We compare two major gaming companies, Embracer and Ubisoft, on this episode of Pixels and Profits. ✅ Business performance ✅ Valuation ✅ Future outlook of both companies We analyze their strategies, financials, and potential for growth. Timeline Summary: 00:00 - Introduction to the topic and overview of Embracer's business 03:00 - Discussion of Embracer's financials and debt situation 10:15 - Embracer's restructuring efforts and asset sales 13:45 - Embracer's tabletop gaming...

We discuss key themes & trends, critical takeaways, GDC panels/talks, and rumors from GDC 2024. OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro 2:35 VC, publisher investment in gaming is down 3:50 Moving to tighter efficiency in game development 7:05 More pain coming, 3-6 more months of industry rationalization 15:30 UA deterioriation since beginning of year 17:17 AI & Liveops key areas of focus 21:40 Importance of marketing and UA for mobile game success 23:45 Sensor Tower acquisition of data.ai 30:45 GDC...

Ludovic Bodin is an entrepreneur, investor, and now author of the book Atomic Scaling. Ludovic has learned lessons from the titans of the games industry and created a framework he believes can be applied to any other industry. Learn more about the lessons from Supercell, Valve, Zynga, and others and how they can apply to your games studio or company outside of games. OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro 1:20 How Ilkka Paananen, CEO of Supercell inspired Atomic Scaling - Keeping teams small for as long as...

Eve Chang shares her invaluable experiences and lessons from working on iconic mobile games like Temple Run and Bejeweled Blitz. Get ready for a session full of actionable insights and strategies that could redefine your approach to game development and live operations. Outline: [00:00] Introduction to Eve Chang and Overview [01:10] Eve Chang's Journey in Game Development [02:10] Eve's Approach to LiveOps [06:55] Designing and Product Decisions for Live Games [13:45] Biggest Lessons Learned...

Matthew Kanterman, Joseph Kim, and Brian Peganoff discuss Nvidia as well as gaming related offerings from the company: Nvidia business overview Future growth drivers Valuation Competitive landscape Future outlook --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gamemakers/message

We are seeing severe impacts around privacy and the ability to measure any post-device ID kind of fingerprinting world. So, we wanted to put together a five-part series helping advertisers understand the measurement crisis and the different tools and measurement signals available. #1. The first podcast in the series will be the overview of the measurement crisis. #2. The second podcast will be the actual state of last touch and the real value that last touch is bringing you. #3. The third...

Doom loops are a cycle of self reinforcing negative decisions and behaviors that lead to bad outcomes. In this episode I talk about my own experience trying to break my doom loop impacting both my professional and personal life. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gamemakers/message

At most companies doing the hard thing is uncomfortable and we avoid addressing some of the most critical issues that can mean the difference between success and failure. This is an audio read of my Philosophy Monday newsletter post. If you want to hear an audio version of those posts, let me know! Go to gamemakers.substack.com and comment there and I'll do more of these in the future. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gamemakers/message

Dive into the future of game development with Joseph Kim as he interviews Ben James, CEO of Atlas, a groundbreaking company at the forefront of integrating AI into the creative process of game design. In this exclusive interview, discover how Atlas's cutting-edge technology is transforming 2D reference images into fully-realized 3D models, propelling the development of immersive 3D MMO worlds into new realms of efficiency and creativity. What You'll Learn: ✔️ The innovative AI technology...

Supercell's Brawl Stars recently had a huge surge in downloads and daily revenue. How did they do it? We discuss with Matej Lancaric and Jakub Reimar from 2.5 Gamers and Ken Landen (former Kongregate, Scopely, Blizzard, and Hit Factor PM). --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gamemakers/message

We explore AI's significant impact in tech, especially game development. Let's discuss adapting to AI as a major technological shift, a technological change potentially as big as the impact of the Internet. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gamemakers/message

3 days before launching Palworld, Takuro Mizobe from Pocket Pair, published a blog post with the riveting story behind Palworld. Mistakes, lessons learned, and much more. Check it out: https://note.com/pocketpair/n/n54f674cccc40#2251bc9e-24bc-4539-8c0c-df500654bf43 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gamemakers/message

Livestreaming trends: 1. Which genres are the best? 2. Nostalgia for Baldur's Gate and Fortnite "OG" 3. Indies benefit 4. Multi-platform simulcasting e.g., Ninja Esports: 1. Esports rising again in 2023 2. 5 most watched titles: League of Legends, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, CS:GO, Dota 2, and Valorant Get the report here: Gaming, Esports, & Social Trends Report | 2024: https://insights.streamhatchet.com/2024-gaming-esports-social-trends-report --- Send in a voice message:...

