Deconstructor of Fun

Deconstructor of Fun
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Deconstructor of Fun podcast is created by games professionals for games professionals. We explore the business side of the games industry with the goal of bringing listeners content that is relevant, insightful, and entertaining on a weekly basis. Hosts: Michail Katkoff www.linkedin.com/in/michailkatkoff/ Eric Kress www.linkedin.com/in/erickress/ Phillip Black www.linkedin.com/in/phillip-black-economist/ Jen Donahoe www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferdonahoe

  1. TWiG #371: Clash Royale Chaos, Blizzard’s Big Reset, & The AI Illusion

    1 HR AGO

    TWiG #371: Clash Royale Chaos, Blizzard’s Big Reset, & The AI Illusion

    We recap the Clash Royale creator controversy and CEO apology, dig into what’s broken with evolutions, heroes, and pay-to-win, and debate whether streamers can actually drive a comeback. We also cover Savvy’s rumored MoonTon deal, Blizzard’s updates across Overwatch, Diablo, and WoW, the slowdown in mobile games, the frozen state of M&A, and a reality check on AI in games - from hype to hard limits. 00:25 Welcome & Episode Lineup (No More Car Talk) 01:52 Rumor Mill + Why We’re Skipping Matthew Ball (For Now) 03:10 GDC Plans, Events, and Content Plug Roundup 06:00 Ad Break: Sensor Tower Pitch 06:20 Clash Royale Creator Controversy Recap + CEO Apology 09:44 What’s Actually Broken in Clash Royale: Evolutions, Heroes & Pay-to-Win 11:45 Do Streamers Drive the Revival? Twitch Data, Correlation vs Causation 13:02 PR Playbook Debate: Groveling vs Proactive Creator Celebration 21:53 Savvy’s Buying Spree: $6–7B MoonTon Rumor (Mobile Legends) 27:15 Overwatch Drops the “2”: DAU Surge, Live Ops, and Monetization Revamp 32:43 Blizzard’s comeback tour: Diablo drops, WoW housing & Overwatch’s 10-year arc 35:49 Mobile check-in: Habi’s 2026 slump and the post-Survivor.io reality 38:16 The real engine behind Habi: Gorilla Games and the “publisher outgrown” problem 40:36 M&A hypotheticals: Scopely, Savvy, and why deals feel frozen right now 42:36 AI in games debate: calling out the hype and what actually changes the medium 44:50 Why AI won’t make games cheaper: IP moats, attention scarcity, and AI-native platforms 49:17 East vs West AI reality check: layoffs, pipeline bottlenecks, and player backlash risk 57:03 Embark as an AI efficiency poster child? The smoke, mirrors, and AAA cost skepticism 01:01:43 Closing thoughts: mobile growth is over, share-of-time wars, and next week’s plug

    1h 5m
  2. 322. Female-First as a Moat: Dorian's Business of Fandom UGC with founder Julia Palatovska

    3 DAYS AGO

    322. Female-First as a Moat: Dorian's Business of Fandom UGC with founder Julia Palatovska

    User-generated content (UGC) isn’t “make anything.” It’s “make something that someone cares about.” In this Deconstructor of Fun conversation, Julia Polatovska, founder of Dorian, a creator platform for mostly women + Gen Z, goes past the pitch and into the operator questions. Who creates, who wins, what monetizes, and what breaks at scale when you're building a UGC platform. Connect with Julia: www.linkedin.com/in/palatovska/

