GameMakers

Mayur Bhimjiyani is the CEO and co-founder of Hypernova, an India-based F2P games studio building a GTA-like game focusing on the Indian market. Mayur speaks about his background, the history behind Hypernova, and why they are building Mayanagari, a game Mayur hopes to become as successful as GTA. OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro 1:02 Why do so many Indian game devs call Hypernova the most exciting game studio in India? 4:45 Why build Mayanagari - the GTA for India? 16:33 The history behind Hypernova 22:07 Mayanagari stage and launch plans 26:10 Mayanagari monetization model 33:30 The evolution of the India games industry- RPGs 35:38 New game dev vs. liveops in India (Zynga vs. Hypernova) 40:07 Positive areas and areas of improvement for new game dev in India 44:30 What do you look forward to from India game dev market? 45:20 How to contact Mayur or find out more about Mayanagari?

OUTLINE: 0:00 Sequoia Capital India introduction 0:49 Intro to Shailesh Lakhani and Prachi Pawar 3:29 Type of investments and founders they seek 4:36 Surge pre-Series A program 5:30 Specific opportunities and trends in India 9:04 Gaming opportunity in India 13:51 Specific gaming investment opportunities they seek 14:59 Why did Sequoia India invest in Lila Games? 16:30 Current investment environment, macro factors 19:19 Advice to founders based on current trends 21:10 Outlook on Web3 22:51 Advice to founders who would pitch Sequoia India SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube:    / gamemakersstudio   👇 EPISODE LINKS: - Sequoia Capital India Website: https://www.sequoiacap.com/india/ - Shailesh Lakhani: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shailesh-... - Prachi Pawar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prachi-pa...

OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro  0:33 The "brutal" game dev environment   2:11 Current market environment vs. before  3:50 More about Funcraft and the business situation  8:15 Funcraft's biggest challenge  9:40 How do you determine what game to make?  11:52 Biggest lessons and challenges of startups vs. big companies to achieve success  14:54 Challenge of new game dev from big companies  17:20 Lessons for mobile gaming startups in current market environment  19:50 Focus vs. "don't bet the farm"  22:12 Keep going or do you tap out? When to pivot or quit?  26:55 The benefit of just being alive  28:20 Current primary challenges  31:45 Thoughts around selling your company   34:10 Advice to new entrepreneurs in F2P gaming  36:30 Thoughts on current marketing challenges  39:40 Future trends and opportunities  41:50 Final thoughts on state of market and overall market outlook  43:05 How to reach Michael 👇 EPISODE LINKS: - Michael Martinez, CEO of Funcraft: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinezmichaelj/ - FunCraft: https://www.funcraft.com/ SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio

OUTLINE: 0:00 Bloomberg article on stack ranking at Blizzard 1:01 Introduct to speakers: Matthew Kanterman, Drew Levin, and Brett Nowak 1:48 High level thoughts on stack ranking as a practice 5:33 Stack ranking poll results - Majority are against 7:30 JK hypothetical situations to use stack ranking 25:40 Character vs. cruelty in stack ranking during recruiting 36:30 Management rationale behind stack ranking 39:27 Should the Blizzard manager have been fired? 47:10 Stack ranking ties to capability of management layer 50:45 Stack ranking for performance evaluation 1:07:10 Why employees should get close to company value creation to avoid layoffs 1:08:40 JK's crazy stack ranking performance evaluation idea - investing virtual $ in co-workers 1:26:40 Final thoughts on getting canceled 👇 EPISODE LINKS: - Matthew's reference to The Office Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wqQXu13tLA - Matthew Kanterman, Director of Research at Roundhill Investments: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-kanterman-cfa-b6345133/ - Drew Levin, Director of Product at Riot Games: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drew-levin-7a225626/ - Brett Nowak, CEO at Liquid & Grit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-nowak-8920675/ SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio 😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! — • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1 • TWITTER → @jokim1 • LINKEDIN → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/ — POPULAR CONTENT — 🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies https://youtu.be/bkd2TOpKt4I 🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021 https://youtu.be/NejFzHtpiZI 🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming https://youtu.be/_QT7O3Wxi2s 🔴 Games Industry M&A https://youtu.be/65nyPk6WNrs 🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games https://youtu.be/tHq3PzmjhLw 🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact https://youtu.be/Ojec4wGKpso 🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score https://youtu.be/5egTSQ6AiRA 🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices https://youtu.be/tmzqqnYbjNY

OUTLINE: 0:00 Intro  0:50 Jordan Phang self intro  1:35 Mobile shooter game market size  2:53 Competitive concentration in mobile shooter and Asia  4:25 Success in China  5:40 US market and games to watch out for  6:50 Adapting games for specific markets like Japan and China  8:25 Naavik's shooter taxonomy and problems with classification  12:52 Explanation of extraction shooter sub-genre  14:15 Current extraction shooter games: Lost Light, Arena Breakout  15:22 The thesis behind extraction shooter as the next big subgenre in mobile shooters  17:18 Monetization of shooter games  21:50 The future mobile shooter games to watch out for  23:38 Warzone Mobile  24:38 Players looking for something new  27:00 Problems with Apex Legends Mobile (we recorded this in Jan 2023, before the shutdown announcement)  28:15 Outlook for 2023: Get excited! 👇 EPISODE LINKS: - Get the free Naavik Pro report on Mobile Shooters here: https://naavik.co/deep-dives/genre-report-shooter-preview?rq=mobile%20shooters - Jordan Phang: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-phang-8137b710/

