Naavik Gaming Podcast Fandoms, Writing Moats, and the Future of Interactive Fiction
Apr 28, 2026
Terry Lee, CEO of Fusebox Games, a leader in narrative mobile games built on licensed TV IP. He talks about scaling content cadence, turning writing into the studio’s competitive moat, and using data-driven testing to evolve characters live. They discuss fandoms crossing TV and games, expanding beyond romance into formats like Big Brother and The Traitors, and how AI augments creative teams.
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Acquire Payers Not Installs To Boost Conversion
- Fusebox targets payer cohorts rather than mass installs, accepting higher acquisition cost for much higher conversion.
- The studio leverages IP trust plus targeted UA to bring in users who are already predisposed to spend.
Writers Trained As Data-Driven Conversion Engineers
- Fusebox treats writers and artists as business-minded specialists who A/B test dialogue and premium choices against conversion and retention.
- Every line and premium choice is iterated with data, enabling live rewrites to boost monetization.
Alex Became A Midseason Monetization Star
- The character Alex unexpectedly became the favorite in a Love Island season, so Fusebox rewrote later episodes to include and monetize him more.
- This demonstrates their ability to alter narrative mid-season based on weekly data reviews.
