Deconstructor of Fun

Crew breaks down a packed week in mobile and games. AppLovin's stock craters despite the SEC closing its inquiry with no action, Unity sells Supersonic to Tripledot for a shockingly low $40 million, and Take-Two's GTA VI presales are on fire even as its mobile business slows. Topics Covered:• AppLovin's Q2 earnings and stock drop despite growth• Unity's Vector model closing the gap with AppLovin• Unity selling Supersonic to Tripledot for $40M• Take-Two's Q2 earnings, Zynga portfolio trends and GTA VI presales• GTA VI's Netflix trailer exclusive• Blizzard's leaked internal email and its quiet turnaround• Ubisoft Barcelona's layoffs and the birth of Puzzle Mage• Royal Smash and the rise of cannon physics puzzlesCHAPTERS:02:06 Spider-Man numbers debate03:23 Why Spider-Man wins03:53 Odyssey movie review05:28 Seattle roundtable recap07:34 Audience Qs and Roblox08:55 Corrections and Royal Match12:08 AppLovin earnings breakdown18:52 Unity Vector and D2827:14 Unity sells Supersonic34:21 Unity Supersonic Bargain35:09 Take Two Bookings Breakdown36:19 Zynga Portfolio Reality Check39:07 Old Games vs New Hits46:36 GTA VI Preorders and Netflix49:41 Blizzard Comeback Email53:31 Ubisoft Barcelona Fallout56:05 Royal Smash New Subgenre01:00:45 Farm Team and Monetization01:08:51 Wrap Up and Banter

Emmanuel De Maistre didn’t build Scenario by choosing between Silicon Valley ambition and European pragmatism. He learned to use both.In this conversation, the Scenario founder breaks down what years of building in the US taught him about ambition, failure, and venture-scale thinking, and why European founders often bring the grounding that Silicon Valley lacks. We also get into what AI adoption actually looks like inside top game studios, why buying tools rarely translates into real usage, what happens to creative teams when AI enters production, and why today’s AI economics may be hiding problems that surface when cheap tokens disappear.This is a conversation about AI, gaming, and startup culture from a founder who has already learned what happens when growth outruns fundamentals. Fewer than 20 people, near-zero customer churn, profitable before a Series A. No “AI will replace everyone” predictions, no ARR theater. Just a founder making the case that the best operators combine American ambition with European grounding.

Xbox prices in Europe jumped as much as 50%, and the console math now writes itself.The crew digs into a rough week for hardware and a strange one for puzzle. PS5 is suddenly the obvious pick while a global RAM crunch threatens the entire next console cycle. Capcom is printing money off seven-year-old games. Roblox got its stock cut 30% after guiding bookings down, and the fight over its algorithm change turns into a bigger argument about platform health versus shareholder duty. Then Phil and Kress go to war over whether Merge-2 is real innovation or the same mechanic in a new skin, while it quietly overtakes Match on downloads for the first time.Topics Covered:• Xbox price hikes of 30 to 50% across Europe• Why PS5 is now the obvious console pick this generation• The RAM crunch that could break the next console cycle• Capcom's back catalog driving 90% of unit sales• Roblox stock crashing 30% after earnings• Retention thresholds and the collapse of viral hits• What the child torture games actually are• Roblox platform health vs fiduciary duty• Japan slowly opening up to foreign capital• Merge-2 climbing to 20% of the US puzzle market• Merge downloads overtaking Match for the first time• Whether Merge is innovation or reskinned mechanics• China flooding UA channels and taking Western shareCHAPTERS: 00:00 Cold Open Introductions00:45 Headlines And Banter02:48 EA Deal Layoff Rumors03:51 Creator Tools And Events07:22 Netflix FIFA Studio Shutdown10:39 Sony Earnings Xbox Prices13:33 Memory Crunch Console Future20:22 Capcom Catalog Dominance27:43 Roblox Earnings Slump35:17 Algorithm Chaos Fallout37:08 Retention Threshold Reality40:00 Child Torture Games Explained42:41 Profit vs Platform Health44:37 Valuation and Downside Risk47:38 Scopely Bets on Japan52:16 Merge 2 Takes Over Puzzle54:46 Is Merge Actually Innovation56:39 Meta Systems Drive Growth01:05:04 China Floods UA Channels01:06:17 Wrap Up and Goodbye

After years of saying not yet, Sensor Tower finally estimated mobile ad revenue, and the number is $12 billion for 2025.Josh Chandley and Sensor Tower's lead gaming insights analyst Sam walk through how the estimates were built and why $12 billion is a conservative floor. We get into why puzzle pulls more than half of all gaming ad revenue, how AppLovin keeps eating share while smaller networks shrink, the non-gaming advertisers like Temu, Shein, and finance apps flooding into gaming inventory, and why AP-focused hybrids out-earn ad-first hybrids by 4x.CHAPTERS: 00:00 Why Ads Were Opaque01:07 How Sensor Tower Models Ads02:31 The 12 Billion Headline04:00 Coverage Countries Networks06:07 Ads Versus IAP D2C08:52 Non Gaming Demand Surge12:55 Network Share Winners15:15 AppLovin Take Rate Debate19:04 Puzzle Dominates Ad Revenue26:17 Hybrid Casual Economics30:25 Studio Strategy And Wrap

The crew breaks down Sensor Tower's big H1 2026 report, digs into why downloads keep falling while nobody seems to want new games, and asks whether ad revenue was ever going to save anyone. Plus a Warframe live service masterclass and the arrow craze that Kress would very much like everyone to stop talking about.Topics Covered:• Disney Solitaire cannibalizing Solitaire Grand Harvest • Where the diligence went on the SuperPlay deal and who is left • Washington State suing Playtika and Aristocrat over social casino• Sensor Tower H1 2026 with downloads down 12% • The 4X surge stalling out while puzzle keeps compounding• The D2C debate and whether the market ishealthier than it looks• AppLovin and AdMob running two-thirds of gaming ad revenue and what that consolidation does to CPIs• Why the top ad revenue games are smaller than anyone expected• Warframe as the live service masterclass Destiny never pulled offCHAPTERS:00:00 – Intro & welcome (Jen, Kress, Phil, Mishka)01:00 – Mishka's Greece trip & DoF event updates (Seattle Roundtables, Gamescom, Grand Slam, Supper Club)08:00 – Playtika update: Solitaire Grand Harvest cannibalized by Disney Solitaire12:00 – M&A Masterclass callback (Chris Petrarca) & licensing math on Disney deal14:00 – Washington State's gambling lawsuit vs. Playtika — social casino legal risk17:00 – Sensor Tower H1 2026 report: overview & app discovery is "broken"20:00 – Direct-to-consumer (D2C) web shops: how big is the impact really?23:00 – D2C by genre: 4X, social casino, Marvel Strike Force example25:00 – Genre trends: strategy down, puzzle up, Block Blast highlight26:00 – The "Arrow" hyper-casual craze — Block Blast install decline29:00 – UA costs spiking: ad spend up, downloads down30:00 – AppLovin & AdMob's growing duopoly over UA33:00 – Social casino's steepest genre decline & D2C revenue shift36:00 – Top publishers by ad revenue (King, Easy Brain, Huuuge)39:00 – Sensor Tower report wrap-up & praise42:00 – Warframe/Digital Extremes: Destiny comparison & live-service execution44:00 – Warframe monetization model breakdown45:00 – Digital Extremes' mobile SKU built with Finland's Nitro Games46:00 – Warframe mobile growth numbers (PC halo effect)48:00 – Squad RPG/gacha mechanics critique — mobile "solved this years ago"50:00 – Why no Western studio has cracked mobile shooters (Fortnite, Roblox Rivals)51:00 – Warframe's marketing-driven themed content drops52:00 – Shoutout: Christopher Dring's podcast52:00 – Outro & next week preview (Castle Clashers, Capcom)