Inside Video Gaming News 24/7

Next event is coming up, NG20 is November 25th-27th. You can register online here.

Also check out the new podcast of Oliver, listen here to his first one.

The episode 39 and episode 40 have both first parts of their interviews. I got realy some interesting feedback on Malta and MENA. One fun example is that Pascal Claryssebecame more convinced to bring his studio Big Karma to Malta.

News & Insights

I have as now every Sunday a Weekly Game News Recap. 

This week we had also other news;

• Gamescom 2020 Opening Night Live Event
• Fall Guys Crosses 7 million Mark
• Unity files IPO and reveals massive losses

If you want to read more news around gaming, then visit our News and Insights section.

GamingMalta

GamingMalta is an independent non-profit foundation set up by the Government of Malta and the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA).

Tasked with the remit of promoting Malta as a centre of excellence in the digital and remote gaming sector globally, it is also responsible for liaising with the local relevant authorities to improve Malta’s attractiveness as a jurisdiction and enhance the ecosystem surrounding the gaming industry.

GamingMalta primarily aims to: Promote Malta as the world’s premier online gaming jurisdiction and a centre of excellence and raise Malta’s profile as a quality jurisdiction for the licensing and regulation of gaming companies, both locally and internationally.

Ivan Filletti is the Chief Operations Officer for the Gaming Malta Foundation. Prior to joining GamingMalta, Ivan was CEO for advertising agency, TBWA/ANG across both Malta and Greece.

Tamatem Games

Tamatem is the leading mobile games publisher in the MENA market. Tamatem’s HQ is in Amman, Jordan.

The company works hand-in-hand with international studios and developers, to localize and make their games culturally relevant for the Arab gamer. They are entirely focused on serving Arab smartphone users with games tailored for the language and culture of the region.

Timothy Bendt is Chief Growth Officer of Tamatem Games.

If you want to listen to more episodes of our games podcast, then click here for all episodes.

The games podcast is back, a small break and re-energyzed. Look and feel of the site has changed, better hosting, fresh new logo, new intro and outr music. So I hope you like it!

Today two territories; India and the MENA. I have chat with Tim and Rahul are talking about the regions, their companies and lots about gaming what you should know.

Cris Reed is talking about Joe Rogan and his opinion about gaming & addiction. Check out what Cris what writing on linkedin!

Also I did start to work with Sergei and Anton on their project InvestGame.net. They keep track of all financials in and around gaming. Do check out the site if you want more financial information.

This episode you can listen on spotify here and youtube here!

So more information about the gaming companies that are featured in today's episode.

Games24x7

Founded by New York University alumni Trivikraman Thampy and Bhavin Pandya in 2006, Games24x7 is one of India’s leading gaming companies with a full-stack portfolio of Skill Games and Casual Games including RummyCircle and My11Circle. 

Backed by the marquee firm Tiger Global and a host of investment entities from the US, Games24x7 continues to expand its stronghold in the Indian gaming industry, while diversifying and investing in other technology opportunities and expanding its gaming business to the international gaming markets. With a 450 strong team, Games24x7 has offices in Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Miami. 

By leveraging technology, product innovation, data science, and experience, Games24x7 aims to become a 21st-century scientific gaming company: built out of India for the world.

Visit www.games24x7.com for more information.

Tamatem Games

Tamatem is the leading mobile games publisher in the MENA market. Tamatem’s HQ is in Amman, Jordan.

The company works hand-in-hand with international studios and developers, to localize and make their games culturally relevant for the Arab gamer. They are entirely focused on serving Arab smartphone users with games tailored for the language and culture of the region.

Their experience is in localization, user acquisition, distribution, cross-promotion, monetization, community, support and whales management can help get your game on the top of charts, increase revenue and ensure its success in the Arabic market. Whether you are looking to publish a newly successful international game or trying to revive an old hit title, Tamatem is your best partner in the MENA region.

Next week remaining parts of these interviews. If you want to listen to more episodes of our games podcast, then click here for all episodes.

GamingMalta is an independent non-profit foundation set up by the Government of Malta and the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA).

Tasked with the remit of promoting Malta as a centre of excellence in the digital and remote gaming sector globally, it is also responsible for liaising with the local relevant authorities to improve Malta’s attractiveness as a jurisdiction and enhance the ecosystem surrounding the gaming industry.

GamingMalta primarily aims to: Promote Malta as the world’s premier online gaming jurisdiction and a centre of excellence and raise Malta’s profile as a quality jurisdiction for the licensing and regulation of gaming companies, both locally and internationally.

Ivan Filletti is the Chief Operations Officer for the Gaming Malta Foundation. Prior to joining GamingMalta, Ivan was CEO for advertising agency, TBWA/ANG across both Malta and Greece.

He was instrumental in leading his agency to winning major new business accounts including Bank of Valletta and servicing blue chip clients such as McDonald’s, Nissan and Mr Green. During his tenure, the agency gained international recognition for a McDonald’s Quality campaign and Nissan brand positioning for Malta.

He has also held senior marketing roles in the private sector focusing on beverage and retail specifically with Simonds Farsons Cisk pls, Malta’s largest brewer.

Vgames, a new games fund;

People used to think of games as the “future of entertainment,” but the future is here! Games already are a major part of the global entertainment industry. VGames is the venture fund for game entrepreneurs. Having worked with some of the youngest and most mature developers, they have a deep understanding of what it takes to build a great game. They are passionate about games, and about supporting companies as they grow to become global leaders.

In episode 39 the second part of my talk to Eitan Reisel. If you want to listen to the first part, then click here.

In 2013, Eitan founded the Google Games team based out of Tel Aviv, working with the largest publishers globally to build the right tools and services to support game companies. Eitan worked closely with CEOs on building the right organization for scale, data driven models and moving the needle in terms of the value Google provides to game publishers, regardless of size. Now he wants to help game founders with investments.

More episodes of PodcastGameConsultant.com, you can find here!

People used to think of games as the “future of entertainment,” but the future is here! Games already are a major part of the global entertainment industry. VGames is the venture fund for game entrepreneurs. Having worked with some of the youngest and most mature developers, they have a deep understanding of what it takes to build a great game. They are passionate about games, and about supporting companies as they grow to become global leaders.

In episode 38 I am talking to Eitan Reisel. In 2013, Eitan founded the Google Games team based out of Tel Aviv, working with the largest publishers globally to build the right tools and services to support game companies. Eitan worked closely with CEOs on building the right organization for scale, data driven models and moving the needle in terms of the value Google provides to game publishers, regardless of size.

Also the second part of the interview with Robby Yung, CEO Animoca Brands. We dive in deeper on how blockchain can be a service for the gaming industry.

Robby started several businesses in China and Hong Kong, including those in mobile telecoms and software applications, cable television, internet services, outdoor advertising, and publishing. He has raised many rounds of private and institutional venture capital for these businesses as well as done four IPO’s, several trade sales, follow on financings, and lots of M&A. I would say he is super experienced.

Blockchain-enabled games

Animoca Brands develops blockchain-enabled games, which facilitates a genuine form of digital ownership of in-game content and collectables in its games. The digitised approach allows players to maintain ownership features across games and platforms, compared to the traditional game industry, where content is owned by the developer/publisher and rented by the player.

