Game Economist Cast: Recent Episodes
Phillip Black
What does the new wave of open economies mean for monetization? Will negative externalities overcome cosmetics economies in the long-run? What exactly does a game economist do? Game Economist Cast is a roundtable discussion of the latest developments in mobile, HD, and crypto games through a bunch of people trying to figure it out using the economic tool kit.
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Can a stick of butter keep you sober during high-stakes diplomatic meetings? Eric is sure to tell us. Chris provides a compelling theory for the death of mods, while Phil undergoes a Supercell detox after analyzing Squad Buster's launch. The crew gets back in touch with their microeconomic selves and looks at one of the most interesting explanations for the gender pay gap.
- ONE COHORT AT A TIME: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON THE DECLINING GENDER PAY GAP
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Play to earn hits Steam, and the crew is here to dissect the phenomenon. Why now, and why bananas?
Phil is back into the economics of social casinos, while Chris develops a progression model for Darts. Eric and Phil debate the externalities of bots, while Chris solves for equilibrium.
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The crew convenes to square off on....what counts as a store of value? Is Match3 the best game economy of all time? Is progression a wage rate? Will Chris buy digital Gloomhaven? Was Eric among the five people who watched Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire? Will Phil get the crew on a regular posting schedule? E27 IS HERE!
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Phil gets Eric pilled into a trio of roguelikes, where we prime the pump for Squad Buster's eventual shake-up of the genre. Chris ran another NFT sale and lived to tell about it. We Snap our fingers for Eric's take on Snap's doubling cube mechanic. Should all ranked systems use it? Should the bet limit expand to infinity? We conclude with a discussion of Eurovision's political economy.
https://ericguan.substack.com/
https://chriseconomics.substack.com/
Dr. Sam Rosen of Temple University finally unleashes the Veblen Goods model for which every Game Economist yearns. We discuss:
- Why don't sold-out artists raise ticket prices?
- Why do NFT projects go boom or bust?
- Should auction-based goods mask demand for their products?
- What types of Pokémon are optimal for collecting in Go?
Dr.Rosen's paper, co-authored with Dr.Anthony Lee Zhang & Sebeom Oh, is out now!
Eric reminds us that The Wizard of Oz is a heated monetarism debate, while Chris goes six layers deep on enforcing royalties. Phil thinks Warzone Mobile is a good executive Powerpoint math muddled with poor execution, but good economics secured him Taylor Swift tickets.
- Subscribe to Chris' Substack and Eric's Substack
- Limit Break's New ERC standard
- Eric Guan on the economics of the video game job market
- Phillip Black on why big gaming co. employees are frustrated
- Dr. Julian Runge build a theory of persona and personalization in an Uber to the airport
- Christopher Kaczmarczyk-Smith solve for the missing web3 UGC game
Plus, a GEC After Hours on the state of San Francisco.
Matthew Melnyk joins the crew to finally tell us what's social about social casinos. Eric discovers a genre outside of CCG roguelikes...Psych, this time, it's Cobalt Core. Chris bends the supply survey backward to explain progression windfalls, while Phil tries to connect the dots between leaderboards and auction systems.
No Palword take is too late; something is not lost on the Game Economist Cast crew. Eric beguiles us with Cassette Beasts' analysis, while Chris reminds us of web3's oft-forgotten but newly popular Airdrop mechanics. Bonk? Phil can't get over the post-COVID decline in weekly gaming hours, but Eric cooks on a theory that a growing leisure pie might save us all.
[1] Sub to Eric and Chris's Substack!
[2] It's a bubble, it's a market, it's an Airdop!
[3] The Tremendous Yet Troubled State of Gaming in 2024
Eric starts 2024 with a new paper on League of Legends published by leading researchers. Is there an optimal amount of excitement in matches, and if so, where is it? Chris returns from Italy, and holy cannoli, did he have a "time" while Phil laments subscription-based pricing as the antithesis of game monetization. The crew agrees to spend money on Magic The Gathering this year.
Inflation is a wild word, with everyone playing fast and loose with the definition of in-game economies. Eric isn't convinced inflation is the evil Friedman claims it is, while Chris defends the honor of game tokens from Phil's stablecoin inquisition. The crew debates the meaning of game inflation: in what units and for whom? The answer is not as clear as first thought.
Price discrimination is the economist "duh," yet few firms engage in the welfare enhancing practice. What's with that? Dr. Bill Grosso, CEO of Game Data Pros, joins the crew to tell us that sometimes it's just about more columns in the database... We cover his efforts to build price personalization at scale, community pushback, the pricing power of brands, and the best things about game economists.
[1] A two-armed bandit theory of market pricing
It's finally here...the EVE episode. The crew speaks to one of the world's first Game Economist, Dr.Gudmundsson, who helped manage and advise on one of gaming's most durable and well-known game economies...ever. We cover the origin of E.V.E. (a simulation!?), his biggest wins at CCP, the role of game economists, and if crypto has a future.
