This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, September 20th. In this week’s issue, we dig into the data and assess to what extent external IP drives a video game’s success.

You can read the newsletter (with even more sections and visual detail) here: https://naavik.substack.com/p/the-real-value-of-licensed-ip 

Want to explore working with Naavik? Shoot us a note: https://naavik.co/contact-us/ 

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

Watch our episodes: YouTube Channel

For more episodes and details: Podcast Website

Free newsletter: Naavik Digest

Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website

Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.

Gaming financing hit a 12-month high in Q2 2026, with over $2.5B raised across fewer than 100 rounds. In this episode, recorded in person at Gamescom, Kalie Moore sits down with Michael Metzger, Managing Partner at Drake Star Partners, to work out what that actually signals. Michael leads Drake Star's gaming and digital media practice and is behind the quarterly report the industry reads to track where capital is moving. He starts with the question everyone is circling: is this an AI bubble? His answer is that the money reflects a massive opportunity, that some of the companies raising today will become very large businesses, and that a good number of them will not make it at all. They dig into what that means for valuations like General Intuition's, and why he's more excited about the AI-native games that haven't been built yet than the current wave of AI used to make production faster and cheaper.

The conversation also covers why financing rounds have fallen from roughly 200 a quarter to below 100 while the money per round climbs, where capital is actually landing across gaming AI, ad-tech and hardware, and why he thinks AR glasses are the platform bet worth watching. Michael breaks down what he tells founders about timing a sale, why inbound interest is a better signal than trying to time the market, and what makes a mid-market deal attractive to buyers right now. Drawing on transactions he's advised, including Trak Racer to Corsair, Hipster Whale to Atari, Ready Player Me to Netflix and Echtra Games to Zynga, he explains what actually determines whether a deal works after it closes. They also get into why raising as a game studio remains harder than almost anything else in this market, the state of esports monetization after years of false starts, and the one category he thinks is currently undervalued.

This episode is brought to you by Appcharge, the payments platform built specifically for mobile gaming that processes over a billion dollars annually. Learn more here: https://www.appcharge.com/?utm_source=naavik&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=sponsorship_payments

We’d also like to thank Dive for making this episode possible! With its fully managed analytics and LiveOps platform built for game studios, 95% of their clients grow revenue in one year. All of that without having to hire an in-house data team. Learn more here: dive.games 

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 - Michael Metzger: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmmetzger/

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

Watch the episode: YouTube Channel

For more episodes and details: Podcast Website

Free newsletter: Naavik Digest

Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website

Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe

Links mentioned:

https://www.drakestar.com/news/global-gaming-report-q2-2026

This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, September 13th. In this week’s issue, explore the recent increase in notable indie game developers launching their own publishing businesses.

You can read the newsletter (with even more sections and visual detail) here: https://naavik.substack.com/p/the-new-money-behind-indie-games 

Want to explore working with Naavik? Shoot us a note: https://naavik.co/contact-us/ 

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

Watch our episodes: YouTube Channel

For more episodes and details: Podcast Website

Free newsletter: Naavik Digest

Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website

Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.

AI is rapidly changing user acquisition (UA), not just by speeding up creative production but by expanding how campaigns themselves can be managed. Host Devin Becker is joined by Amit Carmi, co-founder and CEO of Sett, to explore how AI is being used to combat creative fatigue, generate video and playable ads, and increasingly automate parts of the UA workflow. Amit breaks down where AI creative works well today and where it still falls short. The conversation also tackles the risks of increasingly homogenous or misleading ads, how platform-owned AI tools from Meta, Google, and AppLovin affect third-party providers, and whether creative teams are being replaced or simply evolving. Finally, Amit explains Sett’s move from data-driven creative generation into UA management agents and shares his view on what AI-driven UA could look like over the next few years.

