About this podcast
Gamecraft is a limited series about the modern history of the video game business.
Beginning in the early 1990's, the video game business began a radical transformation from a console and PC packaged goods business into the highly complex, online, multi-platform business it is today. Game industry legend Mitch Lasky and game investor Blake Robbins go on a thematic tour of the last 30 years of gaming, exploring the origins of free-to-play, platform-based publishing, casual & mobile gaming, forever games, user-generated content, consoles, virtual reality, and in-game economies across the eight episodes of Season 1.
In Season 2, Mitch and Blake are back with a new series analyzing the state of the video game business in 2024. They start with a macro view of the current business, before looking at some hot topics in gaming: the rise of powerful independent game studios, emerging markets for games around the world, how innovations in artificial intelligence will change game creation, and the renewed importance of intellectual property in the game business.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 38 episodes
- The Bing Gordon Episode (Ep. 37) · 1 h 15 min · Season 4 Episode 12Bing Gordon -- legendary co-founder of EA and venture capitalist at Kleiner, Perkins -- stops by to talk to us about the new book he has written with his dauguter Chlöe…
- QF Update: World Cup Consumer Guide (Ep. 36) · 1 h 33 min · Season 4 Episode 11The "Second Tournament" begins with 4 tasty quarter-final matches. Mitch and Blake break down the Round of 32 and Round of 16, rate their recommendations from last episode, and…
- R32 Update: World Cup Consumer Guide · 1 h 22 min · Season 4 Episode 10Mitch and Blake look back at the group stage and talk about the main themes from the tournament so far. They review their picks for matches to watch from the last episode and…
- World Cup Consumer Guide (Ep. 34) · 1 h 24 min · Season 4 Episode 9Football nerds unite! Mitch & Blake are back with a special episode on the 2026 FIFA World Cup. In this episode they provide a very opinionated "Consumer Guide" to the most…
- Holy Grail, or Poison Chalice? (Ep. 33) · 52 min · Season 4 Episode 8Mitch and Blake conclude Season 4 with a review of a new kind of games company that is getting significant attention from investors: casual game portals with integrated AI game…
- Funding & Founding (Ep. 32) · 56 min · Season 4 Episode 7Blake and Mitch discuss the current environment for funding games and some of the challenges and opportunities for founders in the games space. They begin with a short survey of…
- A Theory of Fun · 1 h 5 min · Season 4 Episode 6Blake and Mitch discuss the possibility that games -- mainly mobile and live service games -- have concentrated on providing fun through progression and engagement mechanics…
- Navigating the AI Future (Ep. 30) · 1 h 18 min · Season 4 Episode 5Mitch and Blake offer their thoughts about how to navigate the introduction and impact of large language model AI in the video game business. They begin by discussing their…
- How Istanbul Won the Mobile Puzzle Wars (Ep. 29) · 1 h 6 min · Season 4 Episode 4Mitch and Blake discuss the rise of the Istanbul gaming scene, which has exploded in the last 15 years and come to dominate the incredibly lucractive "match 3" mobile puzzle…
- The Attention Drain (Ep. 28) · 1 h 8 min · Season 4 Episode 3Blake and Mitch discuss the thesis that the games business is losing share of attention to non-game interactive applications. They discuss whether there is actually a defined…
- Roblox (Ep. 27) · 1 h 21 min · Season 4 Episode 2Mitch & Blake discuss one of their favorite companies in games, Roblox. They start by outlining Roblox's core competitive advantages, and how they are unique in providing…
- 2026 Trends & Specific Predictions (Ep. 26) · 1 h 9 min · Season 4 Episode 1Blake and Mitch return! They begin with a discussion of the "Great Inflection" in software in the last several months. They then do some follow-up to last season, particularly…
- The EA "LBO" (Ep. 25) · 37 min · Season 4In this Special Edition of the GameCraft podcast, Mitch and Blake discuss the $55 billion leveraged buy-out of Electronic Arts by the Private Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia…
- The Sum of the Parts (Ep. 24) · 1 h 9 min · Season 3 Episode 8Mitch and Blake explore the role of consolidation -- primarily through mergers and acquistions -- in building some of the biggest and most durable companies in gaming. They begin…
- AI as a Platform (Ep. 23) · 53 min · Season 3 Episode 7Last season, Mitch and Blake discussed the implications of new Large Language Model Artificial Intelligence in games. In this episode, they return to the topic, this time…
- Hasbro and Lego (Ep. 22) · 45 min · Season 3 Episode 6Mitch and Blake look at two of the largest toy companies in the world, Hasbro and Lego, and discuss their divergent but ultimately very successful forays into the games business…
- The Venture Deadpool (Ep. 21) · 1 h 6 min · Season 3 Episode 5Mitch and Blake address the unpleasant topic of how and why venture-backed games companies fail. They look first at the nature of venture financing and the inherent differences…
- China (Ep. 20) · 57 min · Season 3 Episode 4Mitch and Blake look at the current state of the vitally important Chinese gaming market, on the precipice of a bitter trade war resulting from the Trump tariffs. They review the…
- Valve (Ep. 19) · 1 h 1 min · Season 3 Episode 3Mitch and Blake take an in-depth look at one of the most important companies in the global gaming business: Valve. They trace the company's origin as the developer of…
- The Mobile Gaming Duopoly (Ep. 18) · 59 min · Season 3 Episode 2Mitch and Blake discuss the mobile duopoly in which Apple and Google exert extraordinary power by tying their app stores to hardware and software platforms. They warn that the…
