Naavik Gaming Podcast
- Episódios
- 489
- Publicação
- semanal
- Último episódio
- 10 nov 2026
Sobre o 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.
Episódios 489
The Black Friday Playbook: How Game Publishers Can Maximize Holiday Sales
Black Friday is the biggest week of the year for game sales, and the decisions that shape it happen long before players hit buy. Julian Migura, co-founder and COO of VaultN, joins Kalie Moore to walk through …
Notas do episódio
Black Friday is the biggest week of the year for game sales, and the decisions that shape it happen long before players hit buy. Julian Migura, co-founder and COO of VaultN, joins Kalie Moore to walk through how publishers should plan the holiday window, using data from VaultN’s network of publishers and storefronts. They cover how deep to discount, on what channels and best practices for how to protect your price for the rest of the year. They also discuss what Valve ending physical Steam gift cards means for gifting, why marketplaces like Amazon still can’t sell PC game codes, and where players will be buying games next.
This episode is brought to you by Appcharge, the payments platform built specifically for mobile gaming that processes over a billion dollars annually. Learn more here: https://www.appcharge.com/?utm_source=naavik&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=sponsorship_payments
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 [email protected].
Who’s On:
Guest - Julian Migura: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julianmigura/
Host - Kalie Moore: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaliemoore/
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
Links mentioned:
- VaultN: https://vaultn.com/
- Julian Migura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julianmigura/
- Valve ending physical Steam gift cards: https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/valve-will-stop-selling-steam-gift-cards-at-retailers-over-scam-concerns/
Newsletter: Hasbro’s New Playbook: More Magic, Fewer Big Bets
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on November 8th. In this week’s issue, we look at Hasbro, focusing on the way the company is shifting its corporate playbook to rely heavily on Magic …
Notas do episódio
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on November 8th. In this week’s issue, we look at Hasbro, focusing on the way the company is shifting its corporate playbook to rely heavily on Magic: The Gathering crossovers while adopting a less risky, partner-driven strategy for video game development.
You can read the newsletter (with even more sections and visual detail) here: https://naavik.substack.com/p/hasbros-new-playbook-more-magic-fewer
Want to explore working with Naavik? Shoot us a note: https://naavik.co/contact-us/
Let us know what you think by sending us a note at [email protected].Watch our episodes: YouTube Channel
For more episodes and details: Podcast Website
Free newsletter: Naavik Digest
Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website
Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe
Newsletter: Prompt-to-Game Is Here. Which Platforms Are Positioned to Win?
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on November 27th. In this week’s issue, we're diving into the recent race toward prompt-based AI platforms, from Astrocade and Roblox Build to Google …
Notas do episódio
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on November 27th. In this week’s issue, we're diving into the recent race toward prompt-based AI platforms, from Astrocade and Roblox Build to Google Playground.
You can read the newsletter (with even more sections and visual detail) here: https://naavik.substack.com/p/prompt-to-game-is-here-which-platforms
Want to explore working with Naavik? Shoot us a note: https://naavik.co/contact-us/
Let us know what you think by sending us a note at [email protected].Watch our episodes: YouTube Channel
For more episodes and details: Podcast Website
Free newsletter: Naavik Digest
Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website
Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.
What Happens When AI Becomes Your Gaming Teammate
For years, AI in gaming has promised smarter NPCs, cheaper content creation, and more dynamic worlds. Yet few of these promises have translated into commercially viable player experiences. Our host, Alexandra …
Notas do episódio
For years, AI in gaming has promised smarter NPCs, cheaper content creation, and more dynamic worlds. Yet few of these promises have translated into commercially viable player experiences. Our host, Alexandra Takei, VP at Medal & General Intuition, sits down with Brian Tanner, co-founder and CEO of Artificial Agency and former DeepMind leader, to explore the emergence of agentic gameplay and the company's approach to building intelligent, autonomous virtual players.
The conversation examines how foundation models are expanding the capabilities of traditional game AI, enabling characters to understand player intent, improvise, and collaborate in ways previously impossible. We explore Artificial Agency's upcoming integration with Owlchemy Labs' Dimensional Double Shift, where three AI teammates replace human players in a cooperative VR experience. Brian also unpacks the economics of agentic gameplay, including how Artificial Agency reduced inference costs to single-digit cents per player hour, alongside the challenges of latency, QA, model ownership, and commercial deployment. Finally, we discuss developer skepticism toward AI, the importance of preserving designer control, and whether intelligent virtual players could fundamentally reshape multiplayer gaming.
We’d also like to thank Medal.tv for making this episode possible. If you're a PC gamer and want to clip your moments or a studio, publisher, or marketer looking to reach a high-quality gaming audience and get your game in front of the right players, check out all Medal has to offer at https://grow.medal.tv.
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 [email protected].
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
Why Investors Keep Betting on Gardens?