Big thanks to Heroic Labs for making this episode possible. When MADFINGER expanded from mobile to PC they used Heroic Labs to build a preview mode with full progress carryover. Read how the work led to increases in every core KPI from CCU to DAU/MAU, retention and session length, at launch: https://heroiclabs.com/blog/madfinger-spearhead-case-study/?_gl=1*8j79a3*_up*MQ..*_ga*MjA4MDI3MTc4OS4xNzg1MjI0MDk5*_ga_R9WLGSZ1KN*czE3ODUyMjQwOTkkbzEkZzEkdDE3ODUyMjUxMjIkajU3JGwwJGgw 

We’d also like to thank Medal.tv for making this episode possible. If you're a PC gamer and want to clip your moments or a studio, publisher, or marketer looking to reach a high-quality gaming audience and get your game in front of the right players, check out all Medal has to offer at https://grow.medal.tv

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

For more episodes and details: Podcast Website

Free newsletter: Naavik Digest

Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website

Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.

Live from Gamescom at the Xsolla Clubhouse in Cologne, Alexandra Takei, VP of Platform Revenue & Gaming at Medal and General Intuition, sits down with Ben Kvalo, Founder and CEO of Midwest Games, to unpack what she calls "new age publishing." With traditional deals no longer the only game in town, Ben explains why he built Midwest Games to run two publishing models under one roof: a classic invest-and-revenue-share arm, and "Shadow Publishing," a for-hire services model that lets developers keep their IP and revenue entirely.

Drawing on his background at 2K, Blizzard, and Netflix, Ben breaks down why he chose to root the company in the Midwest rather than a traditional hub, how studios actually choose between the two publishing tracks, and why investors like Prevail, Kun Gao (Crunchyroll), and Mitchell Patterson (Wolfjaw) bet on a hybrid publisher in a moment when capital is fleeing games for AI (and how it completely reversed from the VC financing era in 2021 where VC’s wouldn’t touch publishers). The conversation gets concrete with real portfolio examples plus Ben's take on discoverability, sourcing enough quality titles to publish something every month, and how AI is reshaping both developer costs and his own underwriting.

The episode closes with Ben's outlook on where publishing goes next.

We’d also like to thank Medal.tv for making this episode possible. If you're a PC gamer and want to clip your moments, or a studio, publisher, or marketer looking to reach a high-quality gaming audience and get your game in front of the right players, check out all Medal has to offer at https://grow.medal.tv.

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

For more episodes and details: Podcast Website

Free newsletter: Naavik Digest

Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website

Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.

This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, August 30th. In this week’s issue, we explore the present and future of kids games through the lens of Netflix launching Netflix Playground and Haveli acquiring Budge Studios.

You can read the newsletter (with even more sections and visual detail) here: https://naavik.substack.com/p/the-future-of-kids-games 

Learn more about Appcharge: https://www.appcharge.com/?utm_source=naavik  

Want to explore working with Naavik? Shoot us a note: https://naavik.co/contact-us/ 

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

Watch our episodes: YouTube Channel

For more episodes and details: Podcast Website

Free newsletter: Naavik Digest

Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website

Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.

Game server hosting is the layer nobody thinks about until it breaks. In this episode, Kalie Moore sits down with Max Podkidkin, Co-Founder and CEO of BisectHosting, to unpack how a Minecraft server that went dark for three days turned into a 15-year infrastructure business serving hundreds of thousands of customers across more than 140 countries. Max put the first hardware on a credit card, recruited a co-founder he met in his own Minecraft community, and built the company to nearly 100 employees without ever raising outside capital. They get into what those early years actually looked like, including hiding a laptop on a cart at a factory job to answer support tickets, the two years he and Andrew worked together over text before meeting face to face, and how a US and UK split gave them 24/7 coverage with a team of two.

The conversation also covers how the hosting business really works, from the economics of renting out resources to why running a server at home costs more than most people think. Max explains why BisectHosting has turned down repeated acquisition offers while private equity consolidates the market around them, how the team gets into a studio's Discord and pre-tests server files before working with a game studio, and what 15 years of hosting communities has taught him about why modding and UGC keep games alive long after launch. He also shares the studio's approach to AI, including Biko, the assistant built into their server panel that has cut support tickets by double digits without a single person losing their job.

