Deconstructor of Fun

The gaming industry has seen 24,000+ layoffs in 2024–2025 alone, and a wave of new consultants has followed. But how many of them actually chose this path?Michail Katkoff sits down with John Wright to unpack the raw, honest reality of gaming consulting: the anxiety, the income rollercoaster, the identity crisis, and the strategies that actually work.In this episode, we break down: ● Why 70% of gaming consultants are in survival mode (not thriving)● The psychological shift from exec to consultant, and why it's harder than it looks● How to avoid "doing yourself out of a job" when you succeed● The pipeline trap: when...

Turkey's game industry is overheating, Xbox just hired a chief strategy officer that has the panel in meltdown mode, and Roblox is betting big on a HD pivot that could blow up in their face.
In this episode, we break down:
● Why Turkey is dominating the gaming landscape and what's fueling its growth
● The talent shortage threatening Turkey's gaming boom
● Why West Coast game development costs are becoming unsustainable
● Xbox's sweeping leadership shakeup and what it signals
● Why bringing in non-gaming tech executives won't fix Xbox's core problem
● Matthew Ball joining Xbox as Chief Str...

Marathon’s player numbers are collapsing, Apex Legends is surging again, and rumors suggest Disney may be entering the extraction shooter genre.In this episode, we break down:● Why Marathon’s retention and onboarding may be fundamentally broken● Whether Bungie can still save Marathon● How Arc Raiders became the first mainstream extraction shooter hit● Why extraction shooters still struggle with accessibility● The debate around wipes, PvP pressure, and economy design● Why Apex Legends is suddenly exploding again in DAU● How Apex keeps balancing casual and hardcore players● The hidden importance of movement and traversal in shooters● Why Apex’s live service design is s...

John Wright and Vincent join Josh Chandley for the monthly deep-dive into what's actually moving the needle in mobile user acquisition.Questions we answer in this episode:● Is Sensor Tower now a monopoly, and should you be worried about pricing?● Why did Google reinstate Freecash but Apple still won't?● Is there one person at Apple secretly controlling which apps live and die?● Is Misplay buying its way to relevance, or is this a smart strategic pivot?● Does Misplay have a window to capitalize on Freecash's iOS ban?● AppLovin added more revenue this quarter than all of Unity's ad networks combined, so...

Supercell enters the toy business, Playtika fully embraces casual games, and Turkey’s puzzle game machine keeps printing hits and billion-dollar studios.In this episode of TWIG, Jen is joined by Adam, Phill, and LT to break down the biggest stories in mobile games, from Grand Games’ massive $70M raise to the deeper economics behind hybrid casual, DTC monetization, and why puzzle games are evolving beyond traditional match-3 design.Topics Covered:● Grand Games raises $70M, and why Turkey has become the world’s most concentrated puzzle game ecosystem● How government subsidies, repeat founders, and UA rebates are fueling Turkey’s gaming fly...

Why are gaming VCs shifting capital to consumer apps? In this episode, Henric Suuronen and Harri Manninen, founding partners of Play Ventures, one of gaming's top venture funds with $500 million under management and over 100 portfolio companies, break down how they evaluate founders, why they require a two-year vesting cliff, and what co-founder conflict really looks like from the investor side.

We discuss the venture capital math behind gaming startup funding, why consumer apps trade at higher multiples than games, how to read founder chemistry during a pitch, and what Play Ventures looks for in...

Supercell absorbs Merge Mansion, Xbox fires its veterans and hires from Instacart, and the math behind gaming's VC collapse finally gets laid out in full.
In this episode of TWIG, Mishka is joined by Josh Chandley, John Wright, and Ethan Levy to break down the biggest moves in games this week, from Finland's most beloved merge studio quietly running out of road to why gaming VC funding has dropped 95% since 2021.
Topics Covered:
● Supercell acquires Metacore and why a profitable $30M a month game still couldn't survive
● What the 70% layoffs tell us about liveops competition and the...