Moritz Baier-Lentz is a partner at Lightspeed Gaming, heading up their gaming investment practice. Today we discuss viewing life as a game and how to optimize your own goals towards life by thinking about life as a game and how to break the meta. You won't want to miss this unique and interesting discussion, so check it out! SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio OUTLINE: 0:00 Introduction, the concept of life as a meta game 1:16 Explanation of "meta" and viewing life as a game 6:32 Moritz's background, career history 12:15 What are current metas for success in life? Breaking the meta 15:26 Breaking conventional wisdom, play as experimentation: work vs. play 23:00 Cross-combining different skills or industries to build a new meta 29:20 Approaching life as quest objectives, Moritz's framework for life 34:00 Details on Moritz's life framework 37:10 Examples of interesting life initiatives from Moritz, achievement by discipline 41:55 Using being "extreme" to accomplish goals, how to stand out 45:34 JK's weird dating example 46:45 How does someone pursue extremism? 52:30 The next chapter at Lightspeed Gaming for Moritz 55:55 What will become of Moritz's LA gaming parties? 👇 EPISODE LINKS: - Moritz Baier-Lentz: https://www.linkedin.com/in/moritzbaierlentz/ 😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! — • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1 • TWITTER → @jokim1 • LINKEDIN → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/ — POPULAR CONTENT — 🤑 Economy of the Metaverse with Tim Sweeney https://youtu.be/h6ClJxjuRvw ℹ️ How to Build the Amazon of Game Companies https://youtu.be/bkd2TOpKt4I 🔮 Gaming Trends | A Look Ahead at 2021 https://youtu.be/NejFzHtpiZI 🖥️ The Future of PC Gaming https://youtu.be/_QT7O3Wxi2s 🔴 Games Industry M&A https://youtu.be/65nyPk6WNrs 🔴 Netcode for Multiplayer Games https://youtu.be/tHq3PzmjhLw 🔴 IDFA Deprecation Product Impact https://youtu.be/Ojec4wGKpso 🔴 Trip Hawkins on the New High Score https://youtu.be/5egTSQ6AiRA 🔴 LiveOps F2P Best Practices https://youtu.be/tmzqqnYbjNY

Happy Thanksgiving!  I'm in India this year and had a Mexican burrito bowl in the office by myself. Lol. As I sat in the office late at night, I recorded another cringe and weird video for my kids. Too many people undervalue opportunity! I just wanted to let you know that I'm grateful this Thanksgiving for the opportunity to try to build something meaningful. It's not looking good right now, but that's what entrepreneurship is all about: how do we take a low-probability scenario and turn it into a high-probability outcome?  LFG!

We deep dive on eSports. Current market and growth projections, what kinds of games do well, business model, structure, prize pools, key trends, geographic differences, and more! Join us with our esteemed group of speakers: Ilaria Caputo (EA), Matthew Kanterman (Ball Metaverse Research Partners), and Hugo Tristao (Newzoo). Speaker links below. 👇 EPISODE LINKS: Ilaria Caputo, https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilaria-caputo/ Matthew Kanterman, https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-kanterman-cfa-b6345133/ Hugo Tristao, https://www.linkedin.com/in/tristaohugo/

Stoffer Touborg was a lead game designer on Eve Online at CCP, led Wild Rift at Riot, and currently acts as Executive Producer on Bitcraft Online for Clockwork Labs.   Stoffer is one of the most thoughtful game industry executives I know, and I regularly ask Stoffer for advice on leadership, organizational principles, and recruiting.   Today we talk about not just about coming up with a desired set of company values and culture, but how to actually implement or install these within a company.    SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS:  - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio  OUTLINE:  0:00 Intro  2:13 Stoffer Touborg Background  3:07 Definition of Company Culture and Warning for New Employees  6:06 Values vs. Culture Definition  9:10 Employees Need to Confirm Cultural Fit, Values Need to be Good, Given Context, and Fair  14:16 Installing Values/Culture in a Company, Communication vs. Implementation  16:47 Values Manifestation Board 20:45 Why is Company Culture Critical? Sometimes Values Don't Matter  25:40 How to Deal with Employee Cultural Misalignment  31:34 Executive Accountability for Culture Mismatches  32:15 Recruiting for Culture Fit 36:30 How to Deal with Culture Exceptions for a Specific Need - "The Dennis Rodman Rule"    👇 EPISODE LINKS:   Stoffer Touborg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristoffertouborg/ The Game Stoffer is Working on, Bitcraft Online: https://bitcraftonline.com/  😃 —CONNECT WITH ME! —   • MY INSTAGRAM → @jokim1  • TWITTER      → @jokim1  • LINKEDIN      → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokim/   

I speak to Rahul Chowdhri, an investor at Stellaris Venture Partners, about the venture capital market in India, the current state of investment here, and his outlook on investments in gaming in India.   OUTLINE:  0:00 General landscape of venture capital in India  2:20 Specialist vs. generalist VCs, the definition of micro-VC  3:35 Sudden investment interest in gaming in India  4:48 Should investors invest early in gaming or wait for talent to emerge?  5:17 Info on Stellaris and what they look for from a pitch?  6:25 Typical funding for Seed vs. Series A in India  7:13 Expectations for Series A  8:09 What do you look for in an entrepreneur/CEO?  12:11 How should entrepreneurs consider the global economy in their fundraising?  14:36 Advice for entrepreneurs who want to pitch Stellaris    👇 EPISODE LINKS:   - Stellaris Venture Partners: https://www.stellarisvp.com/ - Rahul Chowdhri: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulchowdhri/  SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS:  - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameMakersStudio