Find anything.
- DESK
Make-A-Wish’s April Stallings Illuminates the ‘Whys’ of Gaming: Joy, Well-being, and Connection, Part 2
More insights on the positive effects of granted wishes, Roll for Wishes, and John Cena’s “inspirational…attention and detail” in wish grating
WITH APRIL STALLINGS - LIVEOCT 2, 2026
November is an attention problem: why you can't counter-program GTA 6
GTA 6, Ocarina and WoW all land in November. Never Entertained on why you can't counter-program a 60-hour game, and why only owned communities come through.
- LIVESEP 25, 2026
Nobody is on the hook: Halo, Bungie, and the vest cycle that outlasts the game
Halo went to Activision after fourteen years and nobody in the building ever paid for it. Colan Neese, Simon Pulman and Justin Ruiss on the vest cycle that outlasts the game.
- DESKSEP 16, 2026
Games for Change’s Dr. Rachel Kowert and Arana Shapiro on Raising Good Gamers
At G4C 2026 in July, Dr. Kowert and Shapiro laid out a new program designed to knit gaming families more closely together
WITH DR. RACHEL KOWERT - PODCASTSEP 15, 2026
Never Entertained: GTA 6 versus Zelda is the wrong fight
The internet spent the week arguing about which game wins the holiday. We think that is the wrong question, and the right one is which brand still has your attention after the controller goes down.
- LIVESEP 11, 2026
GTA 6 vs. Zelda: The Wrong Fight? | Never Entertained #1
Everyone’s picking a side in GTA 6 versus Zelda. We’re asking whether it’s the wrong fight. Welcome to Never Entertained, where Greg Posner, Simon Pulman, Justin Ruiss, and Colan Neese argue about the week in games, media, and IP. On episode one: - GTA 6 vs.
- LIVESEP 11, 2026
GTA 6 versus Zelda is the wrong fight
Never Entertained launches: Nintendo out-brands Sony on a Target shelf, Wolverine is designed for everybody and lands for nobody, and Netflix reaches for theaters.
- DESKSEP 10, 2026
The Rise and Fall and Rise of Zach Letter, Co-Founder and CEO of Wonder Works, Part 2
The driving force behind the smash hit Roblox game SpongeBob Tower Defense shares the inside scoop, plus Live Ops and AI tips
WITH ZACH LETTER - LIVEAUG 27, 2026
We Watched the GTA 6 Extended Look Live. Here Is Who It Was Actually For.
Rockstar put 26 minutes of GTA 6 behind a Netflix login and explained none of it. Justin Ruiss and Simon Pulman on why Netflix's best games business might be marketing.
- LIVEAUG 20, 2026
Your feed is not your player base: Disney's licensing win, Wolverine's backlash and the GTA 6 leak
Insomniac read its X feed as its player base. Netflix claims a billion reached while cutting everything. Disney just read the report card and won.
- LIVEAUG 12, 2026
Attention beats acclaim: Bandai's six-game fall, Remedy's flop risk and YouTube's higher wall
Bandai Namco ships six games into a fall everyone else vacated, Remedy learns acclaim is not a strategy, and YouTube raises the wall on creators.
- BLOGAUG 7, 2026
Roblox just priced trust and safety. The number is the cost of waiting.
Roblox pulled its full-year guidance and blamed safety changes. Read the filing closely and it is not the price of protecting kids, it is the price of starting late.
BY GREG POSNER - DESKAUG 5, 2026
Games for Change 2026: “Reimaging Play” Through Social Impact and Tools for Raising “Good” Gamers, Part 2
The 23rd annual Games for Change festival was held in New York City on July 21-22 and we highlight a handful of day two sessions and key takeaways
BY LEWIS WARD - PODCASTAUG 4, 2026
AI made cheating easy for everyone, so anti-cheat learned to watch how you move
Anybrain's Andre Pimenta on anti-cheat that reads how you move, not your game, why AI made cheating easy for everyone, and why player trust is the real fix.
WITH ANDRÉ PIMENTA - DESKJUL 29, 2026
Games for Change 2026: “Reimaging Play” Through Social Impact and Tools for Raising “Good” Gamers
The 23rd annual Games for Change festival was held last week in New York City and we highlight a handful of key sessions and takeaways
BY LEWIS WARD - PODCASTJUL 14, 2026
Microsoft's Xbox reckoning: layoffs, the Minecraft raid, and the case for ad-funded discovery
Xbox just laid off thousands, spun off four studios, and cancelled games it had defended a day earlier. Greg Posner and games-industry analyst Colan Neese take apart Microsoft's restructuring memo and land on an uncomfortable read: this was…
- DESKJUL 7, 2026
Fiene Ziegler’s Accidental Path from Cultural Studies to Player Community Management at InnoGames
The community management specialist offers insights into how she orchestrates communications between the developers and global player base of Forge of Empires…and explains why she’s so into road trips
WITH FIENE ZIEGLER - BLOGJUN 25, 2026
Who Pays for the Player Now? Justin Ruiss on Ads, the Xbox Free Tier, and the Second Search War
Ad-tech operator Justin Ruiss on why a free, ad-supported Xbox is the most logical move on the board, how GTA 6 reshapes the Roblox creator economy, and why Reddit became the arms dealer of the AI search war.
