Deconstructor of Fun
Deconstructor 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
Episodes
314. Hard Truths About Co-Founders, Capital, and Competition with Appcharge's Founders Roei and Maor
The dynamics of co-founder relationships, featuring Appcharge co-founders Roei Barassi and Maor Sason. They share insights on building a robust team, the significance of mentorship, and the importance of celebrating success. Learn about the challenges and strategies of scaling a company, raising capital, and maintaining a strong culture across global offices. Whether you're a first-time founder or a seasoned entrepreneur, this ...
This week in games, the money moves got messy: Dream Games recalibrates everyone's ambitions while the Saudi shopping spree continues. We take a look at Where Winds Meet and what it really says about China’s next wave of global ambitions, and ask the uncomfortable question: how are indie studios actually surviving right now? Finally, we zoom out to the battlefield of 4X strategy, the genre’s current health, the growing wave of ...
Loyalty platforms have evolved from sideline UA channels to commanding 25-50% of major studios' media budgets. In this deep dive, VYBS founder Ido Raz breaks down everything game developers need to know about loyalty apps—from the basics to advanced strategies for maximizing player quality and LTV.
We cover the biggest misconceptions about incentivized traffic, why casual games benefit the most, and how to avoid the common mista...
Call of Duty’s worst launch in a decade collides with the rise of extraction shooters, and the balance of power inside the genre shifts. We dig into why Black Ops 7 cratered, how Battlefield 6 stole the spotlight, and why Arc Raiders is suddenly the most important new IP in shooters. Chris Sides and Feras return to map the fault lines, spar over SPMM, and weigh whether Tarkov’s disastrous Steam debut marks the ceiling for the genre...
The DoF crew break down everything: from Ubisoft’s endless identity crisis to Unity and Epic’s unexpected “Make the Metaverse Great Again” alliance.We get into Roblox CEO David Baszucki’s tense appearance on Hard Fork, the baffling randomness of The Game Awards nominations, Saudi Arabia’s PIF liquidity challenges, and why Turkey’s red-hot gaming scene may finally be overheating.
Plus: a disagreement for Nordic tax schemes and a disp...
This isn't your typical "we raised $50M and exited" story. This is what happens when you have no choice but to figure it out yourselves. When the tripod refuses to fall. When you run out of everything except ideas. This is the story of Heroic Labs.
About Heroic Labs: Core infrastructure for game studios. If you've played games from Zynga, Gram Games, or dozens of other studios, you've used their tech withou...
Call of Duty tanks so hard that even Battlefield feels bad for it. Valve unveils a cube that may or may not be the future of PC gaming, depending on which half of the internet you ask.Sexy cozy games are quietly eating the West, which sounds ridiculous until the revenue charts come out. Now everyone’s worried… And the triumphant return of a special guest.
00:51 Episode Overview
04:43 Amazon Game Studios Layoffs
06:11 Call of Duty Bla...
What if your company stopped chasing quarterly goals and spent an entire month training every employee on AI? That's exactly what AppsFlyer did, and it completely transformed how they approach innovation.
In this episode, AppsFlyer down with Barak Witkovsky, Chief Product Officer of AppsFlyer, to discuss one of the boldest AI transformation experiments I've ever heard of.
For four weeks, they paused regular business objectiv...
This episode breaks down the real foundation of successful game development: clean data, aligned teams, and fast decision loops. Learn why most studios collect too much data, how to build a shared truth, and how AI changes the analyst’s role. Perfect for teams that want clarity, not more dashboards.
CPI is only one signal. In this episode, we show how top studios test appeal in prototypes, validate value in soft launch, and scale with confidence. A fast, practical guide to reading market signals at every stage of development.
Monetization isn’t a layer, it’s the outcome of understanding player motivation. This episode covers segmentation, pricing, LTV curves, and early warning signs of monetization failure. A concise breakdown of how sustainable revenue systems are built.
Most retention problems come from mismatched expectations, not flawed features. This episode teaches how to align creatives with gameplay, diagnose early vs. late churn, and use personalization to keep players engaged. Short, sharp retention truths every team should hear.
Epic vs Google stays stuck in limbo as the judge rejects the settlement, Duolingo’s stock finally breaks its streak, and Square Enix joins the wave of Eastern publishers restructuring their way into a new identity. Royal Match’s reported $200M ad spend shows just how hard you have to swing to own casual in 2025, while Chinese publishers quietly (and efficiently) conquer the entire merge genre with speed and scale Western studios ca...
Welcome to the debut episode of Shooter Monthly, the podcast that’s never out of projectiles. Host Phillip Black (DICE) is joined by shooter Avengers, Christopher Anjos (EA, Timi, ATVI), Chris Sides (Bungie, Capital Games), and Feras Musmar (DICE, TTK Games) for a wide-ranging discussion on the current shooter landscape.We talk:Arena Breakout: Infinite’s Surprising Launch – Tarkov-style hit from China that’s quietly carving out a W...
Epic takes another swing at Google and wins, Unity cozies up with Epic in a surprising move, and Roblox continues to puzzle investors after a tough earnings call. We also dive into Arcadia Gaming Partners’ growing influence, and why Supercell pulled the plug on Squad Busters.
0:00 Welcome
01:26 Updates, Announcements, and Shills
07:06 Epic and Google Settlement Details
18:11 Unity and Epic Collaboration
22:22 Roblox Earnings and Market ...
Alex Siamantas of Holyday Studios reflected on eleven years of building a profitable idle-RPG studio as one of the island’s few Greek founders
Julia Lebedeva of WN Media Group spoke about launching the first Women in Games Cyprus event
Alexey Morozov of Horns Up Games shifted the tone completely. His project, Lord of Metal, is a festival-management sim built with the Swedish band Sabaton, combining the logistics of live events with the chaos of rock culture. It’s equal parts management game and love letter to heavy music.
GDCy founders Tim Fadeev and Andrey Ivashentsev shared the story of how a single pub meetup evolved into the region’s largest developer festival. They credit the island’s mix of sunlight, low taxes, and openness to business. Cyprus, they say, isn’t just a haven for founders - it’s starting to feel like Europe’s next creative cluster.
Leonid Zhuravskyi, CEO of MysteryTag, said he’s found Cyprus to have a rare sense of openness - competitors who still share notes over coffee or wine.
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