Building the Next Game-as-a-Platform

Building the Next Game-as-a-Platform

Reading Time: 44 minutes Today, we explore what it takes to build the next big video game franchise powered by user-generated games. It’s a daunting task as Epic Games paid roughly $320 million to creators in the past year in order to incentivize creators to build new experiences on its platform. That’s enough money to develop and market a…

Queen’s Gambit: The Big Business of Chess.com

Queen’s Gambit: The Big Business of Chess.com

Reading Time: 36 minutes Chess is a business that has, without a doubt, been supercharged by linear media and has been booming since COVID-19. As one of the most tactically complex games ever designed, Chess has over 700 years of retention and history. But what is it like to build a chess empire? Chess.com, purchased by Erik Allebest and his co-founder for…

Toys x Games (with Spin Master)

Toys x Games (with Spin Master)

Reading Time: 26 minutes Major toy companies like Spin Master, Mattel, and Hasbro have all been expanding their influence beyond traditional toys for many years. Spin Master, in particualr, is known for launching popular entertainment properties like PAW Patrol and Bakugan, which have seamlessly transitioned into digital formats in the form of TV series, movies, and video games. Spin…

The Next Era of Modding – with Overwolf, Studio Wildcard, and Look North World

The Next Era of Modding – with Overwolf, Studio Wildcard, and Look North World

Reading Time: 36 minutes Modding has long been a force of innovation and creativity in the games industry, but the emergence of cross-platform, premium mods is set to take modding to another level. Thanks to platforms like Overwolf’s CurseForge, studios and publishers can now enable all sorts of creators — even other professional studios — to build on top…

New York Times Games, From Strength to Strength

New York Times Games, From Strength to Strength

Reading Time: 33 minutes The New York Times is one of the world’s most recognized newspapers and has been in circulation since 1851. With 10 million subscribers, the Times has a huge audience and an even larger cultural impact. But the Gray Lady isn’t content to just rest on her laurels and focus on news – other verticals in…

The New Business of Narrative

The New Business of Narrative

Reading Time: 40 minutes A new era of game developer has arrived to shake up narrative game making. In this episode, host Alexandra Takei, Director at Ruckus Games, welcomes Emily Pitcher, founder of Sondering, and Karla Reyes, founder of Anima Interactive, two Forbes 30 under 30 game developers focused on narrative innovation and socially conscious storytelling. The discussion delves into the evolution of narrative in…

Guild of Guardians on Immutable + Web3 Pulsecheck

Guild of Guardians on Immutable + Web3 Pulsecheck

Reading Time: 44 minutes Guild of Guardians, Immutable’s second major game after Gods Unchained, is one of the most anticipated web3 games of 2024. The game recently pivoted from a real-time RPG to an auto-battler, and is set for a May 15th global release. Guild of Guardians is one of the first games on Immutable’s new ZK-EVM blockchain, which…

Century Games: How a Top 20 Mobile Publisher Found Success on Roblox

Century Games: How a Top 20 Mobile Publisher Found Success on Roblox

Reading Time: 35 minutes Finding success on Roblox can be very challenging. There are over 20 million experiences created every year, and the play patterns are quite different from their more traditional mobile and console counterparts. That’s why UGC games analyst, David Taylor, sat down with Xiang Shen, the CTO of Century Games, a top 20 mobile publisher and the creators…

P2E is Dead? Long Live P2E! With Pixels.xyz

P2E is Dead? Long Live P2E! With Pixels.xyz

Reading Time: 45 minutes After the meteoric rise – and equally meteoric fall – of Axie Infinity, the term “Play-to-Earn” lost much of its cachet, and web3 developers avoided the term throughout the 2022-23 crypto winter. Adjacent concepts such as “Play-and-Earn” or “Play-to-Own” proliferated instead while developers and investors largely ignored the genre, and P2E was effectively declared dead….