Naavik Gaming Podcast

Naavik
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Naavik Gaming Podcast Podcast

The Naavik Gaming Podcast is a business-focused exploration of the companies, trends, strategies and leaders that are defining the future of games. To learn more and see other great content visit www.naavik.co.

  1. How to Bring Brands to Roblox

    6 DAYS AGO

    How to Bring Brands to Roblox

    Over the last few years, brands have increasingly gravitated to platforms like Roblox as a way to reach younger audiences. In 2023 alone, we saw 240 brand activations on Roblox, which doubled from the year prior. In terms of revenue, this contributed to over $80 million in brand spend, which equates to roughly 10% of Roblox's developer earnings for 2023. From the brand perspective, results can vary greatly depending on the execution. As advertisers, the cost per play session in a branded experience can range from as much as $1 to a fraction of a cent. Critical decisions include whether a brand should build its own experience versus integrate into an already popular one, and it's important to understand how well the brand resonates with Roblox's audience as well as any specific genre. With such uncertainty around outcomes, much of the spend so far has come from innovation budgets rather than traditional marketing allocations. To explore these trends further and discuss what needs to happen for advertising to further scale on Roblox, our host, David Taylor, sat down with three veterans of the Roblox advertising space, each with their own unique approaches: Matt Edelman, President of Super League Gaming, Harry Bienenstock, Head of Growth at Voldex, and Evan Zirschky, CEO of Turning Tables.  We’d also like to thank Neon – a merchant of record with customizable webshops optimized for conversion – for making this episode possible! Neon is trusted by some of the biggest names in gaming and can help you sell direct without the typical overhead. To learn more, visit https://www.neonpay.com/?utm_source=naavik If you like the episode, please help others find us by leaving a 5-star rating or review! And if you have any comments, requests, or feedback shoot us a note at podcast@naavik.co.   Watch the episode: YouTube Channel For more episodes and details: Podcast Website Free newsletter: Naavik Digest Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.

    1h 5m
  2. Sony, Microsoft, Valve, and Roblox: Who Will Be Platform King?

    SEP 6

    Sony, Microsoft, Valve, and Roblox: Who Will Be Platform King?

    The gaming industry is currently facing an identity crisis, with widespread layoffs, escalating budgets, and a flood of new games hitting the market. In light of these macro trends, game studios and platforms need to find ways to leverage their existing strengths or develop new strategies for long-term success. Ben Feder, Managing Partner at Tirta and former CEO of Take-Two, and Ken Wee, former CSO of Activision Blizzard King, join host Alexandra Takei, Director at Ruckus Games, to delve into the strategies of four major players in the gaming industry: Microsoft, Sony, Valve, and Roblox. Given the dynamic and uncertain future of the gaming industry, this episode explores how these companies and platforms are approaching content discovery, the role of AI in game development, innovative business models, and future-proofing their businesses. If you want to gain insights into the strategies of these four companies from industry experts, this episode is for you! We’d also like to thank Overwolf for making this episode possible! Whether you're a gamer, creator, or game studio, Overwolf is the ultimate destination for integrating UGC in games! You can check out all Overwolf has to offer at https://www.overwolf.com/. If you like the episode, please help others find us by leaving a 5-star rating or review! And if you have any comments, requests, or feedback shoot us a note at podcast@naavik.co.   Watch the episode: YouTube Channel For more episodes and details: Podcast Website Free newsletter: Naavik Digest Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.