Robby started several businesses in China and Hong Kong, including those in mobile telecoms and software applications, cable television, internet services, outdoor advertising, and publishing. He has raised many rounds of private and institutional venture capital for these businesses as well as done four IPO's, several trade sales, follow on financings, and lots of M&A. I would say he is super experienced.

What is Animoca Brands?

Animoca Brands leverages gamification, blockchain, and artificial intelligence technologies to develop and publish a broad portfolio of mobile products including games such as The Sandbox, Crazy Kings, and Crazy Defense Heroes as well as products based on popular intellectual properties such as Formula 1, Garfield, Snoopy, Thomas & Friends, Ever After High and Doraemon. Animoca Brands’ portfolio of blockchain investments and partnerships includes Lucid Sight, Dapper Labs (creators of CryptoKitties), WAX, Harmony, and Decentraland. The Company is based in Hong Kong, Canada, Finland, and Argentina.

Blockchain-enabled games

Animoca Brands develops blockchain-enabled games, which facilitates a genuine form of digital ownership of in-game content and collectables in its games. The digitised approach allows players to maintain ownership features across games and platforms, compared to the traditional game industry, where content is owned by the developer/publisher and rented by the player.

The mission of Animoca;

They leverage their unique capabilities to develop compelling consumer applications with focus on:

• Motivation
  Ensuring applications are fun and engaging: Games, Gamification
• Technology
  Foundational: Mobile, Blockchain and AI
• Innovation
  Staying ahead of the curve by strategic and technological means

It was a very learningful interview for myself and I do hope for my listeners too. In this article I did link to Robby's linkedin and to the corporate website. So if you want to learn more, feel free to reach out to either Robby or the company. The interview is done in two parts, since it was quite long. two times 25 minutes. So Episode 38, which will be released next week, will have part two!

A little later then normal. But episode 36 of my games podcast beholds interesting interviews about a new indie games fund, plitch.com and cheats for esports and Cris talking about FaZe Clan and more.

Several top executives behind FaZe Clan are leaving to start a competing organization called XSET

Since its founding in 2010, FaZe Clan has grown from a team of Call of Duty players to a multipronged media company, encompassing influencer marketing, content production, talent management and e-commerce. Lee Trink, its chief executive, has described FaZe as the Dallas Cowboys meets Supreme meets MTV.

Cris is talking in his item Reed thinks about FaZe Clan.

The Iterative Indie Games Fund

The game industry is growing by leaps and bounds. In 2020 alone, estimates place the market size at US$159.3 billion with a 9.3% CAGR.

According to data available on Steam, the median lifetime revenue per game is US$220,000 and the mean lifetime revenue is $2,669,000 (i.e. the tail is fat). These are extremely healthy profit margins considering the lower development cost of indie games.

I had a quick talk with Matthew Quek about the fund and their vision.

The Iterative Indie Games Fund provides non-diluting project-based investments into each game studio we incubate.

Investment is then first recouped when the game is launched and once the initial investment has been made back, revenue share begins with a 50/50 split.

Using Dustforce as an example, Iterative Indie Games Fund would have invested $100,000 into the development of the game.

Once the game is completed and launched, the first $100,000 of revenue would go back to the fund. Subsequent profit would be split between the game studio and the fund, resulting in a first-year profit of $284,245.

Applying a revenue curve based on historical data, we get an estimate for the total lifetime revenue for the game of $ 1,215,436. This is a whopping 316.26% IRR for the Fund.

Megadev.info / Plitchcom

For those who have known MegaDev before, PLITCH will be a kind of the MegaTrainer 2.0. The company is doubling down on a successful, reliable product, giving it a new, sleek, modern, technologically powerful and most importantly more-than-ever user focussed redo.

PLITCH sets out to become the ultimate platform and community for PC game customization, while never letting down it’s core purpose: A reliable all-in-one game assistant boasting with tens of thousands of individually programmed, quality tested and always up-to-date cheat codes for single player.

Rob is taking us through his offering!

About PodcastGameConsultant.com;

Reinout is a games investor and strategic business consultant specializing in the games industry. Reinout established his credentials through his own successful investments, start-ups, consulting and (advisory) board positions that led through time to strong bonds with key stakeholders in this fast paced industry.

Esports be like! A full episode where I get to talk to Darcy of Torgue Esports. Actualy it is part 2 of our talk earlier this month. First part was in Episode 34. Next to that I am talking to  Semih of Blocksport.io, who is in the Hype Program of Borja, who I talked to in Episode 32. Blocksport supports (e)sport clubs, streamers, influencers, federation and leagues with a dedicated white-label mobile app. Furtheron I had a chat with Rob from MegaDev, who tells with great passion about cheats and how esport pro's can become better, train etc. His new training (software) platform Plitch will be all about that, and for us of course, the ones that thought we were so good at gaming but still like a challenge.

Paul is taking us through a week of gaming. Interesting news, views and insights.

Torque Esports is focused on accelerating new, live, immersive esports and interactive gaming experiences for consumers through its partnerships with traditional and emerging media companies and providing online interactive technology platforms and monetization services.  I had an amazing insightful talk with Darcy Lorincz, who is the COO of Torque Esports. Torque Esports will be under the umbrella of Engine Media, together with Winview and Frankly.

If you would like to see a company presentation, then click here for more information!

And a new game podcast item, gaming news and his take on it; Paul Thind! Every week his take on the world of gaming.

Up to now, Torque's combined companies have clients comprising more than 1,200 television, print and radio brands including CNN, ESPN, Discovery/Eurosport, Fox, Vice, Newsweek and Cumulus; dozens of gaming and technology companies including EA, Activision, Blizzard, Take2Interactive, Microsoft, Google, Twitch and Ubisoft; and have connectivity into hundreds of millions of homes around the world through their content, distribution and technology.

Torque Esports brands and businesses include UMG, Stream Hatchet, Eden Games, IDEAS + CARS, The-Race.com, WTF1 and Allinsports. Newly add-on Frankly provides a complete suite of online content and monetization solutions, Another interesting asset is WinView.tv,a Silicon Valley-based company, a pioneer in mobile gaming and interactive second screen viewing and the owner of a portfolio of foundational patents in the field of interactive media.

As said earlier, Torque Esports will be under the umbrella of Engine Media. Engine Media is focused on accelerating new, live, immersive esports and interactive gaming experiences for consumers through its partnerships with traditional and emerging media companies.

When I did some research this describtion came up; "Engine Media will be devoted to pulling in revenue for sports, esports, and news content with a set of businesses covering the esports sector, gaming-related to live sports events, content management, and streaming services. There will also be a focus on data-driven advertising and intellectual property as it pushes out smartphone cash and skill games."

The company trades publicly under the ticker symbol (TSX-V: GAME) (OTCQB: MLLLF).  Engine Media will generate revenue through a combination of 1) direct-to-consumer and subscription fees; streaming technology and data SaaS-based offerings, 2) programmatic advertising and sponsorships, 3) as well as intellectual property licensing fees. 

Soon, latest early september, the company will make its move to the Nasdaq. So keep following the news of this hyper-interesting company.

If you want to hear more episodes of this games podcast, then tune in. We are on all the games podcasts platforms!

Today I am talking to Niklas Hatje of GameBuddy. He is talking about game streaming and his company. Interactive and entertaining esports is his motto. I talked about GameBuddy before in the podcast, meaning they are still on my radar!

Team based challenges, where you are not only striving for victory but also live challenges, power to the fans, who can vote for which challenge the streamer has to engage with and to which fans are being monetized.

