Naavik Gaming Podcast

By Naavik

What's Naavik Gaming Podcast about?

The Naavik Gaming Podcast is a business-focused exploration of the companies, trends, strategies and leaders that are defining the future of games. To learn more and see other great content visit www.naavik.co.

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Naavik Gaming Podcast episodes:

05.31.2024
AI-Powered Quality Assurance
Quality assurance is one of the most crucial aspects of game development to ensure the game functions as intended and to provide a positive player experience. Around $300M in funding has been directed towards AI “efficiency tools for creators” and...
05.28.2024
Yuga Labs: 1 Year After Dookey Dash
Yuga Labs, the heavyweight behind some of the biggest Web3 IP, including Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks, and Meebits, made its first foray into games just over a year ago with its toilet-themed infinite runner, Dookey Dash. Now Yuga is...
05.24.2024
Unpacking Krafton’s Strategy: PUBG, New IPs, Investments & More!
Krafton is one of the world’s premier video game publishers. After experiencing the explosive success of PUBG in the late 2010s, Krafton rebranded in 2018, went public in 2021, and has since been working to not just extend the PUBG...
05.22.2024
Mastering the Roblox Meta
Roblox is approaching 350M monthly active users. It’s a platform that generated $3.3B in bookings last year and paid $740M to its developers and creators. The low barriers to entry for developers and immediate access to an audience of 350M...
05.21.2024
Mastering the Roblox Meta
Roblox is approaching 350 million monthly active users. It’s a platform that generated $3.3 billion in bookings last year and paid $740 million to its developers and creators. The low barriers to entry for developers and immediate access to an...
05.17.2024
Mastering Crowdfunding Campaigns
In an era of games where the financing sources are slim and marketing and community can make or break your game launch, your host Alexandra Takei, Director at Ruckus Games, welcomes Tim Morten and Cara LaForge, CEO and Director of...
05.14.2024
Guild of Guardians, Immutable’s Next Web3 Flagship Game?
Guild of Guardians is Immutable’s second major game after Gods Unchained, and is one of the most anticipated web3 games of 2024 - Immutable has called it their new “flagship game” and has been preparing for a global May 15th...
05.07.2024
Paying players to play
In the dynamic landscape of gaming, the fusion of cutting-edge financial technology and innovative incentives is shaping a new era of player acquisition and engagement. Host Devin Becker leads an insightful discussion with Ben Cousens, Chief Strategy Officer of ZBD,...
05.03.2024
The New Business of Narrative
A new era of game developer has arrived to shake up narrative game making. In this episode, host Alexandra Takei, Director at Ruckus Games, welcomes Emily Pitcher, founder of Sondering, and Karla Reyes, founder of Anima Interactive, two Forbes 30...
04.30.2024
Nyan Heroes: Cats, Mechs & Esports in Web3
Nyan Heroes is a team-based hero shooter featuring small cats piloting giant mechs. The studio was founded in Singapore in 2021 and is staffed by industry veterans from hit franchises like Marvel’s Avengers, Destiny, and Halo. Combining web3 and web2...
04.26.2024
From Scrappy to Success: Strategies for Gaming Founders
What does it take to stand out and succeed as a games industry entrepreneur these days? And how should smart venture capitalists best identify and work with these best founders? To help answer these questions, host Aaron Bush is joined...
04.23.2024
Fortnite Creative Origins
Epic Games paid $320 million to over 25,000 creators in the last 12 months and during that time saw UGC content capture a whopping 35% of total Fortnite engagement. That means there are over 1 million players engaging in UGC...
04.19.2024
TikTok: Gaming’s New Discovery Platform
TikTok is undeniably changing the game for game developers and creating a new marketing and distribution playbook across mobile, console, and PC. In this discussion, Alexandra Takei, Director at Ruckus Games, speaks with Assaf Sagy, Head of Global Gaming at...
04.16.2024
Tactical Advice for Building Healthy Player Relationships
In the ever-evolving world of gaming, understanding and managing player interactions through technology is becoming increasingly critical. Host Devin Becker sits down with Solomon-Ruiz Lichter, Senior Director of Global Gaming at CleverTap, to delve into segmenting players, crafting personalized offers,...
04.12.2024
The Bleeding Edge: Building Games on Discord, ChatGPT, and Beyond
There’s no shortage of conversation around how new technologies are changing the way games are made, but that technological change doesn’t end there. New platforms are also contending for player attention, and where and how games are distributed is all...
04.02.2024
Guild of Guardians on Immutable + Web3 Pulsecheck
Guild of Guardians, Immutable’s second major game after Gods Unchained, is one of the most anticipated web3 games of 2024. The game recently pivoted from a real-time RPG to an auto-battler, and is set for a May 15th global release....
03.29.2024
GDC Vibes / data.ai x Sensor Tower / Epic Announcements / US v. Apple
In this week's Roundtable, the squad takes a deep dive into the unique atmosphere of this year's Game Developers Conference (GDC), marked by a spirit of camaraderie and innovation amidst widespread industry layoffs. We then pivot to discuss the monumental...
03.26.2024
Century Games: How a Top 20 Mobile Publisher Found Success on Roblox
Finding success on Roblox can be very challenging. There are over 20 million experiences created every year, and the play patterns are quite different from their more traditional mobile and console counterparts. That’s why UGC games analyst, David Taylor, sat...
03.19.2024
P2E is Dead? Long Live P2E! With Pixels.xyz
After the meteoric rise - and equally meteoric fall - of Axie Infinity, the term “Play-to-Earn” lost much of its cachet, and web3 developers avoided the term throughout the 2022-23 crypto winter. Adjacent concepts such as “Play-and-Earn” or “Play-to-Own” proliferated...
03.15.2024
A Mario Movie Sequel / Activision's New Union / Apple's EU Troubles / Toys x Games
In this week's Roundtable, the squad dives into the exciting news of a greenlit sequel to the Super Mario Brothers movie, with production once again helmed by Illumination. We speculate on the potential for spinoffs and the broader implications for...
03.13.2024
The Past, Present, & Future of Live Service Games
RallyHere builds on the back of years of experience in Live Service, before the term was even coined, as Hi-Rez Studios under the leadership of CEO Stewart Chisam. RallyHere bottles this expertise into a toolset that can provide a huge...
03.12.2024
Esports Infrastructure, by the Numbers
GRID has seen the value of data in esports since 2018 thanks to Founder and CEO Moritz Maurer's direct experience in the scene. Working directly with game developers, GRID is able to surface unmatched competitive game data from some of...
03.10.2024
Neopets: A New Frontier
Neopets has always been a metaverse, says Dominic Law, CEO of The World of Neopia. If you were born prior to the 2000s, you’ll remember how much Neopets took the internet world by storm. By 2011, Neopets had 35M unique...
03.08.2024
Emulator Armageddon / Netflix Ports / Private Equity / Early 2024 Winners
In this week's Roundtable, the squad unpacks the seismic impact of Nintendo's legal victory, securing a $2.4M settlement against the Switch emulator Yuzu, a move that has dramatically reshaped the emulation landscape. We then pivot to Netflix's strategic foray into...
03.05.2024
Web3 Mech Combat with MetalCore
Studio369 is preparing to launch MetalCore, an open world player-versus-player mech combat game that combines the engagement of high-quality traditional gaming with true asset ownership via web3. It has been in the works for about three years, with the...
03.03.2024
How to Succeed in MENA (with Sandsoft Games)
The games industry can no longer ignore the MENA region, encompassing markets like Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, and more. With approximately 800 million people, a young and growing audience of gamers, expanding wealth, rising ARPUs, and emerging talent, it’s...
03.01.2024
Age of Empires Mobile / Balatro’s Success / Sony Layoffs / Apple Arcade Woes
In this week's Roundtable, the squad dives into the recent announcement of Age of Empires Mobile, sparking debates on whether it will meet the high expectations of its loyal fanbase or simply blend into the crowded market of 4x strategy...
02.25.2024
XR: X-plore, X-plain, X-amine
Do you believe that XR is the future of modern entertainment? Composed of a blend of AR, MR, VR, and spatial computing, XR is a major frontier for big tech. Meta has spent $40B on Reality Labs, and Apple has...
02.23.2024
Helldivers 2 Invades Steam / Xbox’s Big Non-Event / Supercell’s Annual Letter
In this week's Roundtable, the squad dives into the unexpected success of Helldivers 2, PlayStation Studios' first game to launch simultaneously on PlayStation and PC. We then shift gears to Microsoft's Xbox Business Event, which, despite its brevity, sparked a...
02.20.2024
Midnight, the AA Web 3 Games Consolidator
It is no secret that web3 gaming had bit of a down year in 2023. Many studios had to shut down, and venture funding was hard to come by. But where some see a valley of despair, others see opportunity....
02.18.2024
Decoding Success: From Operator to Venture Capitalist
Today’s guest is Shanti Bergel, Founding General Partner and Managing Director of Transcend Fund, which has been a top decile performer since the firm was founded in 2020. Shanti is not just on the cutting edge of where the...
02.11.2024
Games: Once Upon Now in Hollywood
The Super Mario Brothers Movie made $1.36B at the box office, shattering records and solidifying the power of gaming IP on the big screen. Transmedia across TV and Film is an active growth strategy for many gaming companies, and a...
02.09.2024
Disney x Fortnite / Heroes of Mavia Launch / WB Live Service Stumbles
In this week's Roundtable, the squad dives into Disney's $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games, aiming to create custom Fortnite-related experiences. We speculate on what Disney's persistent world might look like, especially in light of its potential connections to Fortnite...
02.06.2024
Parallel, the $500 Million Web3 TCG