Three years after raising a $31.3M Series A off a prototype shown behind closed doors at GDC, Gardens Interactive still hasn’t announced a release date. Investors just put in another $35M+ anyway. In this …
Notas do episódio
Three years after raising a $31.3M Series A off a prototype shown behind closed doors at GDC, Gardens Interactive still hasn’t announced a release date. Investors just put in another $35M+ anyway. In this episode, Kalie Moore welcomes back Stephen Bell and Chris Bell, two of Gardens’ three co-founders and the team behind Journey, Sky, What Remains of Edith Finch and Blaseball, following a Series B led by Lightspeed that values the studio at $190M and brings total funding past $70M before launch. They explain what took three years, including a late switch from Unity to Unreal, how Chris handed the CEO role to Stephen to focus fully on the game, and what Gardens actually is now that it can speak for itself: an online survival roleplaying “strandbox” where players cross paths with strangers, build relationships, and reshape the world together. Stephen pushes back on the friendslop label and the idea that jank is a weakness, and Chris shares how a single image in an inspiration folder led to a cold DM to Ma-ko, the artist whose work now defines the game’s look.
The conversation also gets into the money. Stephen explains why the round leaned on traditional VCs rather than gaming funds, what separates Gardens from the wave of veteran-led studios that raised big in the zero interest rate era without breaking out, and why the reported “one year of runway after release” doesn’t tell the full story. He’s candid that this isn’t a funding recovery so much as a concentration, and why he thinks games are now underfunded rather than overfunded. They also cover how Lightspeed sees human connection as a bet that gets more valuable as AI spreads, why their proprietary tech blends procedural generation with hand-authored content, how they measure success in playtests by the stories and relationships players report, and how they’re approaching monetization with former Valve economist Mike Ambinder, starting with one firm rule: Gardens will never be pay to win.
We’d also like to thank Tebex for making this episode possible! With funding tight, the question isn’t just how big a game can get but how long a studio can run, and that starts with knowing what each sale actually returns. Tebex’s free Hidden Fees Calculator compares your provider’s headline rate with your true effective rate, including FX, payment method and chargeback costs, and shows the annual difference. Check it out here and learn more about Tebex at https://www.tebex.io/.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 [email protected].
Who’s On:
Guests
- Stephen Bell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sbellgardens/
- Chris Bell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gardenschris/
Host - Kalie Moore: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaliemoore/
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
Links mentioned:
Newsletter: Meta’s Role in Gaming Today - Muse, VR, and UA
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on October 18th. In this week’s issue, we look into Meta, exploring the company’s shift away from gaming-focused VR hardware towards AI and AR glasses …
Notas do episódio
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on October 18th. In this week’s issue, we look into Meta, exploring the company’s shift away from gaming-focused VR hardware towards AI and AR glasses, and its resurgent mobile advertising engine.
You can read the newsletter (with even more sections and visual detail) here: https://naavik.substack.com/p/metas-role-in-gaming-today-muse-vr-ua
Want to explore working with Naavik? Shoot us a note: https://naavik.co/contact-us/
Let us know what you think by sending us a note at [email protected].Watch our episodes: YouTube Channel
For more episodes and details: Podcast Website
Free newsletter: Naavik Digest
Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website
Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.
The Solo Developer Making Seven Figures From Free Browser Games
Most studios have teams, funding, and a publisher behind them. Abe Train has a laptop and a handful of contractors. In this episode, Kalie Moore sits down with Abe, founder of Trainwreck Labs, to unpack how a …
Notas do episódio
Most studios have teams, funding, and a publisher behind them. Abe Train has a laptop and a handful of contractors. In this episode, Kalie Moore sits down with Abe, founder of Trainwreck Labs, to unpack how a former head of business intelligence at HelloFresh became one of the most successful independent developers in daily browser games. Abe quit his job on the last day of 2021 with about six months of runway, and a month later Wordle took over the internet. He built Globle, a daily geography guessing game, posted it to one Reddit community, and watched it climb to over a million players a day at its peak. They get into why that post worked when the identical one in a bigger subreddit got zero traction, why most Wordle clones vanished while Globle stuck, and why the best creator marketing he’s ever had came from people he never spoke to, including a Thai TikToker playing an English word game and a biology teacher who plays Metazooa on camera every day.
The conversation also covers how Abe has built a catalog of daily educational games as the only full-time employee. He explains why a small, obsessive audience is more valuable than a big casual one, why players always ask for games to get easier but never harder, and what he learned moderating taxonomy debates in his Discord. On monetization, he shares why he almost refused to run ads, how he ended up running them on his own terms through Nitro, why players barely noticed when he did, and the rule he brought from HelloFresh about the complaints you never hear.. He also walks through how he barely writes code anymore, why there’s no AI-generated art in any of his games, what he learned shutting down his newsletter, and his plans for native apps, real-world events, and the Trainwreck Club subscription he gives to teachers for free.This episode is brought to you by Appcharge, the payments platform built specifically for mobile gaming that processes over a billion dollars annually. Learn more here: https://www.appcharge.com/?utm_source=naavik&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=sponsorship_payments
We’d also like to thank Dive for making this episode possible! With its fully managed analytics and LiveOps platform built for game studios, 95% of their clients grow revenue in one year. All of that without having to hire an in-house data team. Learn more here: https://www.dive.games/
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 [email protected].
