for the last several years, PC Gamer packages together announcements from the world of PC gaming into one, slick presentation. But how does that work? Is it a big effort? And does it even make money?   Evan and Jeff talk about all of that and more. Join us, won't you?

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BIG Festival is Brazil's indie game celebration. It started eight years ago, and it's moving online for BIG Digital this year due to COVID-19. On this episode, host Jeff Grubb speaks with Eliana Russi and Gustavo Steinberg about running BIG Festival. They also explain what it's like to move it online and why Brazil needs something like BIG to establish its own voice. 

Guillaume Jamet is the VP of publishing and marketing at Dear Villagers, which is the indie-publishing division of game-distribution company Plug-In Digital. Guillaume joins How Games Make Money host Jeff Grubb to talk about the kinds of studios he wants to work with. He also explains what Dear Villagers looks for in games. Join us, won't you?