    1h 5m
  3. Building a Creator-Focused 3D Engine with Hiber

    SEP 3

    Building a Creator-Focused 3D Engine with Hiber

    UGC is hot, hot, hot right now. Roblox is on track to pay out half a billion USD to creators - annually - and never has it been more possible for young, individual creators to make a meaningful living as “game developers.” But is Roblox the only place for such creators? HiberWorld, a platform that's empowering anyone to build and share their own 3D worlds, is trying to change that by making making it as easy possible for anyone, at any age, and anywhere in the world to build their own virtual worlds. HiberWorld has already achieved some impressive milestones, reaching 1 million worlds in 2021, 5 million in 2023, and 6.5 million at latest count. Underlying everything is Hiber3D, Hiber’s web engine, which is trying to make it as easy as possible for anyone to build their own HiberWorld. In this episode your host, Niko Vuori, sits down with Hiber’s Chief Strategy Officer Sean Kauppinen to discuss Hiber’s story, what growth strategies it has used to grow, and what differentiates it from Roblox. Check out Hiber on the web. You can find Sean Kauppinen on LinkedIn. For more information about some of the topics discussed in this episode, check out Dive Analytics for outsourced games BI, Nir Eyal’s excellent book “Hooked” about building habit-forming products, and The New York Times’ “Hard Fork” podcast for all things tech and particularly their excellent coverage of developments in AI. We’d also like to thank nSure.ai for making this episode possible! In the gaming industry, protecting revenue from fraudsters is crucial. That’s where nSure.ai comes in. As a proven industry leader, nSure.ai provides scalable payment fraud prevention that’s not just effective but tailored specifically to your needs. To learn more, visit https://www.nsure.ai/contact  If you like the episode, please help others find us by leaving a 5-star rating or review! And if you have any comments, requests, or feedback shoot us a note at podcast@naavik.co.   Watch the episode: YouTube Channel For more episodes and details: Podcast Website Free newsletter: Naavik Digest Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.

    1h 2m
  4. Emergency Pod: SEC vs OpenSea

    AUG 31

    Emergency Pod: SEC vs OpenSea

    On August 28th, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a Wells Notice to OpenSea, notifying the largest NFT marketplace that it is under investigation for operating as an unlicensed exchange, labeling the NFTs traded on the platform as securities. Founder & CEO of OpenSea, Devin Finzer, posted that “[t]his is a move into uncharted territory. By targeting NFTs, the SEC would stifle innovation on an even broader scale: hundreds of thousands of online artists and creatives are at risk, and many do not have the resources to defend themselves. NFTs are fundamentally creative goods: art, collectibles, video game items, domain names, event tickets, and more.”  In this very first Naavik Gaming emergency podcast, your host, Niko Vuori, sits down with Naavik web3 analyst Devin Becker and web3 operator Steven Wade to digest the news and discuss what this might mean for web3 gaming.  Here's Devin Finzer’s post announcing the Wells Notice. You can find Niko, Devin and Steven on LinkedIn. We’d also like to thank Overwolf for making this episode possible! Whether you're a gamer, creator, or game studio, Overwolf is the ultimate destination for integrating UGC in games! You can check out all Overwolf has to offer at https://www.overwolf.com/. If you like the episode, please help others find us by leaving a 5-star rating or review! And if you have any comments, requests, or feedback shoot us a note at podcast@naavik.co.   Watch the episode: YouTube Channel For more episodes and details: Podcast Website Free newsletter: Naavik Digest Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.

    1h 3m
  5. Monopoly Go! and Baldur’s Gate III: The Hasbro Perspective

    AUG 20

    Monopoly Go! and Baldur’s Gate III: The Hasbro Perspective

    Hasbro is known for iconic properties like Dungeons and Dragons and Monopoly, but is sometimes overlooked as the licensor of incredible video game successes such as Baldur's Gate III and Monopoly Go! In the last 12 months, Hasbro's licensed games have generated a staggering $3.25 billion, making it the largest entertainment IP licensor in video games, and almost doubling the revenue of the next largest licensor, Disney, which includes powerhouse franchises like Marvel and Star Wars. David Taylor sat down with Eugene Evans, the Senior Vice President of Digital Strategy and Licensing at Hasbro. In this episode we dive into Hasbro's approach to licensing IP to video game developers and how they’ve successfully transitioned their business from the physical playground to the virtual realm. We’d also like to thank nSure.ai for making this episode possible! In the gaming industry, protecting revenue from fraudsters is crucial. That’s where nSure.ai comes in. As a proven industry leader, nSure.ai provides scalable payment fraud prevention that’s not just effective but tailored specifically to your needs. To learn more, visit https://www.nsure.ai/contact If you like the episode, please help others find us by leaving a 5-star rating or review! And if you have any comments, requests, or feedback shoot us a note at podcast@naavik.co.   Watch the episode: YouTube Channel For more episodes and details: Podcast Website Free newsletter: Naavik Digest Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.

