Michail Katkoff and Rhys Elliott break down the widening gap between legacy studios bogged down by process and fresh teams building with urgency.
From the slow death of bloated AAA games to the shaky economics of Game Pass, they explore why shorter, more creative games are winning hearts—and why team quality now matters more than genre. Plus: why subscription models are struggling, and how devices like Switch 2 and Steam Deck might reshape portable play.
Rhys Elliotwww.linkedin.com/in/rhyselliott/Alinea Analyticswww.alineaanalytics.com
00:00 Introduction and Background
04:52 Fat Cats vs. Hungry Cats
22:05 Evaluating Game Development Teams
24:36 Investment Principles in Startup Life
26:31 The Shift from AAA to AA Games
33:25 The Demand for Shorter Games
39:45 The Challenges of Subscription Gaming
49:04 The Future of Game Pass and Subscription Models
53:35 The State of Subscription Services
55:50 Live Services vs. Premium Games
66:20 The Future of Portable Gaming
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com