Deconstructor of Fun

TWIG #409: AppLovin Prints Money, GTA VI Pre-Orders Explode and the EU Comes for Mobile

AppLovin now has better margins than Hermès and Ferrari.This week we break down AppLovin’s record quarter and Unity’s first profit since its IPO, and look at why a debt-f

Puzzle Monthly #7: Sort Keeps Winning, Arrows Needs a Hero and Smash Takes Aim at Angry Birds

Some puzzle subgenres keep producing hits. Others give us one winner and then disappear.Ahmetcan, Tom Storr and David Nelson look at three subgenres that showed up recent

TWIG #408: Roblox Drops 18%, Block Blast’s Ad Logic Exposed and Claude Won’t Clone Games

Roblox beat its own guidance, and the stock still dropped 18%.This week we dig into Roblox’s Q3, where bookings came in above a number that had already been cut, DAUs fel

356. One Year Later. Our Life and Business in South of Europe.

Sun, sea and a whole lot of paperwork.One year ago, Phil swapped the cold for Cyprus and Mishka made the move to Athens. In this episode they trade stories on surviving s

355. IP Won't Fix a Bad Game | Luis de la Camara, ex-Rovio, King & Sonic

Every studio says it wants a franchise. Luis de la Camara, who has led marketing on Angry Birds, Candy Crush and Sonic, says most can’t define one. His test is simple: an

TWIG #407: Roblox’s Steal Economy, Tim Sweeney Goes All In on AI and Xbox Loses Its COO

Half of Roblox’s 2025 revenue came from steal games, and the platform can’t seem to quit them.This week we debate whether steal mechanics are a passing trend or the real

354. Why Friends Keep Players Longer Than Features Do

Discord spent years saying it would never run ads. Now it sits on 90 million daily users who mostly play games with friends, and Chief Business Officer Jules Shumaker, wh

TWIG #406: Roblox Goes Private, AI Floods the Platform and GTA VI Comes for Shooters

Is Steal an Egg the real engine behind Roblox’s revenue?This week the crew argues over a Konvoy piece saying Roblox should go private. With the stock well off its highs,

353. How Riot Went From One Game to Five Hits | Mark Sottosanti, Riot Games

Riot shipped one game in ten years, then four in the next two. Mark Sottosanti, CFO of Riot Games, was there for all of it. He joined in 2012 as head of monetization afte

TWIG #405: Gears of War E-Day Flops, EU Comes for Virtual Currency and Turkey Wins the Puzzle Race

Xbox has a franchise problem, and Gears of War E-Day just made it obvious.This week we look back on Mobidictum in Istanbul and argue about why Turkey became the puzzle ca

352. AI Made Every Team Faster. Then It Got Messy.

Retrofitting AI into a 1,300-person company and building one around it from day one are different problems. Mishka Katkoff sits down with Liaz Kamper, AI Experience Archi

TWIG #404: AI Game Mashups Go Viral, Google Launches Playground and Mobile Studios Are Cheap Again

AI-made mashups of games like Skate 3 and Modern Warfare II took over social media, and publishers responded with takedowns. Google launched Playground, joining Roblox an

351. Why Great Hires Fail at Startups | Garry Hill, Makers Fund

Most startup hiring mistakes come down to two things: hiring too fast and hiring too narrow. Garry Hill, head of talent at Makers Fund, sees both across a portfolio of 13

TWIG #403: The Market Only Grew 2%, Friendslop Hits the PC Charts and China Drafts Off GTA VI

Strip out inflation and the games market has barely grown in a decade. This week we dig into Newzoo's latest numbers and what they say about where growth comes from: mat

Shooter Monthly #10: War Dogs Sells 2.2M, Cash Economy Breakdown and the 1v1v1 Debate

War Dogs sold 2.2 million copies in four days and nobody saw it coming. This episode we break down Bulkhead's early access hit. A hardcore milsim with three teams, no ma

350. Zynga Founder Mark Pincus: Why Your Favourite Ideas Are Almost Always Wrong

Mark Pincus founded Zynga that was later acquired of $12.7B by TakeTwo and still thinks he misplayed the hand. On this episode he unpacks the playbook behind Life at the

TWIG #402: Xbox Bets on Kojima, Halo Gets Handed to CoD and AppLovin Hits the Road

Xbox is cutting niche studios and signing a niche Kojima project in the same month. We try to make it make sense. Sony pulled funding on Physint after budget concerns, a

Puzzle Monthly #6: Disney Solitaire's Big Win, Playtika's Earn-Out Trap and Solitaire vs Puzzle

Disney Solitaire is one of the biggest launches of the year, and it might be too successful for its own parent company. This episode breaks down how SuperPlay turned a s

349. From Zero Offers To Record Revenue I Michael Martinez, CEO of FunCraft

Michael Martinez, co-founder and CEO of FunCraft, tried to sell his mobile game studio in 2025. Trusted people said "don't do it yet". He chose otherwise. A banker pitche

TWIG #401: Blizzard Goes All In, Roblox Breaks Out of Its Own App and Aniimo Nails Launch Day

Gaming is back, and this week had a lot to talk about. BlizzCon delivered the biggest slate of announcements Blizzard has had in years, but the timelines and team sizes