Who’s On:
Guest - Abe Train: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abe-train-81418714b/
Host - Kalie Moore: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaliemoore/
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
Links mentioned: https://trainwrecklabs.com/
Newsletter: CD Projekt’s Best Days May Be Ahead
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on October 11th. In this week’s issue, we check in on CD Projekt, looking at the company’s current state, ongoing projects, and how the company has …
Notas do episódio
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on October 11th. In this week’s issue, we check in on CD Projekt, looking at the company’s current state, ongoing projects, and how the company has shifted its way of working to drive a more successful future.
You can read the newsletter (with even more sections and visual detail) here: https://naavik.substack.com/p/cd-projekts-best-days-may-be-ahead
Want to explore working with Naavik? Shoot us a note: https://naavik.co/contact-us/Let us know what you think by sending us a note at [email protected].
Watch our episodes: YouTube Channel
For more episodes and details: Podcast Website
Free newsletter: Naavik Digest
Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website
Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.
How Behavioral AI Helps Fight Cheating
As cheating becomes more sophisticated, anti-cheat is increasingly shifting from detecting software to understanding player behavior. Host Devin Becker is joined by André Pimenta Ribeiro, CEO & Co-Founder of …
Notas do episódio
As cheating becomes more sophisticated, anti-cheat is increasingly shifting from detecting software to understanding player behavior. Host Devin Becker is joined by André Pimenta Ribeiro, CEO & Co-Founder of Anybrain, to discuss how behavioral anti-cheat analyzes player inputs, where it fits alongside traditional tools, and why some approaches avoid software access entirely. The conversation explores the business impact of cheating on retention and revenue, when studios should begin investing in prevention, and how even smaller teams can approach the problem. André also breaks down the growing cheat-as-a-service economy, the challenge posed by AI and hardware-assisted cheats, the risks of false positives for legitimate players, and how behavioral data could expand beyond cheating detection over the next several years.
We’d like to thank Medal.tv for making this episode possible. If you're a PC gamer and want to clip your moments or a studio, publisher, or marketer looking to reach a high-quality gaming audience and get your game in front of the right players, check out all Medal has to offer at https://grow.medal.tv.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 [email protected].
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
Newsletter: The Road Toward AI-Enabled Fandom
This episode covers Naavik’s AI x Gaming newsletter published on September 29th. In this week’s issue, we take a broader look at the entertainment landscape to map out what recent announcements from Disney …
Notas do episódio
This episode covers Naavik’s AI x Gaming newsletter published on September 29th. In this week’s issue, we take a broader look at the entertainment landscape to map out what recent announcements from Disney, Hasbro, and miHoYo could mean for the future of gaming fandom.
You can read the newsletter (with even more sections and visual detail) here: https://naavik.substack.com/p/from-disney-to-mihoyo-the-road-toward
Want to explore working with Naavik? Shoot us a note: https://naavik.co/contact-us/
Let us know what you think by sending us a note at [email protected].Watch our episodes: YouTube Channel
For more episodes and details: Podcast Website
Free newsletter: Naavik Digest
Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website
Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.
Naavik Digest : 'Tis the Season - Holiday Live-Ops In 2026
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, September 27th. In this week’s issue, we take a look at how seasonal live-ops performs in 2026, analyzing a decade of Sensor Tower revenue …
Notas do episódio
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, September 27th. In this week’s issue, we take a look at how seasonal live-ops performs in 2026, analyzing a decade of Sensor Tower revenue and download data across 15 top mobile titles, alongside console and Roblox data.
Want to explore working with Naavik? Shoot us a note: https://naavik.co/contact-us/
Let us know what you think by sending us a note at [email protected].Watch our episodes: YouTube Channel
For more episodes and details: Podcast Website
Free newsletter: Naavik Digest
Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website
Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe
How AI Makes Game Creation More Accessible
AI is making game creation more accessible, but building reliable games that can reach players across multiple platforms requires more than simply prompting an LLM. Host Devin Becker welcomes Robby Yung, CEO of …
Notas do episódio
AI is making game creation more accessible, but building reliable games that can reach players across multiple platforms requires more than simply prompting an LLM. Host Devin Becker welcomes Robby Yung, CEO of The Sandbox, to discuss Sandbox Studio and its approach to AI-assisted UGC development. Robby explains what the team learned from the original Game Maker, where Studio draws the line between structured creation and “vibe coding,” and how AI can combine code, assets, systems, and accumulated development knowledge without turning game creation into an unpredictable black box. The conversation also explores The Sandbox’s shift toward letting creators publish beyond its own ecosystem, how LAND and Web3 fit into that strategy, and what becomes scarce when creators can produce far more content. Looking further ahead, Robby shares his perspective on how AI and UGC tools could reshape the roles of engines, publishers, and platforms as multi-platform game creation evolves over the next several years.
