GameMakers

• MAG Monday #3: India's RMG Ban, Failure of GenAI, Amazon x Netflix Gaming+Streaming Bundle

  Alpha: Clash Royale 5x Revenue, Understanding the Illegible Margin GameDev: The Problem with Product ValidationHappy MAG-nificent Monday!3-Macro: 3 stories impacting the competitive environment in which we operateHike shuts down after India RMG banWhy GenAI is failingAmazon and Netflix announce Gaming+Streaming bundle2-Alpha: 2 potential sources of Finding AlphaClash Royale hits 3 year all-time highs… how?The Illegible Margin (by Taylor Pearson)1-Game Dev: 1 lesson learned from getting my ass kicked in game devThe Problem with Product Validation

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• 3-2-1 MAG #2: Dreamhaven Layoffs, Silksong Success, GamePass Worth Jack**** | Magic Tiles 3 - Piano Game, Rise of AA | On Decision Making

  3. MacroTop 3 Most Significant Gaming News From Last Week:Dreamhaven Games Hit by Layoffs (GamesIndustry.biz): Dreamhaven, the studio founded by former Blizzard Entertainment co-founder Mike Morhaime, confirmed it has undergone an unspecified number of layoffs. Despite the cuts, the CEO expressed optimism about the studio's future and the projects currently in development.Hollow Knight: Silksong Sees Massive Launch Success (IGN): Following its highly anticipated release, Hollow Knight: Silksong immediately surged on Steam, achieving over 453,000 concurrent players within hours of launch. The immense demand, which briefly caused issues on various digital storefronts, placed the game as the third most-played title on Steam and positioned it as potentially one of the biggest indie game launches ever.Pete Hines slams Xbox Game Pass as "worth jack s***" without proper compensation (Kotaku): Former Bethesda VP Pete Hines delivered a scathing critique of subscription services, arguing Game Pass creates an unsustainable ecosystem that doesn't properly value developers, Kotaku +2 reigniting heated industry debates about subscription models. His comments highlight growing tensions between platform holders and content creators as the industry grapples with profitability challenges.2. AlphaMagic Tiles 3 - Piano GameThe Great Divergence: Western AAA vs. AA/Indies1. Game DevOn Decision Making

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• 3. 2. 1. Retro #1: Netease Bails on Western Studios, IGN Restructuring, Ubisoft and King Showcase AI

  Top 3 Gaming News From Last Week:NetEase Shuts Down Another Western Studio (Game Developer): NetEase has closed T-Minus Zero Entertainment. This marks the third Western studio closure as part of a broader reassessment of business priorities and has raised concerns about the stability of Western studios under NetEase's ownership.IGN Publisher John Davison Exits Following Major Layoffs (Kotaku): John Davison, IGN's publisher since 2019, announced his departure at the end of August 2025 following significant layoffs affecting 12% of the editorial union. The exit represents broader instability in gaming media as the largest gaming outlet globally faces consolidation pressures.Ubisoft and King Showcase AI Production Acceleration (Business Insider): Major studios revealed how AI tools are transforming game development, with Ubisoft's FaceShifter reducing 3D head creation time from a week to half a day, while King uses AI as a "co-pilot" for playtesting at scale and level tuning across thousands of Candy Crush Saga levels.Top 2 Game Dev Issues I Thought About From Last Week:1. People vs. ProductMost companies overindex on product analysis while treating people issues as taboo - You can ruthlessly critique and analyze the product all day, but giving critical feedback to individuals often gets labeled as "toxic" or grounds for termination. This creates a toxic positivity culture that stunts growth.People are the engine that builds the product - Without improving your team's capabilities through honest feedback (both positive and constructive), you're fundamentally limiting your organization's potential. The product can only be as good as the people making it.Recognize and leverage both skillsets - Some folks excel at people management (mentoring, developing talent, giving balanced feedback), others at product work (analysis, problem-solving, execution). The rare ones who master both are gold. The challenge is that people-focused contributions are harder to measure than code commits, leading to these employees being undervalued.2. Why Our Game Design Process Sucks"Ooh, that's cool!" is not a design philosophy - Too many designers are really just players in disguise, borrowing features from other games without connecting them to clear design objectives. Real design starts with objectives, not with "wouldn't it be cool if..."Lack of rigor kills games - Your team's design specs are missing crucial elements: user flows, edge cases, knock-on effects to other systems. Without tools like logic trees to map out the full implications of a feature (seeing the whole elephant, not just the parts), you're essentially doing "RNG design" - throwing random features at the wall and hoping they stick.This is a massive competitive advantage waiting to be claimed - Getting design process right is a huge source of "alpha" because frankly, most companies - even successful ones - are terrible at it. The fact that games with fundamental design flaws still succeed proves that nobody really has this figured out.2 Game Dev Lessons: #1. People vs. Products#2. Why Our Design Process Sucks -> Don't RNG Design

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• Finding Alpha: How to Find Your Company's Secret Advantage!

