Game Economist Cast

Author: Phillip Black

What does the new wave of open economies mean for monetization? Will negative externalities overcome cosmetic economies in the long run? What exactly does a game economist do? Game Economist Cast is a roundtable discussion of the latest developments in mobile, HD, and crypto games, through a bunch of people figuring it out using the economic toolkit.
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Language: en-us

Genres: Business, Leisure, Video Games

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GEC BONUS EP: What's up at GDC 2026?
Wednesday, 18 March, 2026

Takes so hot that they were recorded late at night after a long day on the GDC floor, and couple whiskeys. Phil, Eric, and Chris crew unpack what actually mattered at GDC 2026, and what didn’t. We discuss: A sharper critique of industry thinking Too many taxonomy talks, not enough opinions Why game talks should behave more like economics seminars AI’s role on the show floor and conference Shift from generative art hype to code generation and workflows Why survey data understates actual usage and masks revealed preferences AI present but muted, Web3 effectively gone Novelty hardware, indie creativity, and a clear tech pullback The collapse of production costs and what replaces them Near-zero fixed costs leading to infinite content supply Discovery, marketing, and CAC as the new binding constraints Why incumbents may strengthen, not weaken Ad spend and distribution advantages widening the moat Counterpoint: new channels still create pockets of disruption Hardware, interfaces, and “convergent evolution” Why controllers standardized and what that says about optimal design Failed alternatives and the persistent friction of interaction Chapters (00:00:00) - GDC 26: The Highlights and Disappointments(00:03:50) - Did You Play With The Rubik's Cube Mini-Screen?(00:05:08) - In the Elevator With Microsoft's Kinect(00:07:53) - Are Game Controllers Like Crabs?(00:10:54) - Nintendo's Live-Service Revenue(00:11:36) - Crypto: Should You Interact or Prevent a Regulatory Violation(00:12:59) - GDC 2017: Indie Games, Virtual Reality Games(00:14:58) - The Future of Generative Code(00:19:58) - Roblox's Conference on AI(00:25:15) - GDC 2017: Playing a Game Inside Your Talk(00:26:46) - Don't Make a Taxonomy Talk at GDC 2022(00:30:39) - Crypto Is a Decentralized Guild(00:30:55) - GDC 2013: A Food Budget(00:32:41) - GDC gift cards: Who is laundering the money?(00:34:46) - At Tech Conference 2017, China and the Future(00:35:16) - Indie Game Making(00:36:51) - Phil on the Floor at GDC 2014