The Business of Video Games Podcast
Welcome to the Business of Video Games Podcast. A podcast where we try to shed a bit of light on the inner workings of the games industry. We give you the why, how, who and what the hell?! on business decisions, publishing calls, steps and missteps that go on behind the scenes. Basically - the inside view on how and why things are ACTUALLY done the way they are. Not just guesswork on 4Chan. The podcast is hosted by Daniel Goldberg (former Chief Marketing officer at Paradox Interactive) and Shams Jorjani (former Chief Business Development Officer at Paradox Interactive). In every episode, we invite a guest from the industry to unpack an interesting decision or event, share their learnings and wisdoms, or just explain why all of us armchair experts got things wrong (or right!) again. We previously hosted and ran the Paradox Interactive Podcast for some 4 years - you can find those episodes on most podcast platforms of note.
Listen on:
Episodes
Thursday Jan 04, 2024
Thursday Jan 04, 2024
The first episode of 2024 is about Hooded Horse marketing apparatus and how they make sure their games get visibility in a marketplace where 40 other games are released every day. Joined as always by Hooded Horse's own CEO Tim Bender and Director of Marketing Abhishek Chaudhry.
Wednesday Dec 20, 2023
Wednesday Dec 20, 2023
This episode features a conversation with none other than Larry Kuperman! Larry runs biz dev over at Nightdive Studios. They've been banging out cool remaster/remake after remaster/remake (mouthful). We dig into this particular nostalgic slice of the industry and try to understand this old/new part of the business.
Check out Nightdives games here: https://www.nightdivestudios.com/ and Larry can be found on social media!
Wednesday Dec 06, 2023
Wednesday Dec 06, 2023
We return again to Hooded Horse (our home base for this season) and a favorite topic on the podcast - The timeless art of Negotiation! What's Hooded Horse's approach, what to do? What not to do? Tim Bender dispenses with some some tricks of the trade and it makes us a bit smarter. Hopefully.
Here's a link to the infographic mentioned in the episode: https://imgur.com/x5D02Be
Wednesday Nov 22, 2023
Wednesday Nov 22, 2023
How is the Swedish Games Industry doing? We catch up with Johanna Nylander Head of Analysis at the Swedish Games industry (the Swedish industry trade organization) and talk about the recent report about the state of the Swedish games industry. What do we have in the water that makes Swedes good at making games? Because it sure ain't tax breaks.
Tuesday Nov 07, 2023
Tuesday Nov 07, 2023
In this episode we delve into the topic of strategy publisher Hooded Horse's portfolio - we've visited again by their CEO Tim Bender - but also their Director of Marketing Abhishek Chaudhry. Listen in on how they pick new games to sign, how they manage their games portfolio and give us a few handy tips for what they look for in a pitch and build.
For an overview of the Hooded Horse portfolio visit: https://hoodedhorse.com/games/
Tuesday Oct 24, 2023
Tuesday Oct 24, 2023
Esports! that's right - e-sports??! It was the hottest thing on the planet 10 years ago - but where is it at today? We invited Andjela Kusmuk from TheAlliance.GG to talk about the team and where this competitive part of the industry is at today.
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
In the second episode of this season we sit down with Tim Bender - the CEO of one the fastest growing new publishers on the planet - Hooded Horse. What is a Hooded Horse and how come they are succeeding when others are having a tough time?This is the first episode with Hooded Horse this season - we'll be returning as a home base throughout the season and really dig into their business.
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
Welcome back to a new season of the Business of Video Games podcast! In this episode we recap the state of the industry, talk about what's new for this season and talk about a little thing called marketing momentum - which Baldur's Gate 3 seems to have in spades.
Monday Jul 17, 2023
Monday Jul 17, 2023
It's time for the season finale before we go on a summer break. We're joined by Raw Fury's Chief Sales and Business Development Officer - Fernando Rizo. He talks about one of their latest releases that might have gone very differently had it not been for some major decisions behind the scenes late in the game.
Wednesday Jun 21, 2023
Wednesday Jun 21, 2023
We invited Tanya Short back to the podcast to unpack how the Dwarf Fortress release actually fared. If you didn't catch episode 6 please give that a listen first to get insights into Kitfox's strategy heading into one of indie gaming's biggest releases.
The Business Of Video Games
This is the podcast where we shine a bit of light on the soft underbelly of the video games industry. Where we try to figure out what the hell were people thinking when they made decisions and hopefully become better at running games businesses ourselves.