  In an era where “good” isn’t good enough, this talk breaks down how to generate alpha—company-specific excess returns—by choosing the right game to play and going all-in on the highest-leverage moves. We cover the macro forces reshaping competition, case studies of teams that found alpha, and where velocity and AI change the basis of competition. What's your unique advantage? This talk emphasizes the significance of business strategy, particularly in light of the rise of AI and intense competition.Chapters:00:00 — Why “Finding Alpha” matters in 202501:15 — Macro: 5 secular trends (China, Attention Economy, Efficiency, LiveOps, AI)05:50 — Concepts: Alpha vs. Beta, Macro vs. Micro09:40 — Play to Win: Finding the biggest point of leverage15:10 — History snapshots: distribution & monetization plays that created alpha21:30 — Where alpha lives now: Product × Growth × LiveOps (+ AI)26:45 — Product velocity: iterating fast in the right direction29:20 — Organizational Meta: re-shaping teams for the age of AI31:10 — Takeaways & next steps

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• Call of Duty vs. Battlefield, Dreamhaven Struggles, AI - Tencent & Unity | Game Dev Review #1

  GAME DEV REVIEW #1NEWS:Top 5 Gaming NewsCall of Duty: Black Ops 7 Officially Revealed (GameSpot): Activision has unveiled the next entry in its massive first-person shooter franchise, "Call of Duty: Black Ops 7." The reveal trailer, showcased at Gamescom, provided a first look at the game's near-future setting and hinted at a narrative connected to previous "Black Ops" titles, with a release slated for late 2025.Battlefield 6 Beta Receives Positive Reception (Kotaku): The open beta for EA and DICE's "Battlefield 6" has concluded, with players and critics praising its return to a modern setting, large-scale maps, and destructible environments. The positive buzz is seen as a crucial step for the franchise to regain momentum after the mixed reception of its predecessor.Black Myth: Zhong Kui Announced by Game Science (Video Games Chronicle): The developers of the highly anticipated "Black Myth: Wukong" surprised audiences at Gamescom with the announcement of a new title, "Black Myth: Zhong Kui." This new game appears to be set in the same mythological universe, further expanding the rich world-building that has captivated a global audience.India Passes Bill to Regulate Online Gaming (Reuters): The Indian parliament has passed a new bill that will regulate the country's online gaming industry, including a ban on games that involve real-money wagering. This legislation is expected to have a significant impact on the rapidly growing Indian gaming market and the companies operating within it.Blizzard Co-Founder's Dreamhaven Struggles with Sales (Bloomberg): Mike Morhaime's Dreamhaven sold only 130,000 units of Wildgate one month after launch and 62,000 copies of Sunderfolk since April. Demonstrates the challenges new studios face in an oversaturated market, despite their pedigree.Top 3 AI x Gaming NewsSquare Enix Tech Demo Shows AI-Generated Detective Game (Square Enix): Square Enix presented a tech demo for a detective game where an AI generates case files, clues, and character motivations. This procedural narrative system ensures that no two playthroughs are the same, showcasing how AI can be used to create systemic and emergent gameplay loops.Unity 6.2 Launches All-In Generative AI Suite (CG Channel): Unity released Unity 6.2 on August 19 with comprehensive AI tools, including Generators for creating sprites, textures, and animations, plus an AI Assistant powered by GPT and Llama models. The update replaces Unity Muse with more flexible third-party AI model integration and expanded coding assistance capabilities.Tencent's AI Tool Slashes Art Production Time (Game Developer): Tencent unveiled an AI tool at Gamescom on August 22, 2025, that reduces art production time from days to minutes, streamlining asset creation for developers. The tool's efficiency could lower costs and accelerate game development cycles, sparking debates on artist job security.DATA:On August 9, League of Legends: Wild Rift had its biggest spike in daily IAP revenue on mobile… EVER!GAME DEV LESSONS - WEEKLY RETRO:1. Playing to Win2. Standard of Performance and Feedback3. Initial Soft Launch Focus

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