We’d 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 [email protected].
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.
Naavik Digest: The Real Value of Licensed IP
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, September 20th. In this week’s issue, we dig into the data and assess to what extent external IP drives a video game’s success.You can read …
Notas do episódio
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, September 20th. In this week’s issue, we dig into the data and assess to what extent external IP drives a video game’s success.
You can read the newsletter (with even more sections and visual detail) here: https://naavik.substack.com/p/the-real-value-of-licensed-ip
Want to explore working with Naavik? Shoot us a note: https://naavik.co/contact-us/
Let us know what you think by sending us a note at [email protected].Watch our episodes: YouTube Channel
For more episodes and details: Podcast Website
Free newsletter: Naavik Digest
Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website
Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.
Is Gaming in an AI Bubble? What the Deal Data Says
Gaming financing hit a 12-month high in Q2 2026, with over $2.5B raised across fewer than 100 rounds. In this episode, recorded in person at Gamescom, Kalie Moore sits down with Michael Metzger, Managing …
Notas do episódio
Gaming financing hit a 12-month high in Q2 2026, with over $2.5B raised across fewer than 100 rounds. In this episode, recorded in person at Gamescom, Kalie Moore sits down with Michael Metzger, Managing Partner at Drake Star Partners, to work out what that actually signals. Michael leads Drake Star's gaming and digital media practice and is behind the quarterly report the industry reads to track where capital is moving. He starts with the question everyone is circling: is this an AI bubble? His answer is that the money reflects a massive opportunity, that some of the companies raising today will become very large businesses, and that a good number of them will not make it at all. They dig into what that means for valuations like General Intuition's, and why he's more excited about the AI-native games that haven't been built yet than the current wave of AI used to make production faster and cheaper.
The conversation also covers why financing rounds have fallen from roughly 200 a quarter to below 100 while the money per round climbs, where capital is actually landing across gaming AI, ad-tech and hardware, and why he thinks AR glasses are the platform bet worth watching. Michael breaks down what he tells founders about timing a sale, why inbound interest is a better signal than trying to time the market, and what makes a mid-market deal attractive to buyers right now. Drawing on transactions he's advised, including Trak Racer to Corsair, Hipster Whale to Atari, Ready Player Me to Netflix and Echtra Games to Zynga, he explains what actually determines whether a deal works after it closes. They also get into why raising as a game studio remains harder than almost anything else in this market, the state of esports monetization after years of false starts, and the one category he thinks is currently undervalued.
This episode is brought to you by Appcharge, the payments platform built specifically for mobile gaming that processes over a billion dollars annually. Learn more here: https://www.appcharge.com/?utm_source=naavik&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=sponsorship_payments
We’d also like to thank Dive for making this episode possible! With its fully managed analytics and LiveOps platform built for game studios, 95% of their clients grow revenue in one year. All of that without having to hire an in-house data team. Learn more here: dive.games
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 [email protected].
Who’s On:
Guest - Michael Metzger: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmmetzger/
Host - Kalie Moore: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaliemoore/
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
Links mentioned:
https://www.drakestar.com/news/global-gaming-report-q2-2026
Naavik Digest: The New Money Behind Indie Games
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, September 13th. In this week’s issue, explore the recent increase in notable indie game developers launching their own publishing …
Notas do episódio
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, September 13th. In this week’s issue, explore the recent increase in notable indie game developers launching their own publishing businesses.
You can read the newsletter (with even more sections and visual detail) here: https://naavik.substack.com/p/the-new-money-behind-indie-games
Want to explore working with Naavik? Shoot us a note: https://naavik.co/contact-us/
Let us know what you think by sending us a note at [email protected].Watch our episodes: YouTube Channel
For more episodes and details: Podcast Website
Free newsletter: Naavik Digest
Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website
Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.
How AI Is Transforming User Acquisition
AI is rapidly changing user acquisition (UA), not just by speeding up creative production but by expanding how campaigns themselves can be managed. Host Devin Becker is joined by Amit Carmi, co-founder and CEO …
Notas do episódio
AI is rapidly changing user acquisition (UA), not just by speeding up creative production but by expanding how campaigns themselves can be managed. Host Devin Becker is joined by Amit Carmi, co-founder and CEO of Sett, to explore how AI is being used to combat creative fatigue, generate video and playable ads, and increasingly automate parts of the UA workflow. Amit breaks down where AI creative works well today and where it still falls short. The conversation also tackles the risks of increasingly homogenous or misleading ads, how platform-owned AI tools from Meta, Google, and AppLovin affect third-party providers, and whether creative teams are being replaced or simply evolving. Finally, Amit explains Sett’s move from data-driven creative generation into UA management agents and shares his view on what AI-driven UA could look like over the next few years.