Fans can buy additional votes and challenges to support their favorite streamers

Influence the gameplay of your favorite streamer!

Streaming is awesome! But streaming alone is broken according to GameBuddy. It lacks a way to directly interact with the streamer. As a viewer you either find yourself in an empty chat or in a chat that is completely overloaded.

“GameBuddy live” challenges change that. By choosing challenges for your streamer directly on Twitch you can let him/her know what to do next in the game. The best part is: You and the streamer get points that rank you in a leaderboard and that helps your streamer to unlock prizes for you. The more points, the better the prizes. How does that work?

VOTES ARE CASTED IN TWITCH EXTENSION

Each viewer can vote for the next live challenges in our Twitch Extension and has one vote. By using Twitch Bits viewers can buy additional votes. Shortly after each voting, the most voted challenge is played by the teams.

ONE GAME - MANY CHALLENGES

Each live challenge averages a length of 2 to 3 minutes, depending on the game. There are many different challenges possible, that guarantee variety, funny moments and completely new strategies to win.

LIVE DATA TRACKING

To ensure that challenges are fitting and being validated in a live context, each player has an application installed that tracts ingame data.

Furtheron I challenged Niklas with some topics on Mixer’s shutdown, Twitch’s suspension policy on abuse and hate and some insights for the future. But also second screen, broadcasters tried, gaming did it!

Lastly I did also a sanity check. Is my son abnormal with 3 screens? NO, he is not, thank god! He just started on Twitch and has 2 followers. Obviously he wants 10mio followers. Who knows, but for now he is playing because it is fun, he can talk to friends and listen to music. Oh, and he does his homework!

Loved the interview and impressed with GameBuddy, do check out their platform GameBuddy.gg. 

Esports is booming and of course you could expect that someone would start an accelerator for esports. I did talk to Borja Varela, who is the program director of Hype Esports.

HYPE esports is a technology platform that’s dedicated to connecting and investing in esports innovation worldwide. The programme provides participants with access to the international sports world, offering training and networking opportunities.

Hype esports payoff is “the 1st global esports accelerator”

The program is trying to solve the esports industry’s real problems. You can get funding and work with the biggest brands in esports.

“Showcase a real implementation to the entire ecosystem” is making sure that participants are focusing on those industry challenges.

The accelerator will select 15 startups from applications to participate in a three-day boot camp, where they pitch in front of a selection committee, that will then select five startups to take part in the pilot program.

The five startups will receive a €20K EUR ($22K USD) cash investment as well as €100K ($110K) in facilities, exhibitions, and mentorship hours.

Additionally, the best startup in the program will receive a €50K ($55K) convertible loan. The pilot program will kick off in May and come to a close in August when the startups get to pitch their projects at SPONSORs’ SPOBIS Gaming & Media conference.

For other episodes of the game podcast you can go here.

But as Joakim says; "When it comes to founding new gaming companies, we need more data people and UA people as co-founders, to create a more diverse approach to game development. That is yet to happen." So if you are are data driven and love User Acquisition, then check out the Helsinki gaming scene. You might find a job!

Helsinki And Mobile Gaming

Helsinki is already the Silicon Valley of mobile gaming. We have Supercell, Rovio, Seriously, Small Giant Games, and Next Games. More are coming as dozens of new gaming startups are created every year. But Joakim believes that the potential next stages of the ecosystem's evolution are being held back. We have so much talent and capital available. So what could be holding the ecosystem back? Read about it on Elite Game Developers Blog.

Esports And Burn-out

Cris Reed talks about getting a burn out as a pro-gamer. He shared an interesting post on Linkedin. A quote of Jian “Uzi” Zihao, a famous League of Legends player in China;

“As a result of staying up late for years, a fatty diet and being under insurmountable stress, last year I found out that I was type-2 diabetic... My mental state is not as good as it was before.”

Latin Game Event called BIG, Brazil's Independent Games Festival

Every year BIG Festival hosts the largest business videogames conference in Latin America, bringing together the most important local and international players from the industry.  In 2019, there were more than 100 free lectures (free) and more than 4,000 meetings attended by 630 professionals (125 international companies), generating more than US$ 63 million in predicted returns for the companies that attended the event.

Futuresource Consulting Webinar Invitation

Consumer spend on video gaming continues to flourish, with annual spend set to close in on $150bn this year, taking more of consumers’ free time and more importantly dollars – a trend magnified by this year’s Covid outbreak. This webinar is set to highlight, interpret and identify the opportunities that the gaming eco-system can offer to the wider entertainment sector, from promotion of non-gaming content, identification of new revenue streams through to new alternative delivery platforms. The date of this webinar is Wednesday 17th June at 4pm BST (30 Minutes 10 mins Q and A).

PlayStation5 is Coming!

Good days for gaming fans are about to come as Playstation 5 is arriving this year. The device is coming with many sizzling updates and features that would amaze you. Wanna know about it? Let’s have a look.

For more episodes of Game Consultant, check out my website!

In Episode 8 I did ask Carlos Estigarribia some questions concerning Latin America, or LATAM as people call it. Gaming in LATAM. You can listen to this episode to get to know more about game studios, publishers and more. Today I want to know more Esports, localization of games, game events and other interesting topics that you should know about when targetting LATAM for your games.

Who is Carlos;

Carlos Estigarribia is  a Brazilian game industry veteran, who founded LocZ Games in 1996. Sold LocZ to Playphone/Skyzone in 2006 and then established Electronic Arts their first studio in Latin America in 2008.

He was also one of the founders of Abragames, the Brazilian Game Developer Association, and RightZero, a consulting company focused in helping publishers to setup or launch games in Brazil. Currently is GM Brazil and LATAM at Lockwood Publishing, developer of Avakin Life.

Carlos and I talk about an event, where he is hosting a panel. The event is called BIG Festival (Brazil's Independent Games Festival) and is there  since 2012 and is the most important independent games festival and business forum in Latin America.

On top of exhibiting the most innovative games in the world, the event is also the most important meeting point for those who want to have a deep understanding of games, with lectures, workshops, keynotes and the biggest games business forum in Latin America.

Local Play in LATAM;

But also we dicuss a local hero game, which was eveloped by an internal studio of Garena. Free Fire was released in 2017 and has since built a strong audience in Latin America and south east Asia. Carlos is telling me that this is a game that is growing fast. 

Somehow, in a market that holds both cultural behemoth Fortnite and original trendsetter PUBG, there is still room for battle royales to breathe. Garena's Free Fire is one such game, yet another mobile battle royale that sticks X number of players on a big island and tells them to murder each other for fun. But Free Fire is thriving, having recently hit 80 million daily active users and surpassing $1 billion in revenue last November, just two years after it first launched.

Gaming in General;

Across all three segments (PC, console, and mobile), almost half of consumer spending on games will come from China and the U.S. in 2020. However, growth will be driven by emerging markets in regions like Latin America and Asia-Pacific in the years to come.

Esports;

Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games have become incredibly popular among video gamers in recent years. MOBAs are witnessing continuous growth in emerging markets, especially in Latin America. Latin America is in the perfect position for a major upswing when it comes to esports. The region has 45 million viewers, with profits soaring close to $12 million in 2019. Mexico was the second country that generated more audiences in the region after Brazil. While the MOBA segment in Latin America is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 20% during the forecast period, the PC and console segments are projected to observe grow rates of over 20% each for the same period.