Will games become more like movies and music with focus on subscription rather than ownership? An Ubisoft director thinks so. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gamemakers/message

Epic vs. Apple articles: The house always wins Apple to collect fees from Epic Games Supreme Court denied both sides' appeals of Epic v. Apple antitrust case. iOS will not have competing stores or payments. Apple releases new policy making 27% from external payments regardless. JK + Tim Sweeney Interview: https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw?si=21bGX3Qv2LAgDc5U --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gamemakers/message

Pocketgamer reported on GDC's State of the Industry report held every year before GDC. 3,000 game devs input about various topics. We cover: Concerns about AI Where AI is being used Game engine usage --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gamemakers/message

What happened? Brawlstars after years of doing well, grew massively from December to January! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gamemakers/message

More Layoffs: Layoffs confirmed at Choices: Stories You Play maker, Pixelberry Studios Google lays off 1,000+ employees in stealth as AI takes on the workload Report: Behaviour Interactive lays off 45 employees Youtube Chief Gaming Guy Laid Off --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gamemakers/message

Arthur Trusov and Joseph Kim discuss the latest gaming news from the past week. Layoffs: Unity to lay off 1,800 staff as it continues company reset Twitch is cutting one-third of its staff Playtika to cut 300 - 400 more jobs in latest rounds of layoffs Discord is laying off 17 percent of employees 11 Days Into 2024 And 2700+ Video Game Layoffs Have Been Announced Nacon exec says industry's problem is "too many games" UE5-Powered New Halo Reportedly in Development at 343...

In this podcast episode, Joseph Kim, Matej Lancaric, and Summer Liu discuss the profitability of the game Monopoly Go. They explore the controversy surrounding the game and the lack of a widely accepted definition of profitability in the industry. The conversation covers data analysis, marketing strategies, and the use of different creatives. The hosts also discuss the importance of understanding CPIs and the impact of scaling up advertising spend. The conversation delves into the topic...

Recorded mid December 2023. We discuss the current and future outlook of Roblox with a focus on financials. OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro 1:11 Overview of the business 5:00 Being a social network vs. gaming platform 5:43 Financial overview 7:06 How does Roblox turn around their profitability? Biggest expense buckets 11:51 Structure and components of Roblox business, 3 primary parts: client, studio, and cloud and 8 groups 14:30 Roblox creator economics and definition of a creator 17:45 Growth...

Discussion with Kylan Gibbs, Chief Product Officer at Inworld AI and Travis Boatman, CEO at Carbonated. We discuss Inworld's AI services around AI NPCs / conversational AI for games. OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro 2:00 Inworld AI origin story and application areas of relationships and progression 9:27 Roleplaying is biggest application area for social simulation and emergent storytelling 13:47 How Travis thinks about AI for his games at Carbonated 17:50 Personalizing content for players 20:09 JK’s...

Joseph Kim and Arthur Trusov talk top game charts, game industry news, and games we're playing. Savvy Games Group: “Approximately 75 percent of our capital allotment has not yet been invested” The future of iPhone gaming is in trouble My personal rollercoaster of job hunting and growth in the games industry Kim Kardashian: Hollywood mobile game to shut down Netflix considers ways to make money from video games in potential pivot Predictions for 2024’s gaming Star Citizen has a...

We discuss game industry news for the past week: Joseph Kim and Arthur Trusov. 0:00 Intro - New Years Eve 2:52 Top Steam charts - Baldur’s Gate 3, Lethal Company, Elden Ring and Cyberpunk 2077 big jumps  6:27 Top mobile charts - Ice Scream 8, 8 Ball Pool, Royal Match vs. Monopoly GO 9:40 8 Ball Pool Keeps Trucking from Gamemakers Newsletter, innovations and early history, opportunity in runner games 14:52 Sony Activision Riposte will involve mobile gaming from Reuters 20:27 from Owen...