    47 min
  3. TWiG #370: Supercell’s Annual Letter, Reading Between the KPIs

    6 DAYS AGO

    TWiG #370: Supercell’s Annual Letter, Reading Between the KPIs

    Supercell’s annual CEO blog post reads equal parts culture memo and a recruiting pitch. We break down what is behind the PR spin before zooming into Clash Royale’s Lil Wayne halftime show as a case study in where “brand” ends and product-led fandom begins. From there, we triangulate the broader market: Newzoo’s year-end PC/console recap as a reminder that attention is consolidating, not expanding; Roblox’s growth story as it starts acknowledging gravity; and an update on Budge and PE as capital keeps rewriting the rules of what “good” looks like. We close by wishing the best to the team impacted by Riot’s 2XKO layoffs. 00:31 Podcast Overview and Today's Topics 00:58 Market News: Roblox Earnings and More 02:14 AI and Gaming Industry Insights 03:25 Unity's Financial Struggles 04:43 Community Engagement and Volunteering 20:44 Game Industry Updates: Budge Studios Acquisition 24:23 Roblox Q4 Earnings Analysis32:19 The Challenge of Monetizing Young Audiences 32:33 Roblox's Strategy to Age Up 33:02 Advertising Challenges for Under-18 Demographics 33:26 Negative Margin Users on Roblox 35:19 Upcoming Episode Teaser: Roblox's Algorithm Changes 38:23 Supercell CEO's Annual Blog Post 39:05 Clash Royale's Rebound and Marketing Strategies 44:14 Squad Busters: A Postmortem 44:54 Supercell's Future and Industry Insights 49:01 The Role of PR in CEO Letters 52:18 Supercell's Innovation vs. LiveOps Debate 01:02:21 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

    1h 5m
  4. 321. Art Directing in the AI Era with SciPlay's Peter Franco

    9 FEB

    321. Art Directing in the AI Era with SciPlay's Peter Franco

    The evolution of art direction, the integration of AI in creative processes, and the balance between creativity and business acumen. That's on the menu as SciPlay's Sr. Art Director, Peter Franco, joins Michail Katkoff on the podcast. Read more about Peter's work on modernizing a top-grossing game: https://tinyurl.com/mn2bdweb Timestamps: 2:12 - Peter's journey into Social Casino 4:42 - Evolution of art direction roles 7:13 - Balancing creativity and business 9:23 - User feedback in design 12:07 - Importance of seamless UX 15:44 - Player behavior insights 20:28 - Benefits of using IPs 25:16 - AI in art pipelines 30:18 - Future skills for art directors 35:33 - Maintaining stylistic consistency 40:49 - Future of art direction 45:07 - Personal influences and career advice 53:25 - Advice for aspiring art directors 59:25 - AI and creativity

    1h 2m
  5. TWiG #369: Genie 3 Explodes, Game Stores Die, & High Guard Stumbles

    5 FEB

    TWiG #369: Genie 3 Explodes, Game Stores Die, & High Guard Stumbles

    Mobile publishing isn’t dead, it’s mutating! In this TWIG episode, we break down how Ares Interactive is trying to resurrect Glu with a $70M Series A and what that says about the current “publisher vs. studio” power balance. We also tackle Google’s new immersive world model, Genie 3, and the industry’s first defensive reflex: how do you keep the genie in the bottle when the bottle is an API? Phil drags us into Highguard Marketing, making us unpack the pitch, the incentives, and why “pseudo-defending” it still feels like a red flag. Finally, we hit Arknights: Endfield launching off the back of a reported 35M pre-registrations, and what that number does (and doesn’t) predict once the game meets CPI, retention, and live ops gravity.

    1h 5m
  6. Shooter Monthly #4: The World's Biggest Shooter May Surprise & The Thing Highguard Needs to Learn

    4 FEB

    Shooter Monthly #4: The World's Biggest Shooter May Surprise & The Thing Highguard Needs to Learn

    The question nobody in the West wants to answer honestly: the biggest shooters in the world are not the ones you argue about on Twitter.This episode rips into Highguard’s shadow drop, the “beta that isn’t labeled beta” problem, and the stubborn reality that the shooter market has converged into two and only two genres: Battle Royale and tactical.We talk Highguard and Spectre Divide as case studies for why “ex-Apex devs” is marketing copy, not a strategy, and why in 2026 a shooter doesn’t get a long runway to “fix it live.”Guest: Christopher Anjos, with Chris Sides and Feras Musmar.We discuss:- High Guard as a MOBA-raid shooter hybrid and why its best moments arrive only after five minutes of downtime.- Defense phase, resource phase, then the game finally becomes itself: mounts, CTF energy, base raiding.- Shadow drops vs. tech tests: why the Apex Legends playbook doesn’t port cleanly into 2026.- “Early access” is just launch, and Steam labels don’t save you from retention.- The 3v3 trap: high risk formats where one leaver or one death warps the whole match.- Why 3-person squads feel like a couple plus a third wheel, and when 3v3v3 or 5v5 might actually work.- The “two genres” thesis: Battle Royale and tactical shooters as the market’s default equilibrium.- The creator-credit illusion: “ex-Red Dead lead designer” as a brand signal that often means nothing.- Players want auteur vibes; production reality is thousands of hands and fuzzy accountability.https://graygoatgaming.com/