Furtheron;

Next to that I have Cris Reed, talking about the recent events in the USA and Esport. Joakim Achren is sharing his vision on the Zynga/Peak acquisition.

Some weeks ago I had a chat with Dave Westin of Mobile Growth Association (MGA), I have known Dave for a very long time. He updated me about their upcoming event MGS Global Virtual Conference 1.0 and their roadmap for 2020-21. Local communities is part of their plan. It sounded very exciting and he mention I should talk to the CEO of this association, Jen Laloup. I did a fun and interesting interview with her. 

Just a quick warning for people before you listen, her last name 'Laloup' means 'wolf' in french! It took the challenge and it turned out she was not scary at all, 100% passionate about her work. It got me excited!

MGA is organizing an online (virtual as they call it) event that is extremely interesting for every mobile game developer globally. It is called 'MGS Global Virtual Conference 1.0' and the dates are June 2 till 4, 2020.

What does Mobile Growth Association (MGA)

Mobile Growth Association (MGA) is a global community providing mobile marketing professionals with frontline content, education, and events to help grow their app businesses and their careers. Drawing on its roots as a not-for-profit organization dedicated to education, Mobile Growth Association (MGA)  is committed to building the world’s most comprehensive set of resources for an accessible community of mobile experts.

The events prioritize community and content quality above all else, attracting a high-caliber audience of mobile marketers, developers and user acquisition managers working in games, commerce, and other app categories, as well as executives representing Adtech, Martech, and data companies.

Interview with Jen Laloup

Jen is highly experienced in growing and scaling organizations. She brings to MGA a wealth of experience spanning, publishing, media, and news. 

Her skillset focuses on driving growth and performance, operations, organizational management, content strategy and distribution. She thrives in fast-paced and mission driven organizations. 

Jen believes in MGA's mission to provide mobile app marketing professionals with a community that has the information, tools, and opportunities one needs to connect, grow, and thrive in this fast-paced industry.

Event information MGS Global Virtual Conference 1.0, June 2 - 4, 2020

Join your peers and experts from around the globe to learn, connect, and grow at MGS Global Virtual Conference 1.0—an event held entirely online that includes all the features you’ve come to expect from an MGS event. 

Together we can solve old problems and new ones to keep the mobile industry moving. Ask questions, network, visit the trade show floor just like an in-person event—all without stepping foot in an airport.  

This event spans four geo's, and covers topics on UA, Monetization, Branding, Fraud, Mobile Gaming to surviving in a post-COVID-19 landscape. App Publishers can receive a complementary pass by using the Promo Code MGSINVITE when registering for a pass.

Furtheron, Cris Reed with his esport item "what is esports" and Joakim talks about option-plans and pitch decks. Latly, more online events, summer editions are coming up. E3 is dead, long live the 31 events replacing it.

His name is Aðalsteinn Óttarsson, but his friends are calling him; "Alli".

He describes himself as a transformation leader with 18 years of game development experience as Director, Producer and Programmer. In his past roles he has lead large organizational changes to accelerate the delivery of two iconic video games - EVE Online and League of Legends. 

At Riot he recruited and managed a large team of Game Development Mangers across both League of Legends and the R&D efforts which were (and are) focused on putting the "s" in Riot Games. He is known for a large appetite for large scale and hefty challenges, solid and sustainable outcomes, building strong teams, and performing miracles.

Originally from Iceland living in Southern California provides a stark contrast to the icy rock in the North Atlantic Ocean. He has a serious travel bug, a love for music and culinary aspirations. 

Two nice did you know facts! He ran a drum'n'bass club and did stadium announcements for the Icelandic national handball team.

We covered quite some questions I had;

• how is it to investing in gaming;
• how are you looking at pitch decks and founders;
• tips for approaching investors;
• what is your take on the current status of gaming (2020 incl Covid) and what are the expectations for 2021 and beyond;
• what was your most interesting investment (can also be a company/studio that didnt make it);
• how is makers fund guiding and coaching gaming entrenpeurs along the way;
• are you a GAMER? And which games do we find on your devices.

Normaly Cris is talking about esports, but he had a super busy week with Career Fest, but he shared a link of a panel I did with him; Fireside Chat - "Emerging Tech: What's Next for Gaming?" https://youtu.be/YIjvwYJSdZo

Joakim, who's wife is having her birthday on Sunday, is talking about the perfect pitchdeck for gaming studios. You got to check it out.

I hope you enjoyed listening and remember you can subscribe for Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or go to my podcast website PodcastGameConsultant.com.

I got an email from Anuj Agarwal, he the Founder of Feedspot. I had been submitting my gaming podcast & website Podcast Game Consultant on Feedspot. He personally congratulated me as the gaming podcast and website Podcast Game Consultant had been selected by their panelist as one of the Top 40 Gaming Podcasts on the web; https://blog.feedspot.com/gaming_podcasts/

As I am doing this since mid-jan 2020, this is such a rewarding message to receive. So, thank you!

Esports And Legal

My interview today is about Esports and how important legal is. Not only the contracting part but also having a legal expert advising you on things like for example; the name of the esports team and/or organization. Once you'll find out the name was already taken as a brand, it is TOO late.  Who better as Justin Jacobson could update me!

He is an entertainment and esports attorney, author and media personality. He represents professional athletes, musicians, producers, songwriters, DJs, fashion designers as well as professional gamers, esports organizations and teams.

Named a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers for the last five years, Justin is a legal contributor to TuneCore, HypeBot, The Journal of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A. and the Touro Law Review.

Justin has served as an Instructor of Music Business at the Institute of Audio Research in New York City, guest speaker at Cardozo Law School, Bergen County Community College and ICON Collective in Los Angeles, California.

He has also been featured by a range of industry publications including: YourEDM, Mental Floss, The Esports Observer, Esports Insider, SportTechie, Break The Game, The Ballgamer, and Operation Sports.

You want/need more info about legal and Esports? Contract Justin over at The Jacobson Firm, P.C.

Website - www.jacobsonfirm.com

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/justinmjacobson

Twitter - https://twitter.com/justinjesq

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/justinjesq/

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinmjacobson/

Nordic Games Online 2020

NG20 online this 27-29 May features an exciting three-day live streamed program including a string of great speakers and our popular Nordic Game Awards show, exclusive activities and giveaways on our Discord server as well as MeetToMatch Unlimited online meeting manager with integrated video conferencing.

I have a talk with Ivan Yeo, co-founder and CEO of Evos Esports. He's recently been chosen as Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia in 2020 and also has an inspiring story to share (Sadly to mention he's been diagnosed with Kennedy's Disease; an incurable genetic disease) and would like to build up the esports eco-system in Southeast Asia while he can still walk, eat and talk normally.

“Viewership and engagement has more than doubled in terms of people watching and engaging in livestreams and online tournaments, peaking at 1.2 million concurrent viewers as of a few days ago, up from around 600,000 last year,” said Ivan and contintues “Our top athlete makes around US$100,000 a month,” he disclosed.

Welcome to the world of Esports.

A millennial-dominated domain where 20-year-olds can bag US$250,000 (S$354,000) in tournament prize money playing a game you’ve never heard of. But that’s nothing compared to what they can rake in through regular sponsorship deals.

Introducing Evos Esports

EVOS Esports is the leading esports organization in Southeast Asia, and has won numerous world championship titles; Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship (M1) 2019 and Free Fire World Cup 2019.

