BEAT THE BOMB’s Post

Ready to step into the future of digital entertainment? We've just published an insightful piece about how Web3 Gaming might be revolutionizing the Hollywood entertainment scene. Working at the crossroads of technology and creativity, Orange Comet, Inc. is paving the way in developing next-level Web3 experiences and games. Founded by a team of industry trailblazers - Dave Broome, Edward Loew, Gloria Estefan, Kurt Warner, Paul Camiuso, and Will Meris - their innovative approach isn't just about entertainment, it's about creating immersive ecosystems that fuse real and virtual worlds together. Don’t miss out on their partnership with major Hollywood entities like the NFL Alumni Association, DreamWorks, NBC/Universal, AMC Studios, and many others. Have a look and let's discuss, Is Web3 Gaming the future of digital entertainment in Hollywood? https://lnkd.in/eEWt5K5X #Web3 #Gaming #DigitalEntertainment #Hollywood #Startups #OrangeComet #Innovation #FutureTech

SypherPK is an example of a gaming content creator who has built a personal brand on Twitch and YouTube and turned that leverage into a visionary business empire. Here is what he's been upto: SypherPK, a prominent content creator in the world of Fortnite, has ventured into the realm of business by creating a multi-million-dollar gaming facility and game development studio. Oni Studios stands as a testament to his entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to the gaming industry. Spanning an impressive 30,000 square feet, Oni Studios is located in Cedar Park, near Austin, Texas, and serves as both a production facility and a content creation hub. The studio includes a large-set production facility, podcast studios, conference rooms, workstations, and dedicated space for gaming tournaments. This project has garnered attention from documentaries and tours, offering fans a behind-the-scenes glimpse into this business venture. The primary focus of Oni Studios is Fortnite game development, which aligns with SypherPK's roots as a prominent Fortnite creator. Notably, Oni Studios differentiates itself by offering a creator-led Fortnite experience, aiming to empower creators. This unique approach sets the studio apart from conventional Fortnite Creative Game Studios. Project V is a Battle Royale game developed within Fortnite by SypherPK's Super Joy Studios. Collaborating with other renowned content creators, including Ninja, TimTheTatman, Nickmercs, and CourageJD, SypherPK is at the forefront of a pioneering initiative to create a custom user-created experience within the Fortnite universe. Project V's emphasis on community engagement and player-driven development reinforces SypherPK's dedication to cultivating a dynamic and inclusive gaming community. This is executed in a Discord server reserved for his Twitch subscribers. SypherPK's journey from a Fortnite content creator to a gaming industry mogul is an inspiring example of how passion, innovation, and strategic vision can transform a personal brand into a thriving business empire. Follow me for more gaming insights. Have a nice day :) #influencermarketing #contentcreators #brandstrategy #twitch #fortn

