Stay ConnectedDeconstructor of Fun podcast is created by games professionals for games professionals. We explore the business side of the games industry with the goal of bringing listeners content that is relevant, insightful, and entertaining on a weekly basis.
Hosts:
Michail Katkoff www.linkedin.com/in/michailkatkoff/
Eric Kress www.linkedin.com/in/erickress/
Phillip Black www.linkedin.com/in/phillip-black-economist/
Jen Donahoe www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferdonahoe
Copyright: © Deconstructor of Fun
Xbox is at a strategic inflection point. The question now is why, how, and what comes next. We break down the massive Xbox leadership shakeup, what it reveals about Microsoft’s real strategy, sharp critiques of the new CEO, and exactly what the brand must do to survive. Fresh off a hockey loss and curling cheating allegations, Adam returns to the podcast with a lot to answer for.
We unpack PlayStation’s shutdown of Bluepoint Games and the broader consequences of its live service overreach. Sweden is apparently now going to run Asian MMOs, Tencent shuts down Teamy, Nexon promotes Sutherland, Gossip Harbor dethrones King, and no one can solve why this studio didn’t sell out.
We tackle the Overwatch Rush debate, dive deep into Matthew Ball’s State of the Gaming, and close with one of the most unexpectedly uplifting self-care talks the game industry has heard plus a fiery argument over what the metaverse actually means.
Be sure to listen closely for our upcoming GDC plans and live show announcements!
CHAPTERS:00:00 Welcome and Agenda
01:43 Adam Returns and Olympics Banter
03:17 Puppy Update and AI Obsession
04:57 GDC Plans and Live Show
08:13 Corrections
10:19 Xbox Leadership Shakeup
12:45 Crest Rips the New CEO
21:48 What Xbox Should Do Next
27:44 Phil on Microsoft Motives
31:48 Jen on Leadership Brand Competition
38:38 PlayStation Shuts Bluepoint
42:41 Live Service Overreach
43:04 Tencent Shuts Teamy
45:59 Nexon Promotes Sutherland
50:03 Gossip Harbor Beats King
52:04 Overwatch Rush Debate
01:01:07 Matthew Ball Report
01:14:35 Metaverse Definition Fight
01:18:35 Wrap Up And Farewell
Dead as Disco went from 50,000 Steam wishlists to over 400,000 in less than a month, with over a million unique demo players and a 98% Overwhelmingly Positive rating. They are currently at 750k+ Wishlists today. Host Jen Donahoe sits down with Eden Chen, founder of Pragma and the FirstLook player relationship platform, and Adam Gershowitz, COO of Brain Jar Games, to break down exactly how they did it.Adam walks through Brain Jar's journey from a 300-person closed playtest to pulling the NDA and watching TikTok explode their community overnight, racking up over 200 million views on the Dead as Disco hashtag. Eden explains how First Look helps studios build a "golden cohort" of core fans, use in-game surveys and sentiment analysis to track player feedback at scale, and create organic referral loops that drive 10-25% community growth.The conversation also covers Discord bots as a community engagement and advertising channel, why TikTok beat Twitch for a music-based game, and how Eden is building paid inventory for core gamers in 2026 through creators, Discord servers, and player utility sites.Packed with specific tactics and real data for anyone rethinking their publishing platform and capabilities.Firstlook.gg and Dead as Disco https://store.steampowered.com/app/3404260/Dead_as_Disco/Adam Gershowitz - https://www.linkedin.com/in/agershowitz/Eden Chen - https://www.linkedin.com/in/edechen/Jen Donahoe - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferdonahoe/
Meta’s apparent comeback runs headfirst into shifting UA economics, rising creative costs, and new pressure from platforms like Reddit, forcing marketers to rethink what “working” actually means. We unpack whether Meta is truly back or just delivering short-term dopamine, why in-app ads could reshape ad-monetized LTV, and how CPMs, payback windows, and creative volume are redefining the hyper-casual and hybrid playbooks. Cihan and Josh join to break down the latest Appsflyer data, Reddit’s Max campaigns, China’s UA surge, and Liftoff’s IPO and to debate whether AI is leveling the field or quietly squeezing the middle out of mobile marketing.Chapters: 00:00 Welcome to Deconstructor of Funds + UA Monthly kickoff00:17 Meet the guests: Jihan (Scaling.Games) & Josh (Wildcard Games)01:06 Today’s agenda: Meta’s return, Appsflyer report, Reddit AI ads, Liftoff IPO01:29 Is “Meta back” real? The 2.5 Gamers breakdown & the dopamine-hit spike02:52 What Meta’s actually doing: rollout strategy, templates, and market impact06:05 In-app ads explained: why Meta buying inventory could boost ad-monetized LTV07:48 Ad quality debate: intrusive formats, churn-per-impression, and broken incentives12:58 Can hyper-casual come back? CPMs, payback windows, and hybrid monetization18:38 State of Game Marketing report: shrinking US spend, growth in Turkey/India20:16 The creative arms race: AI variations, the ‘middle class’ squeeze, and rising noise23:25 AI Shrinks the Creative Gap: Small Teams Catch Up, Mid-Tier Stalls24:41 China’s UA Surge + iOS Outspending Android: Where the Scale Is Coming From25:38 30 Creatives a Day: The New ‘Tax’ of Competing in Mobile UA26:07 Ripoffs, Ethics, and Beating the Filters: The Dark Side of Creative Volume28:00 Hero Creatives Aren’t Dead—But Copy Speed Forces Smarter Variations30:16 Copying vs. Trends: When ‘Stealing’ Is Real (and When It’s Just the Market)31:40 Is the Market Really an Iceberg? US Spend Down, Web Shops, and the ‘Hidden’ Picture34:27 Reddit ‘Max’ Campaigns: Advantage+ for Reddit with a Promise of Transparency37:19 Top Audience Personas: Useful Insight or Just a Fancy Dashboard?39:34 How to Test Reddit Max: Onboarding Friction, Learning Periods, and Scalability Unknowns40:58 Liftoff Files to Go Public: Valuation, Margins, Debt, and the AI Black-Box Race45:44 What’s Liftoff’s Moat? Engine vs. Fuel, Data Advantages, and the AppLovin Comparison48:35 Wrap-Up: UA Monthly Feedback, What to Cover Next
We recap the Clash Royale creator controversy and CEO apology, dig into what’s broken with evolutions, heroes, and pay-to-win, and debate whether streamers can actually drive a comeback. We also cover Savvy’s rumored MoonTon deal, Blizzard’s updates across Overwatch, Diablo, and WoW, the slowdown in mobile games, the frozen state of M&A, and a reality check on AI in games - from hype to hard limits.
00:25 Welcome & Episode Lineup (No More Car Talk)
01:52 Rumor Mill + Why We’re Skipping Matthew Ball (For Now)
03:10 GDC Plans, Events, and Content Plug Roundup
06:00 Ad Break: Sensor Tower Pitch
06:20 Clash Royale Creator Controversy Recap + CEO Apology
09:44 What’s Actually Broken in Clash Royale: Evolutions, Heroes & Pay-to-Win
11:45 Do Streamers Drive the Revival? Twitch Data, Correlation vs Causation
13:02 PR Playbook Debate: Groveling vs Proactive Creator Celebration
21:53 Savvy’s Buying Spree: $6–7B MoonTon Rumor (Mobile Legends)
27:15 Overwatch Drops the “2”: DAU Surge, Live Ops, and Monetization Revamp
32:43 Blizzard’s comeback tour: Diablo drops, WoW housing & Overwatch’s 10-year arc
35:49 Mobile check-in: Habi’s 2026 slump and the post-Survivor.io reality
38:16 The real engine behind Habi: Gorilla Games and the “publisher outgrown” problem
40:36 M&A hypotheticals: Scopely, Savvy, and why deals feel frozen right now
42:36 AI in games debate: calling out the hype and what actually changes the medium
44:50 Why AI won’t make games cheaper: IP moats, attention scarcity, and AI-native platforms
49:17 East vs West AI reality check: layoffs, pipeline bottlenecks, and player backlash risk
57:03 Embark as an AI efficiency poster child? The smoke, mirrors, and AAA cost skepticism
01:01:43 Closing thoughts: mobile growth is over, share-of-time wars, and next week’s plug
User-generated content (UGC) isn’t “make anything.” It’s “make something that someone cares about.” In this Deconstructor of Fun conversation, Julia Polatovska, founder of Dorian, a creator platform for mostly women + Gen Z, goes past the pitch and into the operator questions. Who creates, who wins, what monetizes, and what breaks at scale when you're building a UGC platform.
Connect with Julia: www.linkedin.com/in/palatovska/
The evolution of art direction, the integration of AI in creative processes, and the balance between creativity and business acumen. That's on the menu as SciPlay's Sr. Art Director, Peter Franco, joins Michail Katkoff on the podcast.
Read more about Peter's work on modernizing a top-grossing game: https://tinyurl.com/mn2bdweb
Timestamps:
2:12 - Peter's journey into Social Casino
4:42 - Evolution of art direction roles
7:13 - Balancing creativity and business
9:23 - User feedback in design
12:07 - Importance of seamless UX
15:44 - Player behavior insights
20:28 - Benefits of using IPs
25:16 - AI in art pipelines
30:18 - Future skills for art directors
35:33 - Maintaining stylistic consistency
40:49 - Future of art direction
45:07 - Personal influences and career advice
53:25 - Advice for aspiring art directors
59:25 - AI and creativity
Mobile publishing isn’t dead, it’s mutating!
In this TWIG episode, we break down how Ares Interactive is trying to resurrect Glu with a $70M Series A and what that says about the current “publisher vs. studio” power balance.
We also tackle Google’s new immersive world model, Genie 3, and the industry’s first defensive reflex: how do you keep the genie in the bottle when the bottle is an API?
Phil drags us into Highguard Marketing, making us unpack the pitch, the incentives, and why “pseudo-defending” it still feels like a red flag.
Finally, we hit Arknights: Endfield launching off the back of a reported 35M pre-registrations, and what that number does (and doesn’t) predict once the game meets CPI, retention, and live ops gravity.
The question nobody in the West wants to answer honestly: the biggest shooters in the world are not the ones you argue about on Twitter.This episode rips into Highguard’s shadow drop, the “beta that isn’t labeled beta” problem, and the stubborn reality that the shooter market has converged into two and only two genres: Battle Royale and tactical.We talk Highguard and Spectre Divide as case studies for why “ex-Apex devs” is marketing copy, not a strategy, and why in 2026 a shooter doesn’t get a long runway to “fix it live.”Guest: Christopher Anjos, with Chris Sides and Feras Musmar.We discuss:- High Guard as a MOBA-raid shooter hybrid and why its best moments arrive only after five minutes of downtime.- Defense phase, resource phase, then the game finally becomes itself: mounts, CTF energy, base raiding.- Shadow drops vs. tech tests: why the Apex Legends playbook doesn’t port cleanly into 2026.- “Early access” is just launch, and Steam labels don’t save you from retention.- The 3v3 trap: high risk formats where one leaver or one death warps the whole match.- Why 3-person squads feel like a couple plus a third wheel, and when 3v3v3 or 5v5 might actually work.- The “two genres” thesis: Battle Royale and tactical shooters as the market’s default equilibrium.- The creator-credit illusion: “ex-Red Dead lead designer” as a brand signal that often means nothing.- Players want auteur vibes; production reality is thousands of hands and fuzzy accountability.https://graygoatgaming.com/
Sensor Tower Report 2026 breakdown with Jonathan Briskman. We unpack the biggest mobile app trends 2026 and mobile gaming trends 2026.
We discuss monetization shifts (IAP vs ads), market localization strategies that actually move the needle, and the rise of AI-powered apps changing consumer behavior and competition.
State of Mobile 2026: https://bit.ly/4bvjI2b
Chapters:
02:13 - Downloads plateau, in-app purchase revenue up
07:15 - Apps overtaking traditional gaming in revenue growth
12:05 - US market trends: AI, short drama, social media
15:14 - The rise of generative AI platforms
16:03 - In-app revenue growth comparison: apps vs. games
20:09 - Non-game monetization lessons from successful apps
26:49 - Top performers in downloads and IAP
32:50 - The attention economy
46:05 - The explosion of generative AI content in social media
60:13 - Trends in hybrid casual, hyper-casual, and ad spend efficiency
65:18 - Market barriers and the advantage of existing data for new entrants
73:35 - Investment opportunities
82:29 - Future outlook: differentiation through tailored, niche AI solutions
Ubisoft layoffs point to deeper problems in AAA, a16z fund performance shows VC money tightening up, and TikTok’s future as a growth channel for games looks far less certain — from ownership issues to slowing ads and algorithm risk. We talk about what this means for user acquisition, why AI video apps are starting to matter, concerns around GDC attendance and safety, The New York Times stepping into mobile games, and why monetizing word games remains so hard. We also cover the launch of High Guard and wrap up with what to watch next as the industry enters its next reset.
00:00 Welcome01:49 Meeting Mihir Va from EA05:50 PGC Recap and Rumors17:23 Ubisoft Layoffs and Critique21:28 A16Z Fund Performance Analysis30:44 TikTok's New American Entity31:18 TikTok's Impact on the Gaming Industry31:51 Ownership and Future of TikTok in the US33:37 Concerns Over Content Moderation and Algorithm34:36 TikTok's Stagnation and Advertising Decline35:36 Emerging Threats: AI Video Apps38:31 GDC Attendance and Safety Concerns43:46 New York Times Enters the Mobile Gaming Market49:36 Challenges in Monetizing Word Games52:13 Launch and Reception of High Guard57:33 Conclusion and Upcoming Topics
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