Big thanks to Heroic Labs for making this episode possible. When MADFINGER expanded from mobile to PC they used Heroic Labs to build a preview mode with full progress carryover. Read how the work led to increases in every core KPI from CCU to DAU/MAU, retention and session length, at launch: https://heroiclabs.com/blog/madfinger-spearhead-case-study/?_gl=1*8j79a3*_up*MQ..*_ga*MjA4MDI3MTc4OS4xNzg1MjI0MDk5*_ga_R9WLGSZ1KN*czE3ODUyMjQwOTkkbzEkZzEkdDE3ODUyMjUxMjIkajU3JGwwJGgw
We’d also like to thank Medal.tv for making this episode possible. If you're a PC gamer and want to clip your moments or a studio, publisher, or marketer looking to reach a high-quality gaming audience and get your game in front of the right players, check out all Medal has to offer at https://grow.medal.tv
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 [email protected].
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.
A New Era of Publishing
Live from Gamescom at the Xsolla Clubhouse in Cologne, Alexandra Takei, VP of Platform Revenue & Gaming at Medal and General Intuition, sits down with Ben Kvalo, Founder and CEO of Midwest Games, to unpack what …
Notas do episódio
Live from Gamescom at the Xsolla Clubhouse in Cologne, Alexandra Takei, VP of Platform Revenue & Gaming at Medal and General Intuition, sits down with Ben Kvalo, Founder and CEO of Midwest Games, to unpack what she calls "new age publishing." With traditional deals no longer the only game in town, Ben explains why he built Midwest Games to run two publishing models under one roof: a classic invest-and-revenue-share arm, and "Shadow Publishing," a for-hire services model that lets developers keep their IP and revenue entirely.
Drawing on his background at 2K, Blizzard, and Netflix, Ben breaks down why he chose to root the company in the Midwest rather than a traditional hub, how studios actually choose between the two publishing tracks, and why investors like Prevail, Kun Gao (Crunchyroll), and Mitchell Patterson (Wolfjaw) bet on a hybrid publisher in a moment when capital is fleeing games for AI (and how it completely reversed from the VC financing era in 2021 where VC’s wouldn’t touch publishers). The conversation gets concrete with real portfolio examples plus Ben's take on discoverability, sourcing enough quality titles to publish something every month, and how AI is reshaping both developer costs and his own underwriting.
The episode closes with Ben's outlook on where publishing goes next.We’d also like to thank Medal.tv for making this episode possible. If you're a PC gamer and want to clip your moments, or a studio, publisher, or marketer looking to reach a high-quality gaming audience and get your game in front of the right players, check out all Medal has to offer at https://grow.medal.tv.
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 [email protected].
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.
Naavik Digest: The Future of Kids Games
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, August 30th. In this week’s issue, we explore the present and future of kids games through the lens of Netflix launching Netflix Playground …
Notas do episódio
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, August 30th. In this week’s issue, we explore the present and future of kids games through the lens of Netflix launching Netflix Playground and Haveli acquiring Budge Studios.
You can read the newsletter (with even more sections and visual detail) here: https://naavik.substack.com/p/the-future-of-kids-games
Learn more about Appcharge: https://www.appcharge.com/?utm_source=naavik
Want to explore working with Naavik? Shoot us a note: https://naavik.co/contact-us/
Let us know what you think by sending us a note at [email protected].Watch our episodes: YouTube Channel
For more episodes and details: Podcast Website
Free newsletter: Naavik Digest
Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website
Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.
The Game Server Hosting Company Private Equity Couldn't Buy
Game server hosting is the layer nobody thinks about until it breaks. In this episode, Kalie Moore sits down with Max Podkidkin, Co-Founder and CEO of BisectHosting, to unpack how a Minecraft server that went …
Notas do episódio
Game server hosting is the layer nobody thinks about until it breaks. In this episode, Kalie Moore sits down with Max Podkidkin, Co-Founder and CEO of BisectHosting, to unpack how a Minecraft server that went dark for three days turned into a 15-year infrastructure business serving hundreds of thousands of customers across more than 140 countries. Max put the first hardware on a credit card, recruited a co-founder he met in his own Minecraft community, and built the company to nearly 100 employees without ever raising outside capital. They get into what those early years actually looked like, including hiding a laptop on a cart at a factory job to answer support tickets, the two years he and Andrew worked together over text before meeting face to face, and how a US and UK split gave them 24/7 coverage with a team of two.