Xbox doubles down on a DAU strategy with no real plan to get there. Ubisoft keeps cleaning house while its franchises collect dust. And the most doom-and-gloom post ever written about the games industry lands on LinkedIn, and it's hard to argue with.
Topics Covered:
● Xbox's public memo: Rebranding back to Xbox, shifting to DAU as a north star
● UK games subsidies: £28.5 million, three funding tracks, and why Turkey is still running laps around everyone
● Ubisoft Canada shakeup: Four big departures, Assassin's Creed Hex in trouble, and why Tencent might be the only real solution
● Ma...

Match-3 is harder than ever to win, clones are getting taken down, and Royal Kingdom is scaling toward the top of the puzzle market.In this episode of Puzzle Monthly, we break down the real state of puzzle games in 2026, from Turkish startup funding to Supercell’s latest attempt, Pixel Flow clone drama, and whether Royal Kingdom can actually challenge Candy Crush.Topics Covered:● Turkish puzzle startups raise fresh funding and why the ecosystem keeps producing hits● Supercell tries puzzle again with Hay Day Match, and why timing might be wrong● Is Match-3 innovation dead? The debate on risk vs scale...

Game Pass just got cheaper, China is rewriting the mobile market, and Ubisoft ships one of the most polished mobile games in years.

Topics Covered:

● Xbox drops Game Pass Ultimate by 23% and pulls Call of Duty from day one, but none of it actually fixes what's broken
● Chinese, Hong Kong, and Singapore publishers now own 30% of Western mobile revenue, up from 16% in 2019
● Pokémon Go surged 52% in downloads during its 30th anniversary, and why it's bigger than just one marketing event
● Why the US should stop competing on mobile co...

Two kids. Zero filter. All the takes. Rocky and Mickey are back for Twig Jr., and they didn't hold back. From aging out of Roblox to explaining brain rot to calling out in-game money grabs, this is how Gen Alpha actually thinks about games.

Topics Covered:

● Roblox's highs and lows and what's actually gone downhill

● Friend Slop and how it's replacing traditional multiplayer

● Brain-rot games and why kids are starting to walk away

● Why Rocky and Mickey have mostly quit mobile gaming

● Discord vs iMessage and how Gen Alpha...

The mobile gaming ecosystem is shifting fast this month. We break down the shocking deplatforming of Freecash, a $500M+ rewarded ad network, and what it signals for the future of user acquisition. Then we dive into Unity’s major strategic pivot: shutting down ironSource and going all-in on Vector. Is Vector actually working, or just great marketing?

Topics Covered:

● Freecash ban: what happened and why it matters

● The future of rewarded ad networks

● Unity shutting down ironSource

● Vector performance, growth, and real-world results

● The ongoing batt...

We sit down with Joakim Achren, serial entrepreneur, former GP at F4 Fund, and now AI-first founder, to talk about why he walked away from venture capital and what he's building next.Topics Covered:● The founder-turned-VC trap: why it sounds like a natural progression but has a flaw nobody warns you about

● Micro-fund economics: a $10M fund pays you less than a startup salary, and you spend half your time fundraising for the next one

● Why industry clout doesn't move LP capital, and the relationship mistake that cost him the raise

● Gaming VC right no...

A lot happened this week in games. Kids are outsmarting Roblox's age verification, Xbox is cracking under its own pricing, and Pokémon is running laps around everyone else's marketing. Topics Covered:

● Roblox age tiers: Three new segments, parental controls, and why lawsuits from 8 states still aren't the biggest threat● AAA dominance debate: Is the top 20 really losing ground, or is Newzoo misleading everyone?● Xbox Game Pass: A leaked memo, two price hikes in 15 months, and ad-supported tiers on the horizon● Borderlands Mobile: A surprise US stealth launch with no monetization and onboarding straight out of 2018● Pokémon's 30th...

