12 min listen
The Calculus of Fun (Ep. 3)
FromGamecraft
ratings:
Length:
71 minutes
Released:
Jan 18, 2023
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
Mitch and Blake discuss perhaps the most important developments in the video games business since the 1990s: the explosion of casual and mobile gaming. Mitch explains how the casual business was catalyzed by the most unlikely of heroes. He talks about his time as the CEO of the first public mobile game company in the US (JAMDAT) leading up to the launch of the iPhone. They look at the rise of so-called "social gaming" on Facebook and how it was enabled by new advances in analytics and data science. They do a deep dive on the iOS App Store and Mitch talks about how Apple's desire to curate its end-user experience inadvertently led to the rise of Facebook as a customer acquisition gatekeeper. They end with a discussion of why SuperCell succeeded in building a multi-billion dollar mobile game business while Rovio did not. Links & Show Notes: Robert Westmoreland EA's “We See Farther” Ad Ion Storm Taneli Armanto / Nokia Snake JAMDAT Mobile S-1 Steve Jobs Announces the iPhone Mobile Games Dominate User-Acquisition Spending (2021) SuperCell
Released:
Jan 18, 2023
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (17)
Introducing Gamecraft: Gamecraft is a limited series podcast about the modern history of the video game business hosted by industry veteran Mitch Lasky and investor Blake Robbins. In this introductory episode, Mitch and Blake discuss the series as a whole, breaking... by Gamecraft