Big thanks to Heroic Labs for making this episode possible. Gram Games used Heroic Labs to tailor offers and events by player cohort, calling it "critical" in a post-IDFA world where retention is everything. Read how Gram merged personalization and advanced social features into a core system of their live operations: https://heroiclabs.com/blog/gram-games-case-study/?_gl=1*709y52*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTI0MTAzNTM2Ny4xNzg1MjI4NzQ2*_ga_R9WLGSZ1KN*czE3ODUyMjg3NDUkbzEkZzAkdDE3ODUyMjg3NDUkajYwJGwwJGgw 

We’d also 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/.

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 - Max Podkidkin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/max-podkidkin/

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

Watch the episode: YouTube Channel

For more episodes and details: Podcast Website

Free newsletter: Naavik Digest

Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website

Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe

Links mentioned: https://www.bisecthosting.com/

This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, August 23rd. In this week’s issue, we share our latest podcast episode and tackle how and why the mobile games industry keeps converging on best practices across genres — and what that means for the future.

You can read the newsletter (with even more sections and visual detail) here: https://naavik.substack.com/p/the-great-mobile-convergence 

Want to explore working with Naavik? Shoot us a note: https://naavik.co/contact-us/ 

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

Watch our episodes: YouTube Channel

For more episodes and details: Podcast Website

Free newsletter: Naavik Digest

Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website

Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.

Between 2018 and 2024, the turnover of Portuguese games companies went from around 5 million to nearly 100 million. In this episode, Kalie Moore sits down with Jefferson Valadares, Co-Founder and CEO of partNerd and President of the Portuguese Association of Game Development Companies, to unpack whether a country long known for exporting its best talent can become a home for original IP. Jefferson has seen the industry from nearly every seat, as Studio GM at EA, Executive Producer at BioWare, Head of Mobile at Bandai Namco, and a board member at Rovio before its sale to Sega. They explore what the AAA years taught him about when to spend and when to wing it, why big companies keep funding games they already know won't work, and what he learned running studio acquisitions at Fortis Games about why most deals quietly lose their value.

The conversation also goes inside partNerd, the four-person studio he's building now, and why they're making an original co-op game exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2. Jefferson explains the thinking behind designing for asymmetric skill levels so parents, kids, and non-gamers can play together, why GameShare shaped their commercial model, and how hard it is for veteran developers to unlearn best practice and build something genuinely new. He also revisits Doppio, his early bet on voice as a gaming platform, and the timing that led to selling to Fortis in late 2021. Along the way he lays out the Helsinki parallel he sees playing out in Lisbon, why the hardest gap for emerging ecosystems is product rather than engineering or art, and what he thinks the industry is underestimating about the generation that grew up on Roblox and Minecraft rather than GTA.

This episode is brought to you by Appcharge, the payments platform built specifically for mobile gaming that processes over a billion dollars annually. Learn more here: https://www.appcharge.com/?utm_source=naavik&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=sponsorship_payments

We’d also like to thank Dive for making this episode possible! With its fully managed analytics and LiveOps platform built for game studios, 95% of their clients grow revenue in one year. All of that without having to hire an in-house data team. Learn more here: dive.games/scale.

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 - Jeferson Valadares: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jefersonvaladares/

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

Watch the episode: YouTube Channel

For more episodes and details: Podcast Website

Free newsletter: Naavik Digest

Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website

Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe

This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, August 16th. In this week’s issue, we examine Roblox, which lost nearly a third of its value after it reported Q2 2026 results. We explore what the latest numbers might mean for the present and future of the company.

You can read the newsletter (with even more sections and visual detail) here: https://www.naavik.co/digest/robloxs-expensive-year-of-good-intentions

Meet with Naavik at Gamescom: https://naavik.typeform.com/to/qE3Yw6pa?typeform-source=www.dropbox.com 

Want to explore working with Naavik? Shoot us a note: https://naavik.co/contact-us/ 

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

Watch our episodes: YouTube Channel

For more episodes and details: Podcast Website

Free newsletter: Naavik Digest

Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website

Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.