    1h 2m
  7. 320. State of Mobile 2026: The 9 Trends That Matter

    2 FEB

    320. State of Mobile 2026: The 9 Trends That Matter

    Sensor Tower Report 2026 breakdown with Jonathan Briskman. We unpack the biggest mobile app trends 2026 and mobile gaming trends 2026. We discuss monetization shifts (IAP vs ads), market localization strategies that actually move the needle, and the rise of AI-powered apps changing consumer behavior and competition. State of Mobile 2026: https://bit.ly/4bvjI2b Chapters: 02:13 - Downloads plateau, in-app purchase revenue up 07:15 - Apps overtaking traditional gaming in revenue growth 12:05 - US market trends: AI, short drama, social media 15:14 - The rise of generative AI platforms 16:03 - In-app revenue growth comparison: apps vs. games 20:09 - Non-game monetization lessons from successful apps 26:49 - Top performers in downloads and IAP 32:50 - The attention economy 46:05 - The explosion of generative AI content in social media 60:13 - Trends in hybrid casual, hyper-casual, and ad spend efficiency 65:18 - Market barriers and the advantage of existing data for new entrants 73:35 - Investment opportunities 82:29 - Future outlook: differentiation through tailored, niche AI solutions

    1h 29m
  8. TWiG #368: Ubisoft Cuts, TikTok Slips, and Gaming’s Next Distribution Crisis

    29 JAN

    TWiG #368: Ubisoft Cuts, TikTok Slips, and Gaming’s Next Distribution Crisis

    Ubisoft layoffs point to deeper problems in AAA, a16z fund performance shows VC money tightening up, and TikTok’s future as a growth channel for games looks far less certain — from ownership issues to slowing ads and algorithm risk. We talk about what this means for user acquisition, why AI video apps are starting to matter, concerns around GDC attendance and safety, The New York Times stepping into mobile games, and why monetizing word games remains so hard. We also cover the launch of High Guard and wrap up with what to watch next as the industry enters its next reset. 00:00 Welcome01:49 Meeting Mihir Va from EA05:50 PGC Recap and Rumors17:23 Ubisoft Layoffs and Critique21:28 A16Z Fund Performance Analysis30:44 TikTok's New American Entity31:18 TikTok's Impact on the Gaming Industry31:51 Ownership and Future of TikTok in the US33:37 Concerns Over Content Moderation and Algorithm34:36 TikTok's Stagnation and Advertising Decline35:36 Emerging Threats: AI Video Apps38:31 GDC Attendance and Safety Concerns43:46 New York Times Enters the Mobile Gaming Market49:36 Challenges in Monetizing Word Games52:13 Launch and Reception of High Guard57:33 Conclusion and Upcoming Topics

    59 min
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About

Deconstructor of Fun podcast is created by games professionals for games professionals. We explore the business side of the games industry with the goal of bringing listeners content that is relevant, insightful, and entertaining on a weekly basis. Hosts: Michail Katkoff www.linkedin.com/in/michailkatkoff/ Eric Kress www.linkedin.com/in/erickress/ Phillip Black www.linkedin.com/in/phillip-black-economist/ Jen Donahoe www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferdonahoe

Information

  • Creator
    Deconstructor of Fun
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2026
  • Episodes
    754
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Deconstructor of Fun
  • Show Website
    Deconstructor of Fun

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