After a volatile few months across games, tech, and public markets, it’s time for a grounded check-in on where the industry actually stands. Host Devin Becker is joined by Aaron Bush (Managing Partner & Co-Founder, Naavik) to unpack the latest signals – from AAA publisher performance and what recent EA earnings suggest for big franchises like Battlefield, to Ubisoft’s ongoing restructuring, studio closures, and the push to reframe its future through initiatives like Vantage Studios.

Next, they dig into Roblox’s continued growth and what its recent results imply, even as age-related scrutiny and safety conversations remain part of the narrative.

From there, the discussion widens to the state of the console market: the early momentum around Switch 2 sales, the trajectory of Xbox hardware, and why Sony appears to be holding its ground.

Devin and Aaron also look at how transmedia is shaping perception and demand, including Nintendo’s recent moves and what releases like an upcoming Mario Galaxy movie – and the surprise success of Iron Lung this month – reveal about IP leverage, audience crossover, and timing.

They close with addressing the market whiplash around the reveal of Google DeepMind’s Genie 3, and a “buy, sell, or hold” round covering Microsoft, Krafton, AAA vs. AA, and PC gaming to highlight where near-term opportunities and risks may be emerging.

We’d like to thank Heroic Labs for making this episode possible! Thousands of studios have trusted Heroic Labs to help them focus on their games and not worry about gametech or scaling for success. To learn more and reach out, visit https://heroiclabs.com/?utm_source=Naavik&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=Podcast 

If you like the episode, please help others find us by leaving a 5-star rating or review! And if you have any comments, requests, or feedback shoot us a note at [email protected].

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Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.

This is the audio version of the Naavik Digest newsletter published on February 8th, 2026. We look into Project Genie — Google’s experimental AI that generates short, navigable 3D scenes — and explore the possible implications of world models for game engines and developers.

You can read the newsletter (with even more sections and visual detail) here: https://www.naavik.co/digest/square-enix-refutes-and-reframes 

Let us know what you think by sending us a note at [email protected].

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In this episode, host Kalie Moore talks with David Lee, Co-founder & CEO of Nex, to unpack one of the rarest success stories in modern gaming: launching a new consumer console and winning. In a category dominated for decades by the same three players, Nex broke through by rethinking who gaming hardware is for. Often compared to Wii or Kinect, Nex’s real innovation isn’t motion-based play alone, but a family-first platform built around physical activity, kid safety, and parental trust. In a down year for console sales, Nex sold over 650,000 units, expanded into thousands of retail stores, and captured meaningful market share by designing specifically for families.

The conversation traces Nex’s nearly decade-long journey from mobile-first products to a high-stakes pivot into living-room hardware - and the leadership decisions required to make that leap under uncertainty. Kalie and David dig into why most motion-gaming platforms struggled to last, what Nex designed differently for long-term engagement, and how retail, subscriptions, and trusted IP shaped its growth. The episode closes with a look ahead to Nex’s 2026 roadmap, from international expansion to connected play designed with strict family controls, and David’s long-term vision for what Nex could mean to families ten or twenty years from now.

We’d like to thank Overwolf for making this episode possible! Whether you're a gamer, creator, or game studio, Overwolf is the ultimate destination for integrating UGC in games! You can check out all Overwolf has to offer at https://www.overwolf.com/.

We’d also like to thank Lightspeed Venture Partners for making this episode possible! With its dedicated gaming & interactive media practice, the firm invests from an over $6.5 billion pool of early and growth-stage capital. If you’re interested in learning more, go to https://gaming.lsvp.com/.

If you like the episode, please help others find us by leaving a 5-star rating or review! And if you have any comments, requests, or feedback shoot us a note at [email protected].

Who’s On:

Guest - David Lee: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidlkf/

Host - Kalie Moore: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaliemoore/ 

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Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.

This is the audio version of the Naavik Digest newsletter published on February 1st, 2026. We dive deep into the “fair” gacha Asian action RPGs to explore the performance of their unique monetization strategy and to see if prioritizing player fairness can lead to significant gains.

You can read the newsletter (with even more sections and visual detail) here: https://www.naavik.co/digest/evaluating-the-fair-gacha-games-experiment

Let us know what you think by sending us a note at [email protected].

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Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.

This is the audio version of the Naavik Digest newsletter published on January 25th, 2026. We examine Square Enix’s recent performance, explore what’s changed since the last time we checked in on the company, and take a look at its future.

You can read the newsletter (with even more sections and visual detail) here: https://www.naavik.co/digest/square-enix-refutes-and-reframes 

Let us know what you think by sending us a note at [email protected].

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The PC games “gray market” isn’t just a couple of shady websites. It’s an economic behavior that exploits regional pricing and promotion timing to siphon revenue away from publishers. In this episode, Our host, Alexandra Takei, Director at Ruckus Games, sits down with Vadim Andreev, CEO of Rokky (and former founder of PlayKey), to unpack how retail-era code resale evolved into today’s global key-arbitrage machine.

Vadim breaks down two core leak points: regional price arbitrage (buying keys in cheaper markets and reselling in premium ones) and promo stockpiling (buying deep-discount keys during sales, then reselling after discounts end). He argues the damage is material: publishers can lose roughly 20 to 40% of margin to resellers, often without realizing how much of their “regional” volume is being cannibalized elsewhere.

The conversation gets practical fast: why region locking is table stakes, how publishers frequently mis-bucket territories (China and New Zealand), and why Steam’s price recommendations can lag real exchange rates and taxes. Rokky’s pitch is a mix of distribution and defense: API-level checks (IP, identity, purchase limits), a key management dashboard, and pricing/promo optimization to close the gaps attackers exploit. The conversation ends with a discussion about Valve and their role in games distribution and the gray market and what they could do to help mitigate the problem. 

