Features expert analysis from Harshal Karvande (Lead Game Designer Rovio/Naavik Pro Contributor), Teemu Palomaki (Chief Game Analyst, Japan at GameRefinery), and Junde Yu (GM Gaming at data.ai) Lilith Games has been one of the few companies capable of releasing multiple top-grossing hits, one after the other. From the original DOTA Legends (aka Dot.Arena aka SoulHunters), … [Read more...] about Will Dislyte Be Lilith’s Next Big Mobile Gaming Hit?
How To Become A Great Games PM | The 4Ps PM Operating System
JK's career development framework for how to be an impactful and influential PM rather than just an organizer and analyzer. How do you become someone who can turn a project from failure to success? As a young management consultant, I had the opportunity to work with Rich Melmon. He, amongst other career accomplishments, was a partner at The McKenna Group and a … [Read more...] about How To Become A Great Games PM | The 4Ps PM Operating System
Why Bombay Play Believes in “Hyper-social” Games ft. Oliver Jones
Mr. Oliver Jones! Oliver was one of the earliest foreigners coming to India to work on F2P game development. He also worked as an early employee or co-founder at two of India's biggest F2P game companies: Zynga and Moonfrog. One of my pleasant surprises coming to India has been meeting with several wonderful game dev folks like Oliver. You really can't beat the … [Read more...] about Why Bombay Play Believes in “Hyper-social” Games ft. Oliver Jones
Bayesian Thinking for Startups ft. @SebPark
How startups need to incorporate new information better to build competitive advantage! Y’all remember Bayes’ Theorem right? Lol. For most of us who don’t remember, Bayes’ Theorem “describes the probability of an event, based on prior knowledge of conditions that might be related to the event.” Seb Park (Infinite Canvas, BITKRAFT) believes more startups, including … [Read more...] about Bayesian Thinking for Startups ft. @SebPark
Hot Topics: UA Apocalypse, Product Validation, Global Recession, & Employee Compensation | Philosophy #17
Brett Nowak and I talk about a lot of hot topics people have been discussing in the games industry. What are the hottest topics in the gaming industry right now? In speaking to a number of folks in the gaming industry virtually and in person in LA, it turns out there seem to be some common themes of interest for discussion. I also ran a quick poll on LinkedIn to see what … [Read more...] about Hot Topics: UA Apocalypse, Product Validation, Global Recession, & Employee Compensation | Philosophy #17
Garena Free Fire: Secrets to Success & Analyzing the Fall
The World's Most Downloaded Shooter Game Faces Major Headwinds This Year Garena Free Fire has become one of the most successful F2P mobile games of all time. Some highlights: Launched September 2017 on mobile before FortniteAchieved 1 billion downloads by December 20211Set a record of over 150M daily active users in August of 20212$4.33B life-of-product gross revenue … [Read more...] about Garena Free Fire: Secrets to Success & Analyzing the Fall
Will Harbin on Making a Comeback with Kingdom Maker
Lessons from Kixeye, The Past & Future of F2P, and Making a Comeback There was a time when Will Harbin was on top of the gaming world when he presided over Kixeye as CEO in the early 2010s. Or at least on the fastest growing platform of that time: social networks like Facebook and MySpace. Kixeye was coming off a string of innovative hit games on social canvas like … [Read more...] about Will Harbin on Making a Comeback with Kingdom Maker
Why User-Generated Content is the Future of Games
Sebastian Park believes user-generated content (UGC) will drive the next frontier in gaming. He’s betting on this belief with the new startup he cofounded, Infinite Canvas: a user-generated content publisher. Let’s use the McKinsey SCR (situation-complication-resolution) framework to characterize his thesis on UGC gaming. Or at least my interpretation of his … [Read more...] about Why User-Generated Content is the Future of Games
Entertainment IP in Games | Learn from the Best!
Hold up! How did Epic get Batman shooting guns in Fortnite?What are some of the biggest mistakes licensees make with big IP?What do typical IP deal structures look like?What are some crazy horror stories of IP gone wrong?How do you even get a big IP deal? Do you want the answers to these questions, plus a lot more, and war stories from some of the most experienced and … [Read more...] about Entertainment IP in Games | Learn from the Best!
The Path to Mastery: How to Become a Kensei (剣聖)
There was a time I wondered: “What do I ultimately want to do with my life?” Does having an easy job, a nice family, and a big house define a life well lived? Is that success? There was a time when two roads diverged in my career, and I considered: “Should I choose the path of difficulty or comfort.” Many of you may be making a similar decision in your own life. Should … [Read more...] about The Path to Mastery: How to Become a Kensei (剣聖)
Web3 Game Opportunities Explained…
Join a fascinating Web3 discussion with Jeremy Horn (FunPlus VP of Innovation), Niko Vuori (CEO of Blockstars), and Chris Ye (CEO of Uken Games) To the crypto-curious: One of the best events during GDC is the Drake Star CEO Reception hosted every year by Michael Metzger. Although lacking general social skills, I somehow managed to join a pretty fascinating … [Read more...] about Web3 Game Opportunities Explained…
Game Studio Fundraising for Dummies | LILA Games
LILA Games Raises $10M Series A BITKRAFT, Galaxy Interactive, and LILA legal counsel talk to me about Seed vs. Series A, Mistakes, Lessons & Key Takeaways “Get me the fuck off this email thread!” Hans yelled into the phone. “Is this the offer you’re taking? Did you communicate your process? Did you take this to your board? What are you doing?” “Oh whoops, my … [Read more...] about Game Studio Fundraising for Dummies | LILA Games
The Rise of the Indian Gaming Market
The history, market, key players, trends, key obstacles, and country comparison of the fastest growing market in the world, in collaboration with Aakash Gupta To All: India is exploding as a hub for innovation. These days, it seems more common to hear Unicorn announcements out of Bangalore than out of San Francisco. The numbers back up the feeling. Unicorn … [Read more...] about The Rise of the Indian Gaming Market
Winning as a PM: Skills vs. Personality
What are the skills and kind of personality required to be a winning product manager? What’s More Important for a Product Manager to be Effective? Skills or Personality? This question has come up from time to time and has been the source of discussion and debate. If you could boil down the critical skills or personality traits to help PMs win, what would those … [Read more...] about Winning as a PM: Skills vs. Personality
Game Industry M&A in 2022
Is Game Industry M&A in 2022 in Trouble? Last year, I believed that the nature of game industry consolidation was at the cusp of significant change. Two posts that addressed some of the significant changes occurring: The Warning | Game Companies Face Structural Transition in 2021Four Growth Paradigms: Zynga, Applovin, Skillz, and Jam City Part 1 and Part … [Read more...] about Game Industry M&A in 2022