The conversation also covers how the hosting business really works, from the economics of renting out resources to why running a server at home costs more than most people think. Max explains why BisectHosting has turned down repeated acquisition offers while private equity consolidates the market around them, how the team gets into a studio's Discord and pre-tests server files before working with a game studio, and what 15 years of hosting communities has taught him about why modding and UGC keep games alive long after launch. He also shares the studio's approach to AI, including Biko, the assistant built into their server panel that has cut support tickets by double digits without a single person losing their job.Big thanks to Heroic Labs for making this episode possible. Gram Games used Heroic Labs to tailor offers and events by player cohort, calling it "critical" in a post-IDFA world where retention is everything. Read how Gram merged personalization and advanced social features into a core system of their live operations: https://heroiclabs.com/blog/gram-games-case-study/?_gl=1*709y52*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTI0MTAzNTM2Ny4xNzg1MjI4NzQ2*_ga_R9WLGSZ1KN*czE3ODUyMjg3NDUkbzEkZzAkdDE3ODUyMjg3NDUkajYwJGwwJGgw
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 [email protected].
Who’s On:
Guest - Max Podkidkin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/max-podkidkin/
Host - Kalie Moore: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaliemoore/
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
Links mentioned: https://www.bisecthosting.com/
Naavik Digest: The Great Mobile Convergence
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, August 23rd. In this week’s issue, we share our latest podcast episode and tackle how and why the mobile games industry keeps converging on …
Notas do episódio
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, August 23rd. In this week’s issue, we share our latest podcast episode and tackle how and why the mobile games industry keeps converging on best practices across genres — and what that means for the future.
You can read the newsletter (with even more sections and visual detail) here: https://naavik.substack.com/p/the-great-mobile-convergence
Want to explore working with Naavik? Shoot us a note: https://naavik.co/contact-us/
Let us know what you think by sending us a note at [email protected].Watch our episodes: YouTube Channel
For more episodes and details: Podcast Website
Free newsletter: Naavik Digest
Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website
Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.
Can Portugal Become Europe’s Next Gaming Powerhouse?
Between 2018 and 2024, the turnover of Portuguese games companies went from around 5 million to nearly 100 million. In this episode, Kalie Moore sits down with Jefferson Valadares, Co-Founder and CEO of …
Notas do episódio
Between 2018 and 2024, the turnover of Portuguese games companies went from around 5 million to nearly 100 million. In this episode, Kalie Moore sits down with Jefferson Valadares, Co-Founder and CEO of partNerd and President of the Portuguese Association of Game Development Companies, to unpack whether a country long known for exporting its best talent can become a home for original IP. Jefferson has seen the industry from nearly every seat, as Studio GM at EA, Executive Producer at BioWare, Head of Mobile at Bandai Namco, and a board member at Rovio before its sale to Sega. They explore what the AAA years taught him about when to spend and when to wing it, why big companies keep funding games they already know won't work, and what he learned running studio acquisitions at Fortis Games about why most deals quietly lose their value.
The conversation also goes inside partNerd, the four-person studio he's building now, and why they're making an original co-op game exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2. Jefferson explains the thinking behind designing for asymmetric skill levels so parents, kids, and non-gamers can play together, why GameShare shaped their commercial model, and how hard it is for veteran developers to unlearn best practice and build something genuinely new. He also revisits Doppio, his early bet on voice as a gaming platform, and the timing that led to selling to Fortis in late 2021. Along the way he lays out the Helsinki parallel he sees playing out in Lisbon, why the hardest gap for emerging ecosystems is product rather than engineering or art, and what he thinks the industry is underestimating about the generation that grew up on Roblox and Minecraft rather than GTA.
This episode is brought to you by Appcharge, the payments platform built specifically for mobile gaming that processes over a billion dollars annually. Learn more here: https://www.appcharge.com/?utm_source=naavik&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=sponsorship_payments
We’d also like to thank Dive for making this episode possible! With its fully managed analytics and LiveOps platform built for game studios, 95% of their clients grow revenue in one year. All of that without having to hire an in-house data team. Learn more here: dive.games/scale.
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 [email protected].
Who’s On:
Guest - Jeferson Valadares: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jefersonvaladares/
Host - Kalie Moore: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaliemoore/
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
Naavik Digest: Roblox's Expensive Year of Good Intentions
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, August 16th. In this week’s issue, we examine Roblox, which lost nearly a third of its value after it reported Q2 2026 results. We explore …
Notas do episódio
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, August 16th. In this week’s issue, we examine Roblox, which lost nearly a third of its value after it reported Q2 2026 results. We explore what the latest numbers might mean for the present and future of the company.
