Deconstructor of Fun

Kress gets triggered by Newzoo's new report about the state of esports and live streaming. The team discusses ex-Riot and ex-Blizzard founding teams. Recap of why advertising in console games is not a good idea. Our take on Diablo Immportal coming to mobile and PC and analysis of why private equities are eying Ubisoft.  Links: Questions and Feedback The Slack Group Hosts: Mishka Katkoff, Eric Kress, Adam Telfer and Ethan Levy, Eric Seufert Sponsors: Google, ironSource, Appsflyer, Xsolla

Chris Heatherly’s long and accomplished career in the games industry spans toys, MMOs, mobile, free-to-play, and VR and includes work on some of the biggest brands in the world. He spent over 14 years at Disney where he worked on everything from leading smash-hit kid’s MMO Club Penguin, to leading their mobile initiative, to leading their toys business. After Disney, he joined NBCU to launch their games business where he developed games using world-famous brands including Jurassic Park, followed by a tour of duty at mobile, free-to-play developer N3TWORK leading Funko Pop! Blitz. Now, Chris has red-pilled on crypto and joined NFT collectibles startup Recur as their Head of Gaming & Engagement. Having already launched bespoke collecting experiences NFTU and Star Trek: Continuum, Recur is set to launch plenty more branded experiences as well as expand into play-to-earn gaming over the course of 2022. In this interview, learn why Chris red-pilled, what drew him to Recur, and how his experiences across toys, games, and kid’s MMOs influence his work building NFT experiences. This interview is hosted by Ethan Levy, who currently serves as Executive Producer of Legendary: Heroes Unchained at N3TWORK.

Heated take on the mobile market downturn. Discussion about Microsoft's move into the in-game ads business. What does a co-CEO mean for Huuuge games and why does the newest World of Warcraft expansion matters.  Links: Questions and Feedback The Newsletter The Slack Group Hosts: Mishka Katkoff, Eric Kress, Adam Telfer and Ethan Levy, Eric Seufert Sponsors: Google, ironSource, Appsflyer, Xsolla

News: Meta’s Horizon worlds monetization Sensor Tower: Q1 2022 mobile games spending dropped 7.1% to $21 billion Metaverse Articles (NFT Avatars, DOgs, and Epic + LEGO Metaverse) Check out: Avatar Platform for Cross-App Metaverse with Timmu Tõke, CEO of Ready Player Me, and Javier Barne's exquisite talk on game economies Links: Questions and Feedback The Newsletter The Slack Group Hosts: Mishka Katkoff, Eric Kress, Adam Telfer and Ethan Levy, Eric Seufert Sponsors: Google, ironSource, Appsflyer, Xsolla

I'll be honest. Before sitting down with Uri Marchand the most I knew about Overwolf is the ridiculous story that the company is going full remote and setting up their offices in the metaverse of Roblox. Based on that Roblox story I knew we'd hit it off. After all, I too love pranking Web3 fanatics. I'm happy I got to talk to Uri and Lee McNeil. There are simply no better people to discuss user-generated content. These two gentlemen have been a vital part of the modding industry that is now a thriving and rapidly evolving business. If you don't know much about modding, this episode is for you. Overwolf is no joke. They've raised $150M over five rounds with the latest round being $75M led by A16Z

News: With E3 2022 Canceled, Is It Time to Cancel E3 for Good? Gaming agency Loaded raises $20M in funding Why Netflix Should Sell Ads Links: The Istanbul Event Questions and Feedback The Newsletter The Slack Group Hosts: Mishka Katkoff, Eric Kress, Adam Telfer and Ethan Levy, Eric Seufert Sponsors: Google, ironSource, Appsflyer, PlayerWon HELP UKRAINIANS: For refugees fleeing to Poland: Polish Humanitarian Action, or the Polish Center for International Aid. For medical assistance on the ground in Ukraine: Médecins Sans Frontières or the Ukrainian Red Cross.

It’s the biggest hack in crypto history. As reported in The Verge et all, a hacker stole $625 million from the blockchain behind NFT game Axie Infinity. In this episode, we wanted to really dig into the mechanics of the Ronin sidechain, the Ronin bridge, and the likely form the attack took in order to explain the hack in simple, easy to understand terms. We end up referencing Ocean’s 11… a lot. We also bring crypto-gaming news updates from the past two weeks, including fundraising rounds from Crypto Raiders and NFT marketplace Fractal, the latest crypto move from GameStop, and DeFi Kingdoms' partnership with Ramp. Hosts: N3TWORK Executive Producer Ethan Levy and Play Ventures Principal Anton Backman. Unfortunately, Savage Games Studios CEO Michail Katkoff was too busy recovering from his Turkish Bath experience to join this one…

Many of us know how to develop a game. Many of us are experienced in running live operations. Yet only a few of us truly know how to successfully navigate through a soft launch and ship a modern mobile game. In this episode, Annelie Biernat (Game Director at Wooga) and Aaron Hiscox (Business Development Manager at Google Play) shared their insights and learnings on how to successfully complete a soft launch in today's market. Links: Questions and Feedback The Newsletter The Slack Group Hosts: Mishka Katkoff Sponsors: ironSource, Appsflyer, Google

If you’ve been following the blockchain space, the “blue chip” NFT project Bored Ape Yacht Club is inescapable. And as BAYC owner Yugalabs has progressed, it is clear that gaming is central to their future ambitions. There’s been a flurry of news recently, from their partnership with Animoca Brands to P2E game Benji Bananas to the launch of ApeCoin and the leaked investor deck pitching their big metaverse play. In today’s episode, we go deep on the investor deck, look into our crystal balls, and make our prediction on if the Bored Apes will one day rule the metaverse. We also bring some crypto-gaming news updates from the past two weeks, including FTX’s big gaming hire, Com2Us’s crypto game platform fundraise, and NFTU’s week 1 sellout. Hosts: N3TWORK Executive Producer Ethan Levy, Play Ventures Principal Anton Backman, and Savage Games Studios CEO himself, Mr. Michail Katkoff.

News: Bored Ape Yacht Club creator raises $450 million to build an NFT metaverse CD Projekt confirm The Witcher is coming back for a new game Sony Interactive Entertainment To Acquire Haven Entertainment Studios Inc. Links: The Istanbul Event Questions and Feedback The Newsletter The Slack Group Hosts: Mishka Katkoff, Eric Kress, Adam Telfer and Ethan Levy, Eric Seufert Sponsors: Google, ironSource, Appsflyer, PlayerWon HELP UKRAINIANS: For refugees fleeing to Poland: Polish Humanitarian Action, or the Polish Center for International Aid. For medical assistance on the ground in Ukraine: Médecins Sans Frontières or the Ukrainian Red Cross.