EVOS Esports' co-founders are young, diverse and dynamic, with three co-founders being listed in Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2020.

- Ivan Yeo, co-founder and CEO - Profile on Forbes.com
*I was diagnosed with Kennedy Disease, an incurable genetic disease. I will never forget the doctor's words to me - "You only have 5 years left to walk, eat or talk normally." - Read more here

- Hartman Harris, co-founder and Chief Business Officer - Forbes Indonesia - YouTube

- Wesley Yiu, co-founder, COO - Forbes Indonesia - YouTube

- Michael Wijaya, co-founder and CMO

EVOS Esports manages 12 esports teams and over 300 influencers across the region with a total following of over 65M YouTube subscribers and 50M Instagram followers, with over 350M views per month, with a strong presence across 5 countries (Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam).

Back in November 2019, EVOS Esports raised a total of US$4.4M in Series A investment in preparation to seize the market of gaming influencer management in Southeast Asia

EVOS Esports closed US$3M in Series A funding earlier in 2019 with Insignia Ventures Partners. Subsequently, EVOS Esports raised an additional US$1.4M to its Series A, from a group of angel investors from Indonesian conglomerates; and the top-level management of a leading e-commerce player in China. The new funding will be used to grow the startup’s esports entertainment arm, which currently manages 50 gaming influencers exclusively and partners with 300 esports talents.

Joakim is telling about Supercell and his opinion why the company is still standing out. Deconstructor of Fun released an essay on Supercell this week. It's an insightful article written by Miska Katkoff. Joakim wanted to take a closer look and share his five important thoughts on what a gaming startup founder should take away from this essay?

Free consult for you! Talk to Simon Usiskin of JWR Ventures

Simon put up a new website and I thought to catch up on his consulting offer. Free hour consult for everyone that wants to talk about games!

Simon is an advisor/consultant with 30 years of experience and I have held leadership roles in companies and founded B2B businesses with a focus on broadcast, digital media, software and adtech. He is passionate about helping companies scale up and maximise their potential, helping to grow wonderful and talented teams around me as well as steering digital businesses to maximise their potential. Check out the JWR Ventures.

Nordic Game Event and Game Music

Jacob is giving us an update about the online event end of May, still looking for extra sponsors and partners. He is telling about some speakers and panels. One panel is about composing music for games. Thor Mýrdal is telling us about his backgroup as a composer and the pannel

The mission of the Nordic Game community website is to sustain and share the Nordic games industry’s success by providing the latest news about the games industry in the Nordic region and Nordic Game events, such as the annual industry conference and the Discovery Contest season tour plan, qualifiers and finals. https://nordicgame.com/about/

Reed think about Esports

Every week Cris Reed is talking about esports and is giving his opinion on the lastest esports news. Cris has The Level Up Experience on Linkedin.

Indie Game Developers can showcase their games on Utomik.com

Doki Tops of Utomik.com is explaning how indie game developers can showcase their games on his platform for and during events. Event organizer INDIGO is the first to co-operate with Utomik where online visitors are getting the chance the play the games that indies want to showcase.

PodcastGameConsultant.com;

Reinout, the podcast host, is a games investor and strategic business consultant specializing in the games industry. Each week Reinout releases two new episodes of his games podcast show to his gaming industry audience from all over the world.

More Episodes, check it out here.

Main guest interview of today is with Dmitry Burkovskiy of Xsolla. Their slogan is “Xsolla is the video game business engine!Our set of solutions helps you improve operations and sell more.” Dmitry is explaining more indepth.

Als Xsolla is organizing an event called “Game Developers Carnival”, which is a completely virtual gaming industry event where attendees can interact and meet with representatives from over 70 exhibitors at their virtual booths while exploring the carnival and rides, all from the comfort of their own home or office. Check out the Exhibitors who will be participating in Game Developers Carnival below, and we look forward to seeing you there!

Nordic Game is very pleased to announce the debut of our online conference format for NG20 on 27-29 May, as well as a new pass offer that includes both NG20 online this May and a big discount for NG20+ in November. Register here!

“On top of the great price of 99 EUR, we’ve also thrown in a substantial 150 EUR discount on passes for our next Nordic Game at Slagthuset in Malmö, NG20+ on 25-27 November,”  Jacob is giving me a further update on what we can expect at the online event.

Another game event is organized by the boss himself, Hendrik Lesser. The event is called European Games BizDev Gathering. European Games BizDev Gathering is a two days long online event focused on supporting European game developers during challenging times of the ongoing global crisis. 

Ian Scarffe (iansoffice@gmail.com) is an Independent Expert at the European Commission -  Horizon 2020.

Horizon 2020 is the biggest European Union Research and Innovation programme ever with nearly €80 billion of funding available  – in addition to the private investment that this money will attract. It promises more breakthroughs, discoveries and world-firsts by taking great ideas from the lab to the market. 

The fund is for development and scaling up of innovations by projects, startups and small to medium size enterprise (SMEs).

A free game industry Twitch event: as a result of the pandemic, all recruiting events for graduating game devs have been canceled so Edmar volunteered to help produce a Twitch show this Friday hosted by Nvidia's Julian Huguet to help these developers show & tell their final game projects and connect with industry professionals and recruiters. Julian will play 8 games, including 2 VR titles, and interview the teams (some teams are looking for a publisher, too). The games have been developed by groups of 12 for one year: 31 programmers; 25 artists; 39 designers; and 17 producers. Here is the RSVP (please feel free to share):

Julian Huguet is the host of the PC Gaming YouTube channel NVIDIA GeForce from its launch to today. It now boasts over 500 thousand subscribers who tune in to watch in-depth discussions of cutting-edge computer hardware and graphic rendering technologies.
 

In episode 23 I am talking to Kate Edwards. Our talk is about people in gaming. Cause this is what makes Kate ‘tick’. She cares about the people that make the games industry (complete).

Various Topics do pass in our fun conversation about gaming and the industry;

· IGDA; how local communities can take over from this early institute;

· Union; should there be an union for gaming people;

· Culture (work ethics); how are gaming employers dealing with their staff;

· Difference between US/europe; huge difference in terms of employment;

· Labor laws Europe versus USA; tomorrow could be your last in the US, Europe more secure;

· Gameworkers unite; How they can help, find paragraph below in this article;

· Adwill employment; If you are employed at will, your employer does not need good cause to fire you. How to deal with that;

· Negative cultural force; like Poor internal communication, Micromanagement, Bad habits, Poor management and leadership etc;

· We need to help eachother; as an industry we should, shouldn’t we?

Nordic Game 2020, May 27th-29th; REGISTER NOW!

As a small side note, since we are there to support eachother, I had a quick interview with Jacob of Nordic Game. NG20 online passes for just 99 EUR, featuring three days of live streamed programming, unlimited MeetToMatch with video conferencing, loads of activities on Discord and a BIG discount for NG20+ this November – are on sale now!

About Kate Edwards;

Her absolute passion of this moment is; The Global Game Jam (GGJ) is the world's largest game jam event (game creation) taking place around the world at physical locations. Think of it as a hackathon focused on game development. It is the growth of an idea that in today’s heavily connected world, we could come together, be creative, share experiences and express ourselves in a multitude of ways using video games – it is very universal. 