    52 min
  6. Building the Next Game-as-a-Platform

    AUG 16

    Building the Next Game-as-a-Platform

    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 new AAA franchise every year.  However, that hasn't discouraged start-up studios like Build a Rocket Boy and OCP from diving headfirst into the space. Build a Rocket Boy recently closed a $110 million Series D round and OCP a $16.25 million Series A.  Our host, David Taylor, sat down with Sergiy Galyonkin, Senior Vice President of Publishing at Build a Rocket Boy, and Mike Atamas, Co-founder and CEO of Omni Creator Products, to discuss their companies’ approaches and what each of them learned from their previous experiences working on Fortnite. We’d also like to thank Heroic Labs for making this episode possible! Thousands of studios have trusted Heroic Labs to help them focus on their games and not worry about gametech or scaling for success. To learn more and reach out, make sure to visit https://heroiclabs.com/?utm_source=Naavik&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=Podcast . If you like the episode, please help others find us by leaving a 5-star rating or review! And if you have any comments, requests, or feedback shoot us a note at podcast@naavik.co.   Watch the episode: YouTube Channel For more episodes and details: Podcast Website Free newsletter: Naavik Digest Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.

    1h 7m
  7. Animoca Brands and the Motorverse

    AUG 13

    Animoca Brands and the Motorverse

    Animoca has been an unwavering web3 cheerleader since day one, with a stated goal of leveraging blockchain technologies to “deliver digital property rights to consumers around the world and to help to establish the open metaverse.” The company develops and publishes a broad portfolio of both original and licensed IP, and has its finger in about as many web3 pies as anyone on the planet, through its over 450 investments in some big names like Yuga Labs, Axie Infinity, Consensys, Magic Eden, OpenSea, Yield Guild Games, and so many more.  One of Animoca’s goals is to build out a holistic ecosystem of digital car ownership, which they are calling the Motorverse. To learn more about Animoca and their Motorverse strategy, your host Niko Vuori talks with Will Griffiths, GM of the Motorverse at Animoca Brands.  The Motorverse: https://motorverse.com/ . You can find Will Griffiths on LinkedIn. We’d also like to thank Neon for making this episode possible! Neon is a merchant of record with customizable webshops optimized for conversion — and modern APIs that let you use your existing liveops tools — Neon is trusted by some of the biggest names in gaming to help you sell direct without the overhead. To learn more, visit https://www.neonpay.com/?utm_source=naavik  If you like the episode, please help others find us by leaving a 5-star rating or review! And if you have any comments, requests, or feedback shoot us a note at podcast@naavik.co.   Watch the episode: YouTube Channel For more episodes and details: Podcast Website Free newsletter: Naavik Digest Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.

    54 min
  8. Web3 Innovation with Mirai Labs

    AUG 2

    Web3 Innovation with Mirai Labs

    One of the biggest web3 hits of 2022, the horse racing game Pegaxy, generated over $200 million in sales, second only to Axie Infinity during that period. After building heads down during the crypto bear market through the end of the 2023, the company behind Pegaxy, Mirai Labs, is ready to ride again, now with its second game, Petopia, a top-down roguelite shooter. With its fresh and innovative take on guilds, fractional ownership of teams, and passive income, Petopia is looking to invigorate the play-to-earn (P2E) genre, having absorbed many lessons from the prior web3 wave. To learn more about the origin story of Pegaxy, what Petopia is doing differently, and the Mirai Labs roadmap, your host Niko Vuori talks with Corey Wilton, Founder & CEO of Mirai Labs.  Mirai Labs: https://mirailabs.co/. You can find Corey Wilton on LinkedIn. We’d also like to thank Overwolf for making this episode possible! Whether you're a gamer, creator, or game studio, Overwolf is the ultimate destination for integrating UGC in games! You can check out all Overwolf has to offer at https://www.overwolf.com/. If you like the episode, please help others find us by leaving a 5-star rating or review! And if you have any comments, requests, or feedback shoot us a note at podcast@naavik.co.   Watch the episode: YouTube Channel For more episodes and details: Podcast Website Free newsletter: Naavik Digest Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.

    1h 0m
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4.7
out of 5
23 Ratings

About

The Naavik Gaming Podcast is a business-focused exploration of the companies, trends, strategies and leaders that are defining the future of games. To learn more and see other great content visit www.naavik.co.

Information

  • Creator
    Naavik
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2024
  • Episodes
    340
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2023 Naavik, Inc.
  • Show Website
    Naavik Gaming Podcast

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