Did you know that the new Harry Potter game made more money than most of the movies did? I didn’t. 🤯 There are a number of important growth lessons that any product leader can learn from gaming.... Andrew Chen, GP at Andreesen Horowitz’s GAMES FUND ONE shared a few of these keys 🔑 on part 2 of our Unsolicited Feedback season finale.... (see below) Andrew lives in the crossroads of gaming, AI, and growth, but what can those outside of gaming learn from his experience? 🐌 In Crowded Markets, Slow and Steady Might Win The Race 🐌 In tech, we typically aim for rapid-fire MVP and iteration approach. But, the gaming industry’s slow and steady approach ensures a "golden cohort" of eager players at launch, which in crowded channels can be real unlocks. In the gaming world, MVPs aren't the go-to strategy. Instead, game studios spend years meticulously crafting, testing, and refining their games before they hit 'start' 🕹️. As competition grows and customer expectations rise, the old advice “you should be embarrassed by the first version of your product” no longer applies. 🚀 Build Community Before Launching 🚀 Gaming studios know how to build anticipation and community before a game even respawns. By drip-feeding content, engaging creators, and empowering their community to share and promote, they create a sense of ownership and excitement that can supercharge a launch 🎉. Seth Sivak, co-lead of World of Warcraft at Blizzard, showcased this with Spellbreak. He built an enthusiastic Discord community, armed them with video clips and images, and encouraged shares on Imgur, Reddit, etc. The result? A powerful community-driven launch 💪. 🎨 Tech Meets Culture 🎨 Gaming masterfully blends culture and technology. It's not just about cool tech; it's about creating immersive, resonant experiences. This fusion of creativity and tech is a lesson all industries can level up from. 📚 Stories Drive Momentum in Crowded Fields 📚 Gaming also highlights the power of storytelling. Games aren't just about gameplay; they're about the stories they weave and the worlds they build. As tech permeates culture and society, there's a growing need for creativity, storytelling, and entertainment alongside cutting-edge tech. Consider Slack, Arc, or Superhuman. Their success isn't just about features and functionality, but the narrative they spin about how work should feel. It's not just about the widget you make, but the experience it delivers 🧩. How might you help your customers feel like they are a part of a story? A movement? Some change in the world? In conclusion, whether you're in tech, product dev, or any other industry, remember: community, storytelling, and well-planned launches are key to leveling up. So, why not take a cheat code from the gaming playbook? 🎮🚀 Any other lessons we missed from Gaming or any parallels you see with other verticals? Let us know below. We’re back in a few weeks with our first live episode. Hope to see you there!

Hey, everybody! Level Up! As one familiar producer told us, and his acquaintance told him - gamedev is a business for the patient people! And I totally agree with him.  Level 1.  Once I already attracted a private investor for a small project, but the investor ran out of money and stopped financing. I was practically left without money with a team of 4 people. Level 2. But I did not put my hands down and moved the office to my house. In one room we put desks and computers, in the other room I slept and rested. Sometimes we even cooked meals together for the whole team. That's how we started making hyper casual games. And did them for about two years.  At this stage, I met my future business partner. Level 3.  We started doing outsourced projects and gaining experience and expertise. We started to make together our first project in which we wanted to attract investments. But publishers and investors turned us down because they thought that a robot shooter would not appeal to anyone, and we didn't know much about analytics at that time. Level 4. In search of our niche and desire to make cool projects, we immersed ourselves in studying metrics and numbers, and now we could argue why we chose this or that genre. We compared the project to our competitors, realizing what our difference and advantage was. But so far the numbers were not up to the required numbers, we lacked quality graphics. Level 5.  And now we have improved our project visually by our own efforts and the efforts of our new 3D lead, and thanks to the great fitback from friends who tested our game, we tried to improve it.  New Lewel Unlock. Now we continue to work on the project, increasing the meta, gameplay and scaling it. But we are also on the lookout for publishers or investors to take us to the next level with a newly pumped up hero to help us climb the ranks. And personally, I think this adventure is going to be exciting. You can see our project at the link: https://lnkd.in/dYD97zri #gaming #indygamedev #games #game #conquesttale #gamedevelopment #gamedevs #mobilegames #investment #gameinvest #publisher #gamepublisher #VC

A great listen on the power of brand and IP creation in gaming.