BY GREG POSNER - PODCASTJUN 23, 2026
Skill-based matchmaking, explained by the engineer who built Call of Duty's rating system
Charlie Olsen wrote the matchmaking rating system inside Call of Duty. Now he sells matchmaking to studios — and explains what SBMM really does to your game.
BY GREG POSNER - DESKJUN 16, 2026
ARCANIX’s Oscar Clark on the EU’s DFA, Lightning Lessons, and the Primacy of Player Value, Part 2
The industry vet talks Lightning Lessons, ARCANIX, and how studios can “find the fun” in a sustainable way
BY LEWIS WARD - PODCASTJUN 16, 2026
Betting the Studio: Zach Letter on Surviving the Cut and Building Roblox's #1 Licensed Game
Zach Letter spent over a decade as a full-time YouTube creator with billions of views before he saw Roblox and recognized the exact platform mechanics he had already mastered: a title, a thumbnail, and an algorithm to beat.
WITH ZACH LETTER - PODCASTJUN 9, 2026
Why Most Games Fail in the Gap Between the Idea and the Build
Lewis Ward spent sixteen years covering games as an analyst at IDC. Now he runs Design Desk at Player Driven, and his obsession has moved upstream, into the design layer where games are still just ideas.
BY GREG POSNER - DESKMAY 26, 2026
Mediating Irreconcilable Differences with Behavioral Game Economist Catalin Alexandru, Part 2
The consulting vet offers hot takes on what’s derailed Web3 gaming, SDT’s upsides, and the importance of bridging the gap between game design and production processes
WITH CATALIN ALEXANDRU - PODCASTMAY 26, 2026
Ad-Supported Xbox, the Death of the Open Web, and House Cats for AI
Matt Ball just joined Xbox, and Colan is calling his shot: a free, ad-supported Xbox tier is coming, and people are massively underestimating what free does to an ecosystem.
- BLOGMAY 21, 2026
AI, IP, and Game Development: What Studios Need to Know Before Using Generative AI
Game developers are used to building in uncertainty. You launch into changing player expectations, shifting platform rules, unpredictable communities, monetization pressure, global regulation, and the occasional bug that somehow only happens when a streamer with 400,000 followers is live. Now add generative AI to the pile.
- PODCASTMAY 19, 2026
No AI Doesn't Mean What You Think It Does
Guest: Tess Lynch, Founding Attorney, Clause and Affect When Crimson Desert announced "no AI in our game," the internet applauded.
WITH TESS LYNCH - LIVEMAY 14, 2026
IP Name Is Not a Marketing Strategy: What Forza Got Right That Bond Got Wrong
Forza Horizon 6 landed a 91 on Metacritic, pulled data showing unprecedented traction in Asian markets, and flew its influencer event to Japan to sell car culture instead of game features. Bond, releasing in the same window, bought an NBA halftime placement, put dev talent in turtlenecks for YouTube interviews, and assumed that 007 still carries weight with anyone under 35. One of these games will be a cultural moment. The other will be fine. That contrast, laid out across a full episode of Player Driven Live by Greg and analyst Colan, is the editorial spine of something practitioners running live games and planning launches need to hear: audience assumption is a budget leak.
- PODCASTAPR 21, 2026
The Rise of Web Shops: How Games Are Reclaiming Players and Profit
For years, mobile gaming operated under one unspoken rule: give up ~30% of your revenue to platform holders like Apple and Google. That model is starting to break.
WITH GIL TOV-LY - DESKAPR 17, 2026
Quantic Foundry’s Nick Yee on Gamer Motivations, Part 1
The company’s model of twelve motivations is a window into the hearts and minds of “the gamer” and helps explain and predict their behaviors
BY LEWIS WARD - PODCASTMAR 24, 2026
Day Zero Design: Why Your Community Strategy is Your New Game Engine
Guests: Karin Johnson: Co-founder of Magic Potion Games (Veteran of Club Penguin and Fortnite)Hege Tokerud: CEO/Founder of Aiba (Cybersecurity and AI moderation specialist) Episode Summary In this strategic primer for GDC 2026, we sit down…