In our final episode of the season, Shams and Fernando drop the guest format to tackle a few persistent myths and misconceptions that have been quietly annoying us all year.

We dig into things like:

How a game can be a bestseller and still be considered a disappointment

What minority investments really mean — and what they don’t

No shouting, no hot takes (okay, maybe one), just two people who’ve seen a few things, trying to make sense of a business that often doesn't.

Thanks for listening this season — see you soon.

support us on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BusinessOfVideoGames

Nobody does shadow drops (the act of releasing a game with no advance marketing) quite like Landfall Games, who've done it many times; most recently moving 2 million units of PEAK in less than 2 weeks after shadow dropping it in June.

Fernando talks to Landfall's Chief Business Officer Rebecca Lautner and Head of Publishing Kirsten-Lee Naidoo to get the inside story of how they've become the masters of this unusual tactic.

XCOM designer and Sid Meier protege Jake Solomon is embarking on a new mission: CEO of his own studio. Jake gives Shams and Fernando a window into his extraordinary career, telling stories from his days at Firaxis and talking about his journey to found Midsummer Studios.

Follow Jake's progress at https://www.midsummerstudios.com/

Fourty two is the answer to life - but it's also the number of points of wisdom justly dispensed by games industry veteran Paul Kilduff-Taylor - mastermind behind Developer/Publisher/Operator - Mode 7 Games. Paul wrote the list of "42 Essential Game Dev Tips That Are Immutably Correct and Must Never Be Disputed by Anyone Ever At Any Time!"  and we unpack some of these and try to figure out why Paul is a very wise man. Because he is.

(sorry about Shams audio - its fixed in the next episode!)

Check out the original blog post here

https://modecollapse.substack.com/p/42-essential-game-dev-tips-that-are

And more info on Mode 7 Games: https://www.mode7.games/

Season 3 finally continues with a truly unique indie business auteur!

Xalavier Nelson Jr. runs Strange Scaffold, a game studio that defies convention—achieving repeated success while staying boldly artistic. Listen in to hear Xalavier and Strange Scaffold manage what so few others do. 

👉 Visit Strange Scaffold and explore their games here. https://www.strangescaffold.com/

As we're in a festive mood we decided to try something new and unpack what life is like at a service provider in the games industry. Some describe it as the hardest biz dev job in the industry and they wouldn't be wrong.

Serial entrepreneur Alexander Bergendahl shares how Lootlocker helps developers and publishers level up and get closer to their players. 

https://lootlocker.com/

This episode, we’re diving into the wild world of user-generated content (UGC) with Scott Reismanis, CEO of Mod.io. Ever wondered WHY mods go from hobby projects to gaming game-changers such as DOTA or CS? Scott’s here to spill the beans on Mod.io’s mission, the challenges of getting studios on board, and why UGC is still the future (spoiler: it’s awesome).

We’ll chat about big decisions, big trends, and big dreams for modding. 

Mods, memes, and major insights—don’t miss it!

In this episode we sit down with two true operators in the biz dev space - Callum Underwood and Alex Nicholson. By night they're up to shenanigans - by day - more shenanigans - but also they run Uwu Biz a one stop shop for your business development or really - any needs you might have as a successful developer. Callum and Alex regale us with how they operate in tough times.

https://www.uwu.biz/

Welcome to a new season of the Business of Video Games Podcast! Your host finally cut his hair, grew up and got himself a job (more on in a future episode)!

Meaning that this season we'll be bringing on a new co-host - Fernando Rizo - business developer extraordinaire - familiar to regular listeners. Expect monthly episodes this season and more behind the scenes materials for patreons - otherwise our format stays the same - the hardest hitting business interviews in the games industry.

In this episode we interview Soren Lundgard - CEO of Ghostship Games - developers of smash hit Deep Rock Galactic. We uncover the secrets of their success and how they are re-invest in the Danish games industry.

Finally we arrive at the season finale! In this episode your's truly shares the story of trying, and failing, at starting a game studio. Why start a studio in this day and age? How did Shams go about doing and why did the studio endeavour end in shambles (but with a lot of learnings)?

If you want to see some screenshots of some of the prototypes have a look here:

https://shorturl.at/4BWAS

See you next season!