Kate is perhaps better known for her culturalization work in the video game industry, and her award-winning industry advocacy efforts - including her current role as Executive Director of the Global Game Jam and former role as Executive Director of the International Game Developers Association from 2012 to 2017.

During her time at Microsoft and since, she's worked on many game franchises, including Halo, Fable, Age of Empires, Dragon Age, Modern Warfare, Mass Effect and many others. She's also the founder of the IGDA's Localization SIG and co-organizer of the former Localization Summit at GDC. 

Find out more about Kate;

Global Game Jam: http://www.globalgamejam.org

Global Game Jam NEXT (for younger people): http://ggjnext.org

Geogrify (Kate’s consulting work): http://www.geogrify.com

Her Twitter:  https://twitter.com/geogrify

IF your work in gaming is not fun any more, and need help, check out this organization;

Gameworkers unite; Have you ever felt exploited by the game industry? Are you in a precarious situation? No job stability and in desperate need of support? Are you losing hope that you can work in a medium and industry you love at all? Can't stand how your fellow workers are treated? Check this site!

I am having a fun and insightful talk with Yvette Wohn. Her Biography is here and that explains a lot about her background.  

Some questions she answered were "what she thinks about the virtual concerts in Fortnite, and why Epic Games is organizing these events? What does she think that the games industry could learn from those events? And, "How important is social interaction in live streaming and also where does she see problems right now and how are the current role of brands in the ecosystem and how it could be improved". 

Dr. Wohn's research area is human-computer interaction in the context of social media, focusing on non-conscious use of technology, such as media habits, and their relation to psychological well-being and interpersonal relationships. She also studies how social media can help with social support and social identity.

Wohn runs the Social Interaction Lab at NJIT where they develop novel technologies for positive social interaction and try to understand how people use social technologies, such as social media, mobile phones and multiplayer games.

She’s been featured on Wired online, OprahMag.com, The Pew Research Center and has provided expertise on Esports and platforms such as Twitch.

Yvette is available for consulting, but limited in time, so game developers, here is your chance to reach out; Yvette Wohn!

And some gaming news; Publisher Scopely Buys Scrabble GO Maker PierPlay After Big Debut, Tencent partners up with Gameye for new digital conference and Google and EA partner to bring Star Wars, FIFA and Madden NFL to Stadia.

As usual, check out my website for more information and other episodes!

In episode 21 I am talking about branding. Not only for your game studio, but also for your games and in your games, like how is the story telling matching the visuals and therefore how you communicate with your gamer community. Jussi Solja of Superbeast is an exciting talker when it comes to all of this.

Also the report of AZS Consulting about South East Asia. Akmal Soliev is taking us through his report. Next to that our weekly items of Chris Reed of Level Up Experience and Joakim Achren of Elite Game Developers.

Next week it is about power women in gaming; Kate Edwards does not need any introduction. We discuss all issues around culture, geopolitics, games, world-building! But also Yvette Wohn, she holds a Ph.D. in Media and Information Studies. She specializes in human computer interactions in live streaming, Esports, gaming, and social media. She boasts a Ph.D. in New Media, Social Networks, Games.

Want to listen to more episodes of Game Consultant, then visit my site PodcastGameConsultant.com.

This week is Gaming & Finance. Last episode 19 I was talking to Sergei of Mail.ru Games Ventures. Today I am talking to Richard Williamson of the Edison Group. He got a report out that is called; European video games: A safe haven in troubled times, click here to read it. We talk about insights in streaming, valuations, esports and so much more. It was very interesting to get his view on the state of gaming in Europe.

Next to that I mentioned the initiative of "The Fast Forward Games". This initiative is brought to you by some of the leading angel investors and experienced executives in gaming, such as: Chris Lee, Ben Holmes, Akin Babayigit, Akira Ushioda, Matteo Vallone, Lior Shiff, Sekip Gokalp, Alvaro Alvarez del Rio among others.

The group has excellent access to the VC community. As part this initiative we have engaged the support of Cherry Ventures, Makers Fund, Play Ventures, and others to ensure they will fast-track opportunities that the ffwd.games initiative identifies.

Lastly, check out the message of Hendrik Lesser. He is doing an biz dev online event for developers to meet publishers and investors in times like these esp. important :) https://www.egbg.eu/  as you can see we already have good support by publishers. You can see the lastest updates on the website.

And, listen to my other episodes of Game Consultant here!

In this episode I have Sergei Evdokimov, an investment associate at Mail.ru Games Ventures. We talk about Gaming acquisitions and investments Q1 2020. Interesting to hear that Investors and funds pumped more than $700 million game startups in the first quarter. The volume of game merger and acquisition deals was $1.6 billion in the first quarter, compared to only $1 billion for the full six months of the first half of 2019. That was driven by big deals such as Scopely’s acquisition of FoxNext. Meanwhile, the first quarter investment amount of $700 million was down about 2.7 times from $3.8 billion in the first half of 2019 — where we can assume the average was $1.9 billion per quarter.

Sergei's Telegram channel: https://t.me/InvestGame/

Sergei's Blog at Medium: https://medium.com/@SEgames

Furtheron Chris Reed with Reed Thinks about esports, Joakim Achren with high gaming highlights of this week.

Also the latest interesting game news from Gamesbeat.com, GamesIndustry.biz and Pockgamer.biz.

Special thanks to Justin Berenbaum of noticing that GamesCom2020 is not happening this year. Also thanks to Ekrem Shahin, who wrote a post about Jason Kingsley, CEO of Rebellion, proactively reached out to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to offer Coronavirus safety advice within their titles - Rebellion is now displaying an on screen safety message before gameplay begins within its Strange Brigade and Sniper Elite titles. DCMS has now invited the UK's 2,000+ other games companies to join this national effort.

Next week wednesday more financials when I discuss this report European video games: A safe haven in troubled times with Richard Williamson of the Edison Group.

And of course, check out my website for more episodes; PodCastGameConsultant.com

In this episode esport item of Chris Reed, of The Level Up Experience, with "Reed Thinks", Joakim Achren, of Elite Game Developers, with his highlights of gaming industry and two companies to watch. Niklas send me a deck of GameBuddy and Kim of Aftermath.

And I found this via Borja; HYPE Virtual Accelerator Focused on Fundraising & COVID19 new gameplan. HYPE Sports Innovation has built the largest global ecosystem in sports innovation. With over 40,000 members, including retail brands, athletic clubs, federations and academia together with over 11,000 startups, HYPE has an unrivalled capacity for outreach to global partners across all sectors in this highly diverse field.

Next to that the game news. Links to the articles;

• https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/03/29/national/japan-expansion-esports-economy-2025/#.XpW46VMzbRa
• https://www.admonsters.com/esports-changing-advertising-game/
• https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-04-09-sony-takes-USD400-million-stake-in-bilibili
• https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-04-14-esports-entertainment-platform-players-netwrk-launches-today
• https://venturebeat.com/2020/04/12/gaming-industry-tv-ad-spend-is-rising-blame-tom-nook/

In Episode 17, 2 days later then normal, I am cleaning up my inbox. And I had two companies in mind to should be on your companies to watch list; Javier Rayón of Dream of Darkness and Yuval Koren of Pikoya.

Furtheron, Cris Reed is talking about esports and his thoughts. It is a funny episode today but also an eye opener.

And a shout out to Oscar Clark, congrats on the funding; Fundamentally Games raises seed round to help developers create live ops games.

