Mitch and Blake discuss how the rise of games-as-services has privileged durable, long-duration play-patterns -- leading to the modern idea of the "Forever Game" which can persist for decades. Mitch outlines his five attributes of long-term engagement and provides examples of each from games like Ultima Online, World of Warcraft, Age of Empires, and League of Legends. They look at the two distinct strands of long-duration play that emerged in the 1990's -- the massively-multiplayer online role playing game and the session-based online competitive game -- and how those genres evolved and cross-polinated to produce multi-billion dollar online games that have remained viable for a decade or more. Links & Show Notes: <a href= "https://abovethecrowd.com/2012/09/04/the-dangerous-seduction-of-the-lifetime-value-ltv-formula/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bill Gurley on LTV</a> <a href= "https://mud.fandom.com/wiki/Island_of_Kesmai" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">Island of Kesmai</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bran_Ferren" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bran Ferren</a> <a href="https://iitsec.org" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">I/ITSEC</a> <a href= "https://massivelyop.com/2015/10/03/the-game-archaeologist-the-assassination-of-lord-british/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Assassination of Lord British</a> <a href= "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lineage_(video_game)" target= "_blank" rel="noopener">Lineage</a> <a href= "https://liquipedia.net/ageofempires/Red_Bull_Wololo" target= "_blank" rel="noopener">AoE2: Red Bull Wololo 2022</a> <a href= "https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/World_of_Warcraft" target= "_blank" rel="noopener">World of Warcraft</a> <a href= "https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/en-US/home" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fortnite</a>

The Playground and the Stage (Ep. 5)

Gamecraft is a limited series about the modern history of the video game business.

Beginning in the early 1990's, the video game business began a radical transformation from a console and PC packaged goods business into the highly complex, online, multi-platform business it is today. Game industry legend Mitch Lasky and game investor Blake Robbins go on a thematic tour of the last 30 years of gaming, exploring the origins of free-to-play, platform-based publishing, casual & mobile gaming, forever games, user-generated content, consoles, virtual reality, and in-game economies across the eight episodes of Season 1.

In Season 2, Mitch and Blake are back with a new series analyzing the state of the video game business in 2024. They start with a macro view of the current business, before looking at some hot topics in gaming: the rise of powerful independent game studios, emerging markets for games around the world, how innovations in artificial intelligence will change game creation, and the renewed importance of intellectual property in the game business.