Somehow, the cast wrings another guest, David Nelson, the former VP of Experimentation at King. Christopher Kaczmarczyk-Smith runs a regression on negative price, while Eric Guan explains the economic dynamics of rewarded video - bots and all. The crew debates how to solve the F-99 monetization problem and checks out what the NEW Experimentation Group is up to.
You won’t want to miss this episode of Game Economist Cast.
Guest! Finally! Dr.Julian Runge is here to add some much-needed seasoning to the regular crew, bringing the takes. We discuss the role of art, science, and academia, analytic organization structures, the role of flow in retention, the role of sales versus personalization, and the best theories of difficulty.
We cover a lot of PUBLICLY published research in this episode (most by Dr.Runge!) that most industry venters haven’t seen!
[1] Getting ML-Based App Personalization Right: The Engagement Engineering Framework
[2] Price Promotions for “Freemium” App Monetization
[3] Why Free-to-Play Apps Can Ignore the Old Rules About Cutting Prices
[4] Quantity discounts on a virtual good: The results of a massive pricing experiment at King
Chris wants to close the loop on game economies, while Eric compares Pikmin to Marx's Labor Theory of Value. Phil thinks Hawked is the next evolution of extraction shooter but doesn't understand why Indiana Jones needs to be involved. The American Time Use Survey is in, and... surprise, the crew plays Magic but can't decide to dust or auction cards.
Chris beguiles us with tales of Disc Golf, while Eric describes, in detail, the "fully modeled genitalia" of Baldur's Gate 3. Phil is too busy brushing up his Redditor voice which will surely get him canceled. The crew laments the declining utility of cosmetic economies but doubles down on the mechanics of emergent gameplay.
Eric brings us to the streets of Vegas for EVO while Phil finds solace in another hypercasual hit. Chris has a new metric for web3, and the crew laments inflation: it got ranked systems. The crew debates taking a bullet for millionaire execs who desperately need the help.
Chris takes another swing at mid-2010 gaming with an update on his Brawl Stars experience. Eric takes us to Vietnam for League of Legends game patching while Phil laments the very slow, not-so-fast F2P Revolution. Did Battlebit make a mistake?
The crew celebrates July 4th with a travel mishap, poor driving, and a lack of Sam Adams. Eric chooses Guile to explain Street Fighters' live service attempt, while Phil demands a blood oath from the crew. Chris is glued to ads and won't let go.
Chris discovers a small indie title called Fortnite, Eric throws salt on Diablo's big numbers, while Phil peddles his Game Thesis. The group tries to understand Reddit monetization while Phil tallies another win for the supply-siders.
Talked about links:
https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/a44132115/diablo-iv-video-game/
https://www.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/144f6xm/apollo_will_close_down_on_june_30th_reddits/
The economics of platform success, taxation, and lots of autochess. Definition and implications of the metaverse.
The mailbag has arrived with all the weirdness you'd expect;
- Can we get a little bit about each of your backgrounds? We know that Chris' parents believe that Pokemon is the devil's creation, but what else is there?
- What are some actual new models where play to earn can work?
- How many swords do you own? Follow up:....why?
- What examples of innovative or unique approaches to game economies have you seen in recent years?
NEXT EPISODE IS ALL MAIL. We'll read and respond on air. SEND QUESTIONs/COMMENTs to mail@gameeconomistcast.com!
- The full crew is back after a stealth EP5 drop.
- We refuse to stop talking about Hogwarts, earn our economist bread & butter discussing Eric's new piece on markets, and try to solve for a $6M Super Bowl ad.
- Eric had to leave early, we’ll see more of him next episode!
- Mail episode: only two away! We have 12 messages; the next episode is the last reminder. Lots of crypto questions.
- Phil talks Harry Potter and Deluxe Editions, while Chris talks double auctions and market efficiency.
The crew returns for the most irregular cadence yet. We talk about the price of Costco Hot Dogs, go under the matchmaking hood, and obsess over the progression problems of Marvel Snap.
Send mail to mail@gameeconomistcast.com. Mailbag E07 is coming!
The crew is back to think about the 2023 web3 meta, and digital Georgism, before closing with our most exciting games of 2022.
Remember to send in mail. On episode 7, we’ll read it and respond. Thanks to those who already sent mail in.
- Phil, Chris, and Eric talk about buying organs, cookie art, and a game that's not quite as good as Hades.
- We dive into the economics of subscriptions, what makes a marketplace fun, and the line between games and gamification.
- Learn more about Eric's analysis of fun marketplaces here.
NOW WITH HATE MAIL.
- Send comments, questions, or concerns to mail@gameeconomistcast.com.
- We will have a mailbag episode soon!