We’d also like to thank Lightspeed Venture Partners for making this episode possible! With its dedicated gaming & interactive media practice, the firm invests from an over $6.5 billion pool of early and growth-stage capital. If you’re interested in learning more, go to https://gaming.lsvp.com/.

If you like the episode, please help others find us by leaving a 5-star rating or review! And if you have any comments, requests, or feedback shoot us a note at [email protected].

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Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.

This is the audio version of the Naavik Digest newsletter published on January 18th, 2026. We look back at the mobile Match-3 and Merge genres in 2025, exploring what succeeded, what top performers do differently, and what might be important in the future.

You can read the newsletter (with even more sections and visual detail) here: https://www.naavik.co/digest/what-leading-match-3-and-merge-games-do-differently

Let us know what you think by sending us a note at [email protected].

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The direct-to-consumer (D2C) model is expanding beyond traditional webshops and into the world of user-generated content (UGC), especially on PC and console. In this episode, host Devin Becker is joined by Liam Wiltshire, General Manager at Tebex, to explore how the evolution of private servers, mods, and community-run experiences is shaping new monetization strategies. Liam shares the origin story of Tebex and its integration within the broader Overwolf ecosystem, highlighting how D2C strategies for games like Minecraft, Rust, and Ark differ fundamentally from those in mobile gaming.

The conversation covers the nuances of player relationships in D2C models, including the absence of platform payment rails and notification systems, and how that impacts engagement and monetization design. Devin and Liam also dig into emerging e-commerce strategies such as loyalty systems and upsells, and how Tebex is bringing these tools to individual creators and modders. The episode concludes with a look at industry shifts from regulatory changes to evolving platform policies, and how studios can future-proof their monetization strategies as D2C continues to grow across platforms.

We’d like to thank Heroic Labs for making this episode possible! Thousands of studios have trusted Heroic Labs to help them focus on their games and not worry about gametech or scaling for success. To learn more and reach out, visit https://heroiclabs.com/?utm_source=Naavik&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=Podcast 

If you like the episode, please help others find us by leaving a 5-star rating or review! And if you have any comments, requests, or feedback shoot us a note at [email protected].

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In this episode, host Kalie Moore talks with Dmitri Johnson and Mike Goldberg, co-founders of Story Kitchen, the production company behind major game-to-screen adaptations spanning Sonic the Hedgehog, Tomb Raider, Streets of Rage, and more. We explore how transmedia is evolving in a UGC-first world, where players don’t just consume IP, they shape it, and why Roblox worlds are starting to look less like “games” and more like living franchises.

The conversation dives into what actually makes a game adaptable (and when it shouldn’t be touched), how Story Kitchen stays aligned with developers and communities, and why they don’t chase heat even when a title is exploding. Dmitri and Mike also unpack Story Kitchen’s producer-first business model, the realities of timing and greenlight power in Hollywood, and what UGC creators should focus on if they ever want their worlds to travel beyond the platform.

We’d like to thank Overwolf for making this episode possible! Whether you're a gamer, creator, or game studio, Overwolf is the ultimate destination for integrating UGC in games! You can check out all Overwolf has to offer at https://www.overwolf.com/.

We’d also like to thank Lightspeed Venture Partners for making this episode possible! With its dedicated gaming & interactive media practice, the firm invests from an over $6.5 billion pool of early and growth-stage capital. If you’re interested in learning more, go to https://gaming.lsvp.com/.

If you like the episode, please help others find us by leaving a 5-star rating or review! And if you have any comments, requests, or feedback shoot us a note at [email protected].

Watch the episode: YouTube Channel

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Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.

Generative AI has made major leaps since we last explored its use in game QA, and this episode dives into how that progress is reshaping the field. Host Devin Becker is joined again by Christoffer Holmgård and Julian Togelius, co-founders of modl.ai, to unpack how recent advances in computer vision and agent behavior are enabling fully no-code QA testing workflows. We discuss the shift from traditional code-integrated systems to screen-seeing, input-driving AI agents, and the technical breakthroughs that finally made this approach viable. The conversation also explores the types of bugs and edge cases this new method catches, and the surprising ways it differs from prior tools.

The conversion also goes deeper into what this shift means for studios. Julian and Christoffer highlight how QA roles are evolving when testers can direct powerful AI agents without needing engineering resources. They also examine the line between automation and augmentation, arguing for the enduring value of human testers while outlining where AI can dramatically improve speed, coverage, and reporting. From auto-generating reproduction steps to fitting into broader ecosystems of AI coworkers, this episode offers a grounded, forward-looking take on how AI is transforming QA from the inside out.

Previous episode with Modl.ai: https://naavik.co/podcast/ai-powered-quality-assurance/

We’d like to thank Heroic Labs for making this episode possible! Thousands of studios have trusted Heroic Labs to help them focus on their games and not worry about gametech or scaling for success. To learn more and reach out, visit https://heroiclabs.com/?utm_source=Naavik&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=Podcast 

We’d also like to thank Neon – a merchant of record with customizable webshops optimized for conversion – for making this episode possible! Neon is trusted by some of the biggest names in gaming and can help you sell direct without the typical overhead. To learn more, visit https://www.neonpay.com/?utm_source=naavik 

If you like the episode, please help others find us by leaving a 5-star rating or review! And if you have any comments, requests, or feedback shoot us a note at [email protected].

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Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe