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I am having a fun and insightful talk with Yvette Wohn. Her Biography is here and that explains a lot about her background.  

Some questions she answered were "what she thinks about the virtual concerts in Fortnite, and why Epic Games is organizing these events? What does she think that the games industry could learn from those events? And, "How important is social interaction in live streaming and also where does she see problems right now and how are the current role of brands in the ecosystem and how it could be improved". 

Dr. Wohn's research area is human-computer interaction in the context of social media, focusing on non-conscious use of technology, such as media habits, and their relation to psychological well-being and interpersonal relationships. She also studies how social media can help with social support and social identity.

She’s been featured on Wired online, OprahMag.com, The Pew Research Center and has provided expertise on Esports and platforms such as Twitch.

Yvette is available for consulting, but limited in time, so game developers, here is your chance to reach out; Yvette Wohn!

And some gaming news; Publisher Scopely Buys Scrabble GO Maker PierPlay After Big Debut, Tencent partners up with Gameye for new digital conference and Google and EA partner to bring Star Wars, FIFA and Madden NFL to Stadia.

As usual, check out my website for more information and other episodes!

In episode 21 I am talking about branding. Not only for your game studio, but also for your games and in your games, like how is the story telling matching the visuals and therefore how you communicate with your gamer community. Jussi Solja of Superbeast is an exciting talker when it comes to all of this.

Also the report of AZS Consulting about South East Asia. Akmal Soliev is taking us through his report. Next to that our weekly items of Chris Reed of Level Up Experience and Joakim Achren of Elite Game Developers.

Next week it is about power women in gaming; Kate Edwards does not need any introduction. We discuss all issues around culture, geopolitics, games, world-building! But also Yvette Wohn, she holds a Ph.D. in Media and Information Studies. She specializes in human computer interactions in live streaming, Esports, gaming, and social media. She boasts a Ph.D. in New Media, Social Networks, Games.

Want to listen to more episodes of Game Consultant, then visit my site PodcastGameConsultant.com.

This week is Gaming & Finance. Last episode 19 I was talking to Sergei of Mail.ru Games Ventures. Today I am talking to Richard Williamson of the Edison Group. He got a report out that is called; European video games: A safe haven in troubled times, click here to read it. We talk about insights in streaming, valuations, esports and so much more. It was very interesting to get his view on the state of gaming in Europe.

Next to that I mentioned the initiative of "The Fast Forward Games". This initiative is brought to you by some of the leading angel investors and experienced executives in gaming, such as: Chris Lee, Ben Holmes, Akin Babayigit, Akira Ushioda, Matteo Vallone, Lior Shiff, Sekip Gokalp, Alvaro Alvarez del Rio among others.

The group has excellent access to the VC community. As part this initiative we have engaged the support of Cherry Ventures, Makers Fund, Play Ventures, and others to ensure they will fast-track opportunities that the ffwd.games initiative identifies.

Lastly, check out the message of Hendrik Lesser. He is doing an biz dev online event for developers to meet publishers and investors in times like these esp. important :) https://www.egbg.eu/  as you can see we already have good support by publishers. You can see the lastest updates on the website.

And, listen to my other episodes of Game Consultant here!

In this episode I have Sergei Evdokimov, an investment associate at Mail.ru Games Ventures. We talk about Gaming acquisitions and investments Q1 2020. Interesting to hear that Investors and funds pumped more than $700 million game startups in the first quarter. The volume of game merger and acquisition deals was $1.6 billion in the first quarter, compared to only $1 billion for the full six months of the first half of 2019. That was driven by big deals such as Scopely’s acquisition of FoxNext. Meanwhile, the first quarter investment amount of $700 million was down about 2.7 times from $3.8 billion in the first half of 2019 — where we can assume the average was $1.9 billion per quarter.

Sergei's Telegram channel: https://t.me/InvestGame/

Sergei's Blog at Medium: https://medium.com/@SEgames

Furtheron Chris Reed with Reed Thinks about esports, Joakim Achren with high gaming highlights of this week.

Also the latest interesting game news from Gamesbeat.com, GamesIndustry.biz and Pockgamer.biz.

Special thanks to Justin Berenbaum of noticing that GamesCom2020 is not happening this year. Also thanks to Ekrem Shahin, who wrote a post about Jason Kingsley, CEO of Rebellion, proactively reached out to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to offer Coronavirus safety advice within their titles - Rebellion is now displaying an on screen safety message before gameplay begins within its Strange Brigade and Sniper Elite titles. DCMS has now invited the UK's 2,000+ other games companies to join this national effort.

Next week wednesday more financials when I discuss this report European video games: A safe haven in troubled times with Richard Williamson of the Edison Group.

And of course, check out my website for more episodes; PodCastGameConsultant.com

In this episode esport item of Chris Reed, of The Level Up Experience, with "Reed Thinks", Joakim Achren, of Elite Game Developers, with his highlights of gaming industry and two companies to watch. Niklas send me a deck of GameBuddy and Kim of Aftermath.

And I found this via Borja; HYPE Virtual Accelerator Focused on Fundraising & COVID19 new gameplan. HYPE Sports Innovation has built the largest global ecosystem in sports innovation. With over 40,000 members, including retail brands, athletic clubs, federations and academia together with over 11,000 startups, HYPE has an unrivalled capacity for outreach to global partners across all sectors in this highly diverse field.

Next to that the game news. Links to the articles;

In Episode 17, 2 days later then normal, I am cleaning up my inbox. And I had two companies in mind to should be on your companies to watch list; Javier Rayón of Dream of Darkness and Yuval Koren of Pikoya.

Furtheron, Cris Reed is talking about esports and his thoughts. It is a funny episode today but also an eye opener.

And a shout out to Oscar Clark, congrats on the funding; Fundamentally Games raises seed round to help developers create live ops games.

And as of this sunday Joakim of Elite Game Developers will do a weekly item of his game topics and news.

Update; 40 more game companies have joined the World Health Organization (WHO) #PlayApartTogether coronavirus awareness campaign. And more the campaign has gained more than 4.7 billion consumer media impressions worldwide.

The promotional campaign, organized by the game industry on behalf of the WHO, encourages healthy physical distancing by bringing special events, exclusives, activities, rewards, and inspiration to some of the most popular games in the world.

In this episode I get to talk to Oliver Kern of Target Gamers. We talk about user acquisition in general, but also about how to adjust your user acquisition in games during this Covid-19 period and after the virus. Can and will consumer, read gamers, still be able to spend as much as before. How can you predict LTV, lifetime value? What can we expect today and later this year from other metrixs like retention, cost per install, CPM/advertising for your game and in your game.

I belief this is extra interesting for indie game developers, who might struggle with the current situation, but also gaming companies in general. Hope you like this and please send this also to other people in gaming.

Other episodes with Oscar Clark, Dean Takahashi, Doki Tops and others can be found on PodcastGameConsultant.com. 

People that worked with me on this episode; Doki Tops of Utomik.com and Cris Reed of The Level Up Experience.

Quick word; The games industry is doing realy well during this lockdown. All good, but lets make sure that we, as an industry, will also look after people that are being hurt, financially, physically and emotionally. It is our audience(s) that is under pressure by COVID-19, the corona virus. Let's make sure we also do our part to make the world healty and secure again!

Interview today was with Doki. He explains Utomik. Utomik is your unlimited play PC gaming subscription service with a weekly growing library. Their pitch is; Dive into 1000+ PC Games instantly. Your unlimited play subscription! Try the best pc-game subscription service 14-days free! New games added weekly. No Video Streaming. Family Fun. Don't Wait. Just Play. Cancel Anytime. One Subscription. Try For Free. Discover More.

And of course the weekly item about esports; Reed Thinks. Cris is giving his perspective on esports. Tech, finance and investors today!

If you want to listen to interviews I did before with Dean, Oscar, Jacob/Teddy, Odile and others, go check it out; https://podcastgameconsultant.com.

In this episode I am asking a few questions besides my take on what might happen in the games industry! I am inviting you to come and brainstorm. Let other people know, that I am trying to get something going here, where we, as a gaming industry, compare notes/thoughts/ideas. What can we expect from ourselves, the consumer and more. Check the question below and give me your input in the comments.

1. Are we going to see more revenues in second part of 2020;

2. Or will this decline when people have to get back at work;

3. Will the consumer get fincialy hit by the Corona Virus and will this have an effect on gaming revenues;

4. Big esports companies are seeing digital revenues going up, but event and merchandise revenues going down;

5. Were these esports companies more dependable on offline revenues then online revenues?

6. If we all think people will have less to spend then the following questions;

6.1; Are you launching massively all together in second half year 2020

6.2; Are the CPI's going to be too high then

6.3; Are the lifetime revenues being surpressed by financial difficulties of gaming audience

6.4; Will people stick to their old love instead of trying another game

7. Just a thoughts; end of 2020 entrance tickets for esports events will be too expensive!

A quick overview of the latest game-news. One interesting thing. Appsflyers is predicting increase for 2022 in user acquisition. My question is; In the light of the corona virus, can you seriously predict this?

My usual sources are; https://www.pocketgamer.biz/, https://www.gamesindustry.biz/ and https://venturebeat.com/category/games/.