You can read the newsletter (with even more sections and visual detail) here: https://www.naavik.co/digest/robloxs-expensive-year-of-good-intentions
Meet with Naavik at Gamescom: https://naavik.typeform.com/to/qE3Yw6pa?typeform-source=www.dropbox.com
Want to explore working with Naavik? Shoot us a note: https://naavik.co/contact-us/
Let us know what you think by sending us a note at [email protected].Watch our episodes: YouTube Channel
For more episodes and details: Podcast Website
Free newsletter: Naavik Digest
Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website
Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.
Naavik Digest: How Friendslop Is Disrupting the Live-ops Status Quo
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, August 9th. In this week’s issue, we discuss the rising “friendslop" phenomenon, why it’s somewhat disrupting established live-ops …
Notas do episódio
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, August 9th. In this week’s issue, we discuss the rising “friendslop" phenomenon, why it’s somewhat disrupting established live-ops practices, and whether it is sustainable long-term.
You can read the newsletter (with even more sections and visual detail) here: https://www.naavik.co/digest/friendslop-disrupting-the-live-ops-status-quo
Meet with Naavik at Gamescom: https://naavik.typeform.com/to/qE3Yw6pa?typeform-source=www.dropbox.com
Want to explore working with Naavik? Shoot us a note: https://naavik.co/contact-us/Let us know what you think by sending us a note at [email protected].
Watch our episodes: YouTube Channel
For more episodes and details: Podcast Website
Free newsletter: Naavik Digest
Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website
Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.
Naavik Digest: Why Platform-Led Gaming in China Is Falling Short
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, August 2nd. In this week’s issue, we discuss the decline of platform-led gaming in China through the lens of Alibaba’s likely sale of Lingxi …
Notas do episódio
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, August 2nd. In this week’s issue, we discuss the decline of platform-led gaming in China through the lens of Alibaba’s likely sale of Lingxi Games, the studio behind Three Kingdoms Tactics.
You can read the newsletter (with even more sections and visual detail) here: https://www.naavik.co/digest/the-structural-failure-of-platform-led-gaming-in-china
Meet with Naavik at Gamescom: https://naavik.typeform.com/to/qE3Yw6pa?typeform-source=www.dropbox.com
Want to explore working with Naavik? Shoot us a note: https://naavik.co/contact-us/Let us know what you think by sending us a note at [email protected].
Watch our episodes: YouTube Channel
For more episodes and details: Podcast Website
Free newsletter: Naavik Digest
Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website
Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe
Fractional Talent’s Growing Role in Game Development
As studios contend with layoffs, hiring freezes, longer development cycles, and a growing supply of experienced talent outside traditional roles, fractional work is emerging as a potential middle ground between …
Notas do episódio
As studios contend with layoffs, hiring freezes, longer development cycles, and a growing supply of experienced talent outside traditional roles, fractional work is emerging as a potential middle ground between full-time hiring and conventional consulting. Host Devin Becker is joined by Aaron Bush, co-founder and Managing Partner of Naavik, to discuss why the company expanded from research and advisory into fractional talent, what meaningfully separates fractional leadership from contracting or staff augmentation, and how these engagements work in practice.
They examine which roles fit the model, why senior talent dominates the supply pool, how studios retain knowledge after an engagement ends, and whether increased reliance on fractional experts could weaken the industry’s pipeline for developing junior talent. The conversation also considers whether this is a temporary response to the current employment cycle or an early sign of studios becoming smaller permanent teams supported by flexible specialists.
Check out Naavik's Fractional Talent Network: https://naavik.co/fractional-talent/
We’d like to thank Dive for making this episode possible! With its fully managed analytics and LiveOps platform built for game studios, 95% of their clients grow revenue in one year. All of that without having to hire an in-house data team. Learn more here: dive.games/scale
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 [email protected].
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.
Naavik Digest: How Online Fandom Is Rewriting the IP Playbook
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, July 26th. In this week’s issue, we examine how a new generation of creators and internet-native IP — sometimes memes or worlds that no one …
Notas do episódio
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, July 26th. In this week’s issue, we examine how a new generation of creators and internet-native IP — sometimes memes or worlds that no one owns — are starting to take the entertainment world by storm in new ways.
You can read the newsletter (with even more sections and visual detail) here: https://www.naavik.co/digest/how-online-fandom-is-rewriting-the-ip-playbook
Check out Naavik’s fractional talent network: https://naavik.co/fractional-talent/
Meet with Naavik at Gamescom: https://naavik.typeform.com/to/qE3Yw6pa?typeform-source=www.dropbox.com
Want to explore working with Naavik? Shoot us a note: https://naavik.co/contact-us/
Let us know what you think by sending us a note at [email protected].Watch our episodes: YouTube Channel
For more episodes and details: Podcast Website
Free newsletter: Naavik Digest
Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website
Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.