Trading card games (TCGs) have always been the most natural fit for web3. Their real-world analog cousins are inherently collectible, generally have a notion of rarity, and have a thriving secondary market. So it is no surprise that some...
02.04.2024
The State of UGC Gaming in 2024
User-generated content (UGC) in games continues to grow in scale and impact, and staying on top of this dynamic market has never been more important. In this episode, Naavik analyst and consultant David Taylor joins Aaron Bush to discuss the...
02.02.2024
China's Regulations / Microsoft & EA Earnings / Apple’s Legal Challenges
In this week's Roundtable, the squad dives into the public reversal of China's proposed bans on game monetization tactics, plus ponders the future of these regulations and their impact on Chinese game stocks. We then shift focus to Tencent's CEO's...
01.28.2024
Between the Lines: Eastern Europe’s Gaming Market
It is known that the gaming scene in CIS has political, legal, and regulatory challenges that make it hard to develop games or deploy investments into the region. But if you do it right, my guests, Maria Kochmola, Managing Partner...
01.26.2024
Palworld Explodes / Riot Scales Back / Newzoo’s 2024 Report
In this week's Roundtable, the squad dives into the booming success of Palworld, a game that's been dubbed "Pokemon with guns," and explores why it's capturing everyone's curiosity. We then shift gears to discuss Riot's recent pullback (layoffs and game...
01.23.2024
Immutable’s Web3 Roadmap for 2024
Immutable is one of the leaders in the web3 gaming space, as well as one of Australia’s fastest-growing companies. The business has raised AUD$400 million dollars and was most recently valued at AUD$3.5 billion (about US$2.5 billion). The company was...
01.21.2024
The State of Gaming VC in 2024
Venture markets – within and beyond gaming – soared in 2020-2021 and fell back to earth over the past couple of years, but what should we expect in 2024? And what may change about gaming VC longer-term? To answer these...
01.19.2024
Valve's Daily Deals / Activision Blizzard & NetEase Reconcile / Apple's 27% Fee
In this week's Roundtable, the squad begins by discussing Stumble Guys' move to Xbox, which will now compete head-to-head with Fall Guys. We then shift gears to Valve's new initiative, testing an invite-only system that empowers developers to schedule their...
01.12.2024
CES Takeaways / Subscription Strategy Changes / Second Dinner's $100M Raise
In this week's Roundtable, we explore the gaming highlights from the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show and joke about what trends are peaking in ridiculous ways (AI-powered egg cartons, anyone?). We then dive into a couple strategy changes being discussed by...
01.09.2024
The State of Web3 Trading Card Games
Trading Card Games (TCGs) have always been a natural fit for Web3. Their real-world analog cousins are inherently collectible, generally have a notion of rarity, and have a thriving secondary market. For instance, the infamous Black Lotus card from Magic:...
01.07.2024
Nexon’s CEO on Leaving a Legacy, Fostering Talent, & AI in Games
Owen Mahoney, CEO of Nexon, is back for another phenomenal conversation – this time on the heels of the announcement that Owen is soon stepping down from the CEO role after a decade of market-beating performance. He and host, Aaron...
01.05.2024
Game Awards Stats / VR Struggles / China Regulations / Square Enix Letter
In this week's Roundtable, the squad kicks off with a deep dive into the Game Awards' staggering 118 million viewers, surpassing even the Super Bowl, and what this means for gaming's place in mainstream culture. We then shift gears to...
12.22.2023
Our Games Industry Predictions for 2024
In this week's Roundtable, we follow up on the previous episode with this week’s Epic Games Store policy shift, highlighting the decision to create an Adults Only exception for web3 games, notably reinstating titles like Gods Unchained. The conversation then...
12.20.2023
The Advent of AI Analytics
Together with Dive, one of our Open Gaming Research Initiative partners, we’re exploring the topic of data and games through a limited podcast series called “Data Corner.” This episode is the final segment of this mini-series, so we decided to...
12.19.2023
Forever Digital Pets in the Petaverse
Real, living pets have a fundamental problem - they have a limited lifespan and they die. Digital pets aren’t immortal either. Over 80 million Tamagotchis have been sold since their debut in 1996 - and how many of them are...
12.15.2023
LEGO Fortnite Pops / Google's Legal Loss / ESRB vs Web3 / The Game Awards
In this week's Roundtable, the squad dives into the successful collaboration between LEGO and Fortnite, discussing how LEGO's first successful Minecraft-like venture could potentially broaden both companies’ audiences. We then shift gears to Epic's recent legal triumph over Google, analyzing...
12.13.2023
Unraveling Content Creator Programs
Together with Nexus, one of our Open Gaming Research Initiative partners, today we’re diving into the topic of content creator programs. Content creator programs are designed to incentivize and reward the creators in one’s community for driving attention towards...

What's Naavik Gaming Podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Naavik Gaming Podcast episodes:

AI-Powered Quality Assurance

Yuga Labs: 1 Year After Dookey Dash

Unpacking Krafton’s Strategy: PUBG, New IPs, Investments & More!

Mastering the Roblox Meta

Mastering the Roblox Meta

Mastering Crowdfunding Campaigns

Guild of Guardians, Immutable’s Next Web3 Flagship Game?

Paying players to play

The New Business of Narrative

Nyan Heroes: Cats, Mechs & Esports in Web3

From Scrappy to Success: Strategies for Gaming Founders

Fortnite Creative Origins

TikTok: Gaming’s New Discovery Platform

Tactical Advice for Building Healthy Player Relationships

The Bleeding Edge: Building Games on Discord, ChatGPT, and Beyond

Guild of Guardians on Immutable + Web3 Pulsecheck

GDC Vibes / data.ai x Sensor Tower / Epic Announcements / US v. Apple

Century Games: How a Top 20 Mobile Publisher Found Success on Roblox

P2E is Dead? Long Live P2E! With Pixels.xyz

A Mario Movie Sequel / Activision's New Union / Apple's EU Troubles / Toys x Games

The Past, Present, & Future of Live Service Games

Esports Infrastructure, by the Numbers

Neopets: A New Frontier

Emulator Armageddon / Netflix Ports / Private Equity / Early 2024 Winners

Web3 Mech Combat with MetalCore

How to Succeed in MENA (with Sandsoft Games)

Age of Empires Mobile / Balatro’s Success / Sony Layoffs / Apple Arcade Woes

XR: X-plore, X-plain, X-amine

Helldivers 2 Invades Steam / Xbox’s Big Non-Event / Supercell’s Annual Letter

Midnight, the AA Web 3 Games Consolidator

Decoding Success: From Operator to Venture Capitalist

Games: Once Upon Now in Hollywood

Disney x Fortnite / Heroes of Mavia Launch / WB Live Service Stumbles

Parallel, the $500 Million Web3 TCG

The State of UGC Gaming in 2024

China's Regulations / Microsoft & EA Earnings / Apple’s Legal Challenges

Between the Lines: Eastern Europe’s Gaming Market

Palworld Explodes / Riot Scales Back / Newzoo’s 2024 Report

Immutable’s Web3 Roadmap for 2024

The State of Gaming VC in 2024

Valve's Daily Deals / Activision Blizzard & NetEase Reconcile / Apple's 27% Fee

CES Takeaways / Subscription Strategy Changes / Second Dinner's $100M Raise

The State of Web3 Trading Card Games

Nexon’s CEO on Leaving a Legacy, Fostering Talent, & AI in Games

Game Awards Stats / VR Struggles / China Regulations / Square Enix Letter

Our Games Industry Predictions for 2024

The Advent of AI Analytics

Forever Digital Pets in the Petaverse

LEGO Fortnite Pops / Google's Legal Loss / ESRB vs Web3 / The Game Awards

Unraveling Content Creator Programs