We cover:
- The investment paradox: it's the worst time to fundraise and the best time to start building
- State of the video game industry: what really caused the AAA layoffs and the freeze in investments
- AI in gamedev: Expedition33-like small teams, and the gap between prototype and shippable code
- Free to play economics: how World of Tanks Blitz hit $100M and what that model teaches indie studios
- Partnership with the top creative teams (hello Playsense!)
- What publishers actually do. And why their role as bank, distributor, and marketer is cracking
- Community as a moat: why players are choosing human-made games in the AI era
- Eastern European engineering talent vs. American design talent
- How to pitch to venture capital: what game investors actually want to see (hint: not your story)
- Game accelerators: does a Y Combinator for gamedev exist yet?
- Tools, grants, and product market fit for indies in 2026
- From a lawyer to VP of Call of Duty. From Los Angeles to Nicosia, Minsk, Vilnius, Warsaw. The most unlikely career in the industry!
I got on a plane to Poland to film Thaine Lyman, ex-VP at Activision (Call of Duty, Destiny) and ex-Studio Head at Wargaming (World of Tanks Blitz). Must watch this interview for every GameDev founder & investor:
https://youtu.be/UvuwpvJGiWs
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#GameDev #IndieDev #GameIndustry #AIinGaming #VideoGames #GamingBusiness #VC #IndieGames #GameFounders
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