Inside Subway Surfers, Mobile Gaming's Most Enduring Hit
Fourteen years after launch, Subway Surfers is still one of the biggest games in the world. In this episode, Kalie Moore sits down with Mathias Gredal Nørvig, CEO of SYBO, to unpack how a mobile game launched …
Notas do episódio
Fourteen years after launch, Subway Surfers is still one of the biggest games in the world. In this episode, Kalie Moore sits down with Mathias Gredal Nørvig, CEO of SYBO, to unpack how a mobile game launched in 2012 continues to attract between 100 and 150 million monthly players while nearly every other hit from its era has faded away. They explore the philosophy behind Subway Surfers' iconic World Tour live operations, why empowering artists and designers has kept the game feeling fresh for more than a decade, how community ideas have directly shaped new characters and game modes, and why collaborations with games like Brawl Stars have become some of the studio's most successful partnerships. Mathias also shares how Subway Surfers Cities evolved from years of experimentation, why SYBO deliberately avoided cannibalizing its flagship title, and what they're still learning as they build the franchise's next chapter.
The conversation also dives into one of gaming's most remarkable organic marketing stories: how Subway Surfers became one of TikTok's biggest gaming phenomena without spending on user acquisition, why SYBO gives its social team extraordinary creative freedom, and how the studio thinks about virality, platform expansion, and community-first marketing. Mathias shares SYBO's measured approach to AI, lessons from becoming part of Miniclip and Tencent, why the company stepped back from large-scale licensing despite nearly five billion downloads, and how sustainability, accessibility, and healthy gameplay have become core parts of the studio's long-term vision. The episode offers a rare look inside one of mobile gaming's most enduring success stories and what it takes to build an evergreen franchise that continues to evolve without losing what made it special.
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, 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 [email protected].
Who’s On:
Guest - Mathias Gredal Nørvig: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noervig/
Host - Kalie Moore: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaliemoore/
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
Links mentioned:
Naavik Digest: The Memo That Undid 10 Years of XBOX Strategy
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, July 19th. In this week’s issue, we shine a light on the memo that undid 10 years of Xbox strategy, focusing on what CEO Asha Sharma is …
Notas do episódio
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, July 19th. In this week’s issue, we shine a light on the memo that undid 10 years of Xbox strategy, focusing on what CEO Asha Sharma is actually trying to achieve.
You can read the newsletter (with even more sections and visual detail) here: https://www.naavik.co/digest/the-memo-that-undid-ten-years-of-xbox-strategy
Meet with Naavik at Gamescom: https://naavik.typeform.com/to/qE3Yw6pa?typeform-source=www.dropbox.com
Want to explore working with Naavik? Shoot us a note: https://naavik.co/contact-us/
Let us know what you think by sending us a note at [email protected].Watch our episodes: YouTube Channel
For more episodes and details: Podcast Website
Free newsletter: Naavik Digest
Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website
Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.
What Game Studios Still Get Wrong About DTC
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) is moving from an experimental monetization channel toward a more established part of game publishing, but adoption remains uneven. Host Devin Becker is joined by David Stelzer, CSO of …
Notas do episódio
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) is moving from an experimental monetization channel toward a more established part of game publishing, but adoption remains uneven. Host Devin Becker is joined by David Stelzer, CSO of Appcharge, to discuss findings from the company’s recent report and what they reveal about the current state of DTC. They examine why more than half of studios are still making few meaningful changes, what separates the small group of innovators pulling ahead, and where developers continue to misunderstand web stores, player behavior, and the operational demands of running DTC effectively. The conversation also looks ahead to dedicated DTC teams, standardized technology stacks, broader adoption beyond games, and what winning in DTC could look like over the next three to five years.
We’d like to thank Medal.tv for making this episode possible. If you're a PC gamer and want to clip your moments or a studio, publisher, or marketer looking to reach a high-quality gaming audience and get your game in front of the right players, check out all Medal has to offer at https://grow.medal.tv.
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 [email protected].
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.
Naavik Digest: How the AI Boom Is Rewiring the Console Business
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, July 12th. In today’s issue, we evaluate the memory boom’s effect on the present and future of gaming hardware.You can read the newsletter …
Notas do episódio
This episode covers the Naavik Digest newsletter published on Sunday, July 12th. In today’s issue, we evaluate the memory boom’s effect on the present and future of gaming hardware.
You can read the newsletter (with even more sections and visual detail) here: https://www.naavik.co/digest/the-ai-boom-is-repricing-gaming-hardware-and-rewiring-the-console-business
Meet with Naavik at Gamescom: https://naavik.typeform.com/to/qE3Yw6pa?typeform-source=www.dropbox.com
India’s State of Play report: https://mixiglobalinv.com/report/upload/indias-state-of-play-260708.pdf
Want to explore working with Naavik? Shoot us a note: https://naavik.co/contact-us/Let us know what you think by sending us a note at [email protected].
Watch our episodes: YouTube Channel
For more episodes and details: Podcast Website
Free newsletter: Naavik Digest
Follow us: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website
Sound design by Gavin Mc Cabe.
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