We sit down with Ben Porter, Director of Consulting at Newzoo, to go through their 80-page 2026 PC & Console report page by page.Topics Covered:

● Newzoo calls it an Inflection Point but we call it winner-takes-more on a flat engagement base● Roblox is the #1 most played franchise on PC & Console with 50%+ playtime growth YoY but is it even a game?● The Roblox generation actively avoids AAA narrative games and what that means for traditional developers● Free-to-play is dying on consoles while premium live service titles like Arc Raiders and Helldivers steal the spotlight● Game Pass is great for playtime...

This week, we go two-on-two for a lighter, looser TWIG, but there’s nothing light about the topics.We break down the biggest shifts across film, platforms, AI, and where attention is really going. Topics Covered:● Don’t ever put Mario in the corner; he crushed it at the Box Office● Aream and Investgame report ● Take Two takes an Axe to its AI team and lets them go in advance of GTA6● Monopoly Go launches a chat App and it wasn’t an April Fools Day joke as it hits #2 in top social downloads in the US+Bonus: The life of a cons...

What to do, what to do about Marathon? The crew considers radical shock therapy with surprising answers and solutions. Deadlock pushes systems design to its logical extreme in a few shooters that are just starting to play with, but does it actually have an audience? Take bets now.We discuss:● Deadlock’s systems-first design philosophy◦ Layered stat architecture across weapon, vitality, and spirit◦ Scaling curves that turn every component into a progression vector◦ The role of the Action and X-Y-Z plane crosshairs● Marathon’s core tension: retention without acquisition◦ Strong engagement signals versus weak top-of-funnel growth◦ Why extraction shooters remain a constrain...

Roblox has over 150 million daily active users, a million concurrent hits, and some of the fastest game iteration cycles in the industry. So why do so many Roblox games still fail to become real businesses? We sit down with Nick Tornow, SVP of Engine and Creator Engineering at Roblox, and Zach Letter, CEO of WonderWorks, to unpack how discovery really works on the platform, why small teams are outperforming traditional studios, and what it actually takes to build a sustainable Roblox company in 2025.Questions we answer in this episode:● Is Roblox a place to build hits or a place to...

The industry isn’t slowing down. This week, we break down the biggest shifts across games.

Topics Covered:

● Disney and Epic: Why the speculation is picking up and what a bigger Disney move into games could look like
● Unity’s latest shift: A strong earnings beat, the shutdown of Ironsource, and the sale of Supersonic
● Studio closures and shutdowns: What the latest cuts across VR, live service, and Embracer say about the market
● The Merge 2 rise: Why the category keeps growing and the debate over what’s really driving the revenue
● Cookie Run’s next step: F...

The games industry is hitting another inflection point, and the "old rules" of growth are being rewritten. This week, we’re unpacking:

● Google’s "Level Up" Program: Is it actually a win for devs, or just more platform gatekeeping? We look at Sidekick and the new UA economics.

● The Epic Pivot: Layoffs, the UEFN "platform" gamble, and what the future of Fortnite actually looks like.

● Roblox’s New Play: Their latest brand integration strategy is a massive shift for creator monetization.

● The Newzoo Reality Check: PC is back, player behavio...

The mobile ecosystem is experiencing some massive shifts this month. We dive into the real implications of Unity Vector's new D28 campaign, break down what Google’s recent fee cut actually means for your studio's growth trajectory, and unpack the wild news of AppLovin stepping out of the ad-network shadows to build its very own social network. Topics Covered:● Unity Vector's D28 campaign and its implications● Google's fee cut impact on growth● AppLovin's plans to build a social network

Michail Katkoff | Josh Chandley | John Wright

It's been 2030 days since Google pulled Fortnite, and the Epic vs. Google settlement is finally here. We sit down with AppCharge CMO Gil Tovly to read the fine print of Google’s new 15% fee, unpack the mandatory AI sidekicks in the "Level Up" program, and figure out if this is actually a win for developers going direct-to-consumer.

Questions we answer in this episode:

● What is the real cost of Google's new 15% fee structure?

● What exactly is the "Level Up" program and why are top studios hesitating to join?

● Do developers really have to...

The Deconstructor of Fun crew is back from San Francisco, recovering from a whirlwind GDC week to break down the massive shifts hitting the industry. No prep, no scripts. Just the real conversation on whether the "lowest attendance since 2011" is a sign of a dying conference or just a more efficient executive retreat.Questions we answer in this episode:● What is the "one word" to describe the GDC 2026 vibe?● Is the 30% drop in attendance a death knell or a much-needed "senior-only" filter?● Did Tim Sweeney actually win his fight against Google, or is a 5% discount just "mice nuts"?● How will the...

The full Deconstructor of Fun crew, all six of us, recorded live and on-site in San Francisco at the end of GDC week. No prep, no scripts. Just the real conversations from a week of side events, back channels, and late nights.

Questions we answer in this episode:

Extraction shooters are finally confronting their identity crisis. Is Marathon the answer, or just another branch of the same lineage?Phil, Sides, and Anjos break down a pivotal moment for shooters: Highguard’s collapse, Marathon’s high-stakes launch, and Overwatch’s unexpected resurgence. The debate rage on: are we watching the evolution of battle royale into something more persistent, or just another iteration of Tarkov’s legacy?

We discuss:

● Highguard’s shutdown and the limits of modern marketing

○ Hate-playing, sentiment collapse, and losing control of narrative post-launch

● Marathon’s design thesis

○ Persistent...

Sam Aune from Sensor Tower breaks down the State of Gaming 2026 - from Battlefield 6 proving premium is far from dead, to why free-to-play is getting harder to break into, and how social indie games are driving viral success. In this episode, we go deep on mobile’s slowdown, strategy games dominating revenue, and how Chinese publishers are out-executing the West across both midcore and casual.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Welcome and Report Setup

00:43 State of Gaming Goes Beyond Mobile

03:22 Trend One Battlefield Six Dominates

05:05 Premium vs Free to Play Reality Check

...

We talk about how Pixel Flow scaled so quickly, why its core design works for monetization, and how games like Hexa Sort and Magic Sort helped push the sort puzzle genre forward.

The discussion also covers UA, the wave of Pixel Flow-style clones appearing in the market, and whether hybrid-casual puzzle design is starting to influence traditional puzzle studios. We also touch on what kinds of mechanics might lead to the next big puzzle hit.

We discuss Turkey’s new government subsidies for game developers and why the country may become one of the most attractive places to build a studio, the uncertain future of WB Games following major media consolidation, and Discord delaying its global age-verification rollout after backlash and regulatory pressure. We also discuss the Misfits seed round from an ex-Supercell/King team, a correction around Tilting Point’s recent deal, Playtika surpassing $1B in direct-to-consumer revenue, and Ubisoft reshuffling leadership on Assassin’s Creed, along with broader conversation around monetization, web shops, and the state of the games industry heading into GDC.<...

Guy Meiboom, Meta’s US EMEA Gaming Director, breaks down what actually happened to gaming performance after ATT and why Meta had to rebuild its gaming org from the ground up. From creative velocity and algorithmic reach to geo lift testing and UA funding, this episode focuses on execution. Not theory. Not slides. The uncomfortable middle between marketing, product, and capital allocation.

If you’re scaling a mobile game in 2026, this conversation is about the mechanics that matter and the habits you may need to unlearn.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Post ATT Reality Chec...

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, Tenc...

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...

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 mobil...

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 Cont...

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/

Supercell’s annual CEO blog post reads equal parts culture memo and a recruiting pitch. We break down what is behind the PR spin before zooming into Clash Royale’s Lil Wayne halftime show as a case study in where “brand” ends and product-led fandom begins.

From there, we triangulate the broader market: Newzoo’s year-end PC/console recap as a reminder that attention is consolidating, not expanding; Roblox’s growth story as it starts acknowledging gravity; and an update on Budge and PE as capital keeps rewriting the rules of what “good” looks like. We close b...

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 - Play...

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.

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 Fe...

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

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...