And as of this sunday Joakim of Elite Game Developers will do a weekly item of his game topics and news.

Update; 40 more game companies have joined the World Health Organization (WHO) #PlayApartTogether coronavirus awareness campaign. And more the campaign has gained more than 4.7 billion consumer media impressions worldwide.

The promotional campaign, organized by the game industry on behalf of the WHO, encourages healthy physical distancing by bringing special events, exclusives, activities, rewards, and inspiration to some of the most popular games in the world.

In this episode I get to talk to Oliver Kern of Target Gamers. We talk about user acquisition in general, but also about how to adjust your user acquisition in games during this Covid-19 period and after the virus. Can and will consumer, read gamers, still be able to spend as much as before. How can you predict LTV, lifetime value? What can we expect today and later this year from other metrixs like retention, cost per install, CPM/advertising for your game and in your game.

I belief this is extra interesting for indie game developers, who might struggle with the current situation, but also gaming companies in general. Hope you like this and please send this also to other people in gaming.

Other episodes with Oscar Clark, Dean Takahashi, Doki Tops and others can be found on PodcastGameConsultant.com. 

People that worked with me on this episode; Doki Tops of Utomik.com and Cris Reed of The Level Up Experience.

Quick word; The games industry is doing realy well during this lockdown. All good, but lets make sure that we, as an industry, will also look after people that are being hurt, financially, physically and emotionally. It is our audience(s) that is under pressure by COVID-19, the corona virus. Let's make sure we also do our part to make the world healty and secure again!

Interview today was with Doki. He explains Utomik. Utomik is your unlimited play PC gaming subscription service with a weekly growing library. Their pitch is; Dive into 1000+ PC Games instantly. Your unlimited play subscription! Try the best pc-game subscription service 14-days free! New games added weekly. No Video Streaming. Family Fun. Don't Wait. Just Play. Cancel Anytime. One Subscription. Try For Free. Discover More.

And of course the weekly item about esports; Reed Thinks. Cris is giving his perspective on esports. Tech, finance and investors today!

If you want to listen to interviews I did before with Dean, Oscar, Jacob/Teddy, Odile and others, go check it out; https://podcastgameconsultant.com.

My usual sources are; https://www.pocketgamer.biz/, https://www.gamesindustry.biz/ and https://venturebeat.com/category/games/.

In this episode 12 I have Jacob Riis and Teddy Florea. Jacob is the organiser, CCO, and Host, Nordic Game Conference + Nordic Game Discovery Contest at Nordic Game Resources AB. Teddy is Director of Business Development at Nordic Game Resources AB. They explain me everything you need to know about Nordic Game. Fun interview it was.

Finaly it is here! Cris Reed made his first esports item, which is a weekly item; Reed Thinks! Cris is a Esports Tech Startup Advisor, investor, Content Creator and watch his Level Up Experience on Linkedin, great interviews!

And of course, the latest game news from PocketGamer.biz, GamesIndustry.biz and Gamesbeat.com.

If you have some time, listen to my other episodes on PodcastGameConsultant.com.

I did interview Oscar Clark, who didnt want to tell me his age! In a way he did.

The whole interview you can listen here. It was a magical an hour. I just couldnt stop him and that is the format! Get industry people to talk, explain, share their vision, war stories, the do’s & don’t’s and more.

So some topics that we touched;

• Who is Oscar and what is he doing?
• He is mentioning a new company, but cannot reveal yet the details, but something he is!
• Which events should we attend?
• Why did Finland take a leading role?
• How is Oscar looking at the user acquisition battle out there?
• What advise can he give to young people that want to get started in games?
• and more!

Some background of Oscar? Sure!

Oscar Clark is consultant specializing in project-based Executive Production. A pioneer in social games services since 1998, he was Vision Lead for British Telecom’s Wireplay, one of the first online games communities, Global Lead for Digital Games at Hutchison Whampoa (3UK) and Home Architect for PlayStation®Home. He has an obsession with understanding the juxtaposition of game design, monetisation and social engagement and how to apply that to give games projects the best chance in the market whether that is PC, Console, or Online but particularly on Mobile.

His ability to digest and communicate led to him becoming an Evangelist for Papaya Mobile, Applifier and Unity Technologies; and he has become one of the most connected people in games. As a consultant he looks at game design, monetization, business modelling, and social design. His first book, “Games As A Service – How Free To Play Design Can Make Better Games” was published by Focal Press and he is a contributing author for the “Mobile Developer’s Guide To The Galaxy” published by www.enough.de. Oscar is also a mentor for GameFounders and an ambassador for the gamer’s charity SpecialEffect (https://www.specialeffect.org.uk/).

I hope you like the interview and if you like to share it with your gaming friends, then I would appreciate it so much!! AND; listen to more episodes of PodcastGameConsultant.com.

#indiedev #webdev #100DaysOfCode #mobiledev #angular #webapp #java #webdev #AI #MachineLearning #podcasting

Are you an indie developer? Wonder how to develop your game? Publish your game, do user acquisition in a good way, which gaming events to visit and so much more? I talk to Oscar Clark, 20+ in the gaming business. He can tell you to do's and the don't.

Oscar Clark is consultant specializing in project-based Executive Production. A pioneer in social games services since 1998, he was Vision Lead for British Telecom's Wireplay, one of the first online games communities, Global Lead for Digital Games at Hutchison Whampoa (3UK) and Home Architect for PlayStation®Home. He has an obsession with understanding the juxtaposition of game design, monetisation and social engagement and how to apply that to give games projects the best chance in the market whether that is PC, Console, or Online but particularly on Mobile.

His ability to digest and communicate led to him becoming an Evangelist for Papaya Mobile, Applifier and Unity Technologies; and he has become one of the most connected people in games. As a consultant he looks at game design, monetization, business modelling, and social design. His first book, "Games As A Service - How Free To Play Design Can Make Better Games" was published by Focal Press and he is a contributing author for the "Mobile Developer's Guide To The Galaxy" published by www.enough.de. Oscar is also a mentor for GameFounders and an ambassador for the gamer's charity SpecialEffect (https://www.specialeffect.org.uk/)

First interview is with Professor Odile Limpach teaches economics and entrepreneurship at the Cologne Game Lab. Second interview is with Dean Takahashi, who is the lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat.

Besides the news of https://www.pocketgamer.biz/, https://www.gamesindustry.biz/ and https://venturebeat.com/category/games/, also attention to "Xsolla Launches Game Developers Carnival, a Virtual Industry Event to Benefit GDC Postponement" of Justin Berenbaum. 

Chris Reed will do an esports item every episode as per next week. He is doing a quick intro.

First interview is with Professor Odile Limpach teaches economics and entrepreneurship at the Cologne Game Lab, TH Köln Technical University of Cologne. She is also co-founder of the Acceleration Program SpielFabrique 360° and works as a Strategic Consultant for games and serious game projects. She wrote the book; “The publishing Challenge for independent videogame developers”.

Oder the book here; https://www.crcpress.com/The-Publishing-Challenge-for-Independent-Video-game-Developers-A-Practical/Limpach/p/book/9780367416720 (20% Discount Available - enter the code SCI20 at checkout)

Second interview is with Dean Takahashi, who is the lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He has been a tech journalist for more than 28 years, and he has covered games for 21 years. He has been at VentureBeat since 2008. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat and GamesBeat Summit conferences. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Listen the other episodes on PodcastGameConsultant.com.

Epic cancels Unreal Fest Europe

Following its withdrawal from GDC 2020, engine provider scraps its own event due to "uncertainty around health concerns and travel"

GamesFirst London 2020 and Google I/O cancelled

Organizers pull plug on events citing novel coronavirus concerns

Tilting Point buys Star Trek Timelines from Disruptor Beam

Key team members will join Tilting Point to operate Timelines as Wicked Realms Games

Zynga faces class action lawsuit over data breach

Plaintiffs warn that millions of users, including minors, will be at risk of fraud and identity theft "for years to come"

Phoenix Games has acquired live-ops specialist Studio Firefly for an undisclosed sum.

Topics Episode 8;

• Margaret of Games for Change Accelerator is explaining what this Accelerator is doing, what are they looking for and how they operate
• Carlos did dive into Latin America for us. Which gaming companies, IP’s, demographics and much more
• Mark gave me insights in Lightneer, a mobile games studio from Helsinki, Finland
• Tejas of Games2Win, a game studio from India, is sharing some highlights

And many other items, so keep an eye open for this episode this upcoming Sunday. Lastly thank you for sending me updates, item suggestions and other relevant information. Listen for more episodes; Podcast Game Consultant.

Episode 7 of PodCastGameConsultant.com is live!

- From "Getting kicked out of your student appartment" to getting acquired by Ubisoft. Daniel Stammler tells about it.

- Gaming in Israel is hot. A conference you should visit is GameISconf.com to get to know the gaming people of Israel. Guy Ben-Dov tells me all about it.

- Meet&Greet Events online during (delayed) GDC; Dirk Schmitt, Fedor van Herpen and Jay Powell are organizing events. Reach out to them to find out more.

- #IEM Katowice 2020, David Neichel responded on my question 'what to expect for  esports events in the near future'

- Esports; Cris Reed and Chris Smith I mentioned as people to watch when you want to learn more about esports. Both have online video-casts on Linkedin. Super interesting to watch and follow.

- What is a Game Consultant? Jay Powell did answer me some questions. You can notice that he has been around, 20+ years, in this gaming business.

Companies to watch;

- Doki Tops of Utomik.com

- Itamar Benedy of Anzu.io

- Carry1st.com of Cordel Coker

#esports #podcast #game #consultant #games # industry #gdc #2020 #conference #podcastgameconsultant #business #work #office #success #quotes #inspiration #entrepreneur #life #love #happy #HR #jobs #marketing #sales #leadership #tips #influencer #successful #worklife #officelife #positivepsychology #innovation #selfhelp #projectmanagementsoftware #workingathome #livethelittlethings #thehappynow #fromwhereistand #lifeisgood #smile #wahm #mompreneur #entrepreneur #entrepreneurs #entrepreneurship #entrepreneurlife #smallbusiness #socialmedia #socialmediamarketing #womens #womeninbusiness #network #networking #networkmarketing #success #goals #wintertime #beyourself

Gaming Companies are cancelling; https://www.game-consultant.com/game-news/2020/02/28/how-has-the-coronavirus-impacted-the-mobile-games-industry/ 

But there is an event that takes place; https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gaming-san-francisco-tickets-82196789811

Date And Time

Mon, Mar 16, 2020, 9:30 AM –

Fri, Mar 20, 2020, 4:00 PM PDT

- Marc of Game Recruiter is explaining the world of recruitment, How to get the best people for your studio.

Gaming companies to Watch;

Shaun of Hutch

Pascal of Big Karma

Dayanidhi of Ncore Games

Check out my other episodes of Game Consultant on PodcastGameConsultant.com.

More notes on Game-Consultant.com!

#esports #podcast #game #consultant #games # industry #gdc #2020 #conference #podcastgameconsultant #business #work #office #success #quotes #inspiration #entrepreneur #life #love #happy #HR #jobs #marketing #sales #leadership #tips #influencer #successful #worklife #officelife #positivepsychology #innovation #selfhelp #projectmanagementsoftware #workingathome #livethelittlethings #thehappynow #fromwhereistand #lifeisgood #smile #wahm #mompreneur #entrepreneur #entrepreneurs #entrepreneurship #entrepreneurlife #smallbusiness #socialmedia #socialmediamarketing #womens #womeninbusiness #network #networking #networkmarketing #success #goals #wintertime #beyourself

Gaming companies to Watch;

Shaun of Hutch Games

Pascal of Big Karma

Dayanidhi of Ncore Games

Check out my other Game Consultant episodes on http://podcastgameconsultant.com. 

- Start up in Games, Joakim Achrén founded NextGames and now has a new start up “Elite Game Developers”.

- Legal and Games, how boring, do you say? But so important, is my response. With Tom Buscaglia, I would say “THE” Game Attorney and Rene Otto of Van Iersel Luchtman Attorneys.

- Esports! Some insights from Chris Reed.

- BizTech is organizing a workshop ‘How to prepare a gaming conference’, Tuesday February 18th. Dirk Schmittanswered some questions.

- My watchlist of gaming companies Fingersoft, Qutee, PlaySpace.

So keep an eye open this Saturday for my new podcast of Game Consultant. Till then, stay safe and and keep sending me feedback and input.

More info; https://www.game-consultant.com 

Read more about the episode here; https://www.game-consultant.com/game-news/2020/02/08/podcast-game-consultant-episode-4-gdc-and-corona-virus-mobile-revenues-funding-and-marketing/ 

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2019 was, yet, another stellar year for mobile gaming revenues. Sensor Tower estimates show that worldwide spending in games grew 12.8% across the App Store and Google Play, from $54.7 billion in 2018 to $61.7 billion in 2019. Hold on to that!

So quickly discussing;

- Kolibri Game got acquired by Ubisoft

- Funding; how difficult is it today?

- Marketing; is it getting too expensive?

- And.... what gaming companies are on our watchlist!!

Till then. Send us your feedback.

GameBizCon with Dirk Schmitt had a conference this week, a jury selected a top 10. Realy nice talking to people via video calls, but also the panels were realy great. Of course my panel was awesome, jokie-joke, but seriously all panels had great gaming people involved and they shared their vision, epxerience and thoughts. And you know, it was great cause you could sit at your desk and be part of it!

Also with Dirk, I am thinking about a concept where the top dogs of the gaming industry will help the young and potential gaming companies to be able to visit conferences like GDC and Gamescom. More to come asap!

China is in the news. Does this Coronavirus affect you, your company and/or others?  Let me know since learnings are important.

Pascal Clarysse is working on something new; Big Karma. A social impact entertainment startup in stealth mode. Big Karma is taking the Best Fiends/Angry Birds playbook, which is to create a character-centric entertainment franchise through mobile gaming first, and applies it to the first ever cast of action heroes who overcome their disability to win. I am going to assist Pascal to find angel investors to fill up a 500K initial funding. So angels, do you want to know more, ask me or pascal. 

Lastly; GameRefinery. The guys did well in the GameBizCon pitch and announced an acquisition. Congrats to Markus and his team.

Big thanks for listening, more episode here, and do send me input, thoughts and topics, but also the latest news. 

Love to you all,

Reinout

reinouttebrake@gmail.com

https://www.game-consultant.com 

Game-Consultant.com Podcast time; Why da heck are you going to game conferences?  My personal view what should be crucial for the gaming space when it comes to gaming conferences. Also a bit about myself, improve the podcast.