🚩🚩𝟯 𝗥𝗘𝗗 𝗙𝗟𝗔𝗚𝗦 I have come across working with 40 gaming studios🚩🚩   🚩 #1 “𝙊𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙜𝙤𝙖𝙡 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙜𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚.” Sorry, but the primary goal should be to make a profitable game. And retained users doesn’t equal profitability. It’s up to the studio/game leads to take this overarching goal, which should be every studio’s overarching goal and break it into sub-goals for every team & make sure everyone is aligned. But ultimately, if you don’t actively work on making your game profitable, it will fail. Today’s #gaming market doesn’t allow for a very long period of non-profitability, especially if it’s your first game. And studios should start having profitability in mind and optimize for it as soon as the soft-launch stage. A big red flag which is very common, is seeing studios dwell on retention in soft launch and not enough on monetization, especially if IAPs are expected to represent a big % of revenue. Recipe for failure. 🚩 #2 “𝙒𝙚 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙚𝙡 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙙𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙣, 𝙬𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜.” I have heard these exact words from a #Growth Lead at a relatively big gaming studio. They were actually talking about their creative process. Especially in these volatile times for gaming, and due to the fast-paced nature of the industry, having an openness to learn as a company is vital for success. “Successful #leaders in volatile environments spend less time relying on what they already know, and proportionally more time on exploring new concepts and ideas.” (IMD). & Robert T. Kiyosaki said it perfectly: “𝘏𝘶𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯”. On the other hand, I have worked with some of the biggest and most successful studios that are always looking for feedback on their processes, strategy, operations – and never shy away from asking for external help when they see there is an issue or an opportunity for change/feedback. Big green flag. This is part of the reason why they are successful. 🚩#3 “𝙒𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙤𝙘𝙪𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙞𝙜𝙝 𝙫𝙖𝙡𝙪𝙚 𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙤𝙪𝙧 #𝙜𝙖𝙢𝙚.” This is quite a popular mentality I have fought personal battles with, internally at studios, especially when they ask of #UserAcquisition to only drive “high quality users”. That’s not User Acquisition’s goal and shouldn’t be a studio’s goal. Our goal should be to maximize margins: the cost of acquiring a user vs. their lifetime value. There is a right price for every quality user. I deep dive and explain all the layers of this logic in the gaming growth masterclass (www.shamsco.co). Vital concept to understand for growth success. 💭Would be interested to hear thoughts on the above. Cc:SHAMSCO

Overdare, Inc. a joint venture backed by gaming/metaverse industry giants Krafton and Naver Z Corporation, revealed a strategic partnership with Circle Internet Financial, a global financial technology firm and the issuer of USDC, in an announcement on Feb. 26. Read to find out more... #overdare #metaverse #metaversedevelopment #web3

Alignment Growth is heading to Gamescom (one of my favorite shows of the year). Here's a short list of things I'm looking for (not exhaustive): 1. Game studios looking for growth investment - are you a studio with a game (or more) in market? Do you have a substantial ARR? Do you have an awesome idea for future games? Then you're looking for growth, and I'm looking for you. 2. Brilliant thought leaders in the interactive entertainment industry - do you have that awesome idea from above, but are just a bit early for a growth stage investment? I still want to meet you. Great ideas turn into growth stage investments faster than you think, and the relationships you have in place are more important than the financial terms you receive. 3. Technical solutions to problems plaguing games today - do you have a unique take on addressing (among others) UA costs, game discovery, or player engagement and retention? Do you have a pipeline of clients for that solution? Then we should chat. 4. Robust IP looking for transmedia expansion - few investors can help you take your IP beyond its current confines like we can. DM me if you think you fit any (or all) of the above. The Alignment team is looking forward to meeting you. #gamescom #videogames #investing #growthcapital #gamescom2023 #gamedev

Leveling Up: Strategies for Independent Game Studio Growth 🚀🎮 Independent game studios are the beating heart of innovation and creativity in the gaming industry. These smaller teams often produce unique and groundbreaking titles. However, growing an independent game studio can be a challenging journey. 1. Focus on Quality Quality always trumps quantity. Prioritize creating exceptional games that stand out in terms of gameplay, storytelling, and visuals. A single well-received title can make a significant impact on your studio's reputation and revenue. 2. Build a Strong Online Presence Leverage social media, gaming forums, and streaming platforms to build a community around your games. Engage with players, listen to their feedback, and create a loyal fan base. A passionate community can become your game's best marketing tool. In the dynamic world of independent game development, growth requires a combination of talent, creativity, business acumen, and a strong connection with your audience. By following these strategies, your independent game studio can thrive and continue creating memorable gaming experiences for players worldwide. 🎮💡