State of Play: The Video Game Industry — with Joost van Dreunen
In this special episode of The Prof G Pod’s Office Hours, we speak with Joost van Dreunen, a professor at NYU Stern, and the author of One Up: Creativity, Competition, and the Global Business of Video Games.
Joost breaks down the state of play in the video game industry, including the major players and platforms, and the latest around Activision Blizzard and Microsoft. Follow Joost on Twitter, @joosterizer
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Joost van Dreunen – Unlocking Value in Gaming – [Invest Like the Best, EP.210]
My guest today is Joost van Dreunen, an investor in the gaming space, professor at NYU's Stern School of Business, and former CEO and co-founder of SuperData Research, a data-driven gaming firm that was acquired by Nielsen. He also recently authored One Up: Creativity, Competition, and the Global Business of Video Games, a great book on the business game industry and why I reached out to speak with him in the first place. Our conversation covers the rise and decline of GameStop, what parts of the value chain actually make money in video games, the evolution of video game business models from Nintendo to Fortnite, and what other industries can learn by studying the video game industry. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Joost van Dreunen.
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content check out https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/14574831/van-unlocking-value-in-gaming
This episode of Invest Like the Best is sponsored by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you’re a professional equity investor and haven’t talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick.
Invest like the Best is a property of Colossus Inc. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best go to https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes.
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Show Notes
[00:02:38] – [First question] – First chapter of the modern gaming business
[00:06:28] – The product era of video games
[00:10:11] – The different pieces that take place in creating and selling a game
[00:12:25] – The story of GameStop
[00:18:45] – The transition to digital platform-based gaming
[00:22:55] – How the breakdown of platforms has changed
[00:27:35] – Free-to-play vs free-to-win in digital gaming
[00:31:27] – How the revenue models are changing the type of games that are made
[00:35:07] – Socializing games and the future there
[00:38:14] – Who is making money in the modern gaming world
[00:43:33] – The zones of opportunity to invest in within gaming
[00:47:12] – Why the business models can be more powerful than new tech
[00:53:52] – Strategies from gaming that the non-gaming industries can learn from
[00:57:05] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him
The $160 Billion Video Game Industry Explained
Joost van Dreunen joins Scott to give the lowdown on the video game industry. We hear about the trends, the major players, and predictions around live streaming, user-generated content, advertisers entering the space, Big Tech’s role, and Asia’s influence on the global games’ economy. Joost teaches at NYU’s Stern School of Business and his book, One Up: Creativity, Competition, and the Global Business of Video Games, is out now. Follow Joost on Twitter, @joosterizer. (18:00)
Scott opens with his thoughts on Airbnb’s IPO, Disney’s earnings, and Netflix testing out a linear channel in France.
This week’s Office Hours: why Amazon gets hit with antitrust before other big retailers, the value of experiential retail, and who should fix remote learning. (46:00)
Related Links:
Read: AirbnBaller
Watch: Airbnb: A $100 Billion Story
Have a question for Prof G? Email a voice recording to officehours@section4.com.
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