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Artwork for UNBOXING: Play and Profit for the Gaming Curious

UNBOXING: Play and Profit for the Gaming Curious

Laine Nooney, Joost van Dreunen
Microsoft
Roblox
Nintendo
GDC
Esa’s 2025 Essential Facts Report
Gaming Industry Layoffs
Gamestop
Ubisoft
Artificial Intelligence
Video Games
Game Developers Conference
Xbox
Valve
Embracer Group
STEAM
UX In Gaming
Gaming Industry
King Digital
New York University
Video Game History Foundation

Joost crunches data. Laine rummages in archives. Together on UNBOXING, these two NYU professors unlock the secrets of the games business they share with their students and cover the games news for insiders and newbies alike. A weekly podcast for anyone curious about why games matter in today's economy, dropping every Friday. Logo by Moira Zhang, theeverdrift.cargo.site

PublishesWeeklyEpisodes72Founded4 years ago
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Business

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Artwork for UNBOXING: Play and Profit for the Gaming Curious

Latest Episodes

Xbox cuts Game Pass prices—strategy shift or quiet retreat? PLUS: The cloud gaming dream fades as subscriptions hit their limits.

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Disney x Epic’s newest (and possibly dumbest) venture yet, then find out if today’s industry is “crashier” than it was in the 80s. PLUS: Capitalism enters a new phase of stupid and we hate it!

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PlayStation price hike. PLUS: Subscriptions rise as game sales fall.

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Layoffs of Epic (Games) proportions. PLUS: India’s rise & global power shifts in gaming?

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Key Facts

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Recent Guests

Julian Togelius
Professor researching AI and games
New York University
Episode: Pod Friends with Julian Togelius
Mitu Khandaker
Game designer, engineer, professor, entrepreneur; Associate Director of the NYU Tandon Game Design Future Labs
NYU Tandon School of Engineering
Episode: Pod Friends: Mitu Khandaker & the Future of NYC Games
Colleen Macklin
Game designer, professor, and optimist; associate professor at Parsons School of Design; co-director of PET Lab
Parsons School of Design, Local Number 12
Episode: “Pod Friends” with Colleen Macklin
Paolo Petrocini
Game designer, professor of game design at Carnegie Mellon
Mole Industria / Carnegie Mellon University
Episode: Back to School Pt. 1: Teaching Games in 2025
Phil Salvador
Library Director of the Video Game History Foundation
Video Game History Foundation
Episode: Do All Games Go to Heaven? Platforms, Power, and Preservation

Hosts

Laine Nooney
Host of UNBOXING; Play and Profit for the Gaming Curious; NYU professor; provides historical perspective on games industry
Joost van Brunen
Co-host; professor; discusses industry shifts and historical precedents; host presence across episodes

Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars from 33 ratings
  • This is the gaming-related podcasts I feel I get the smartest by listening to it.

    Podcast Addict
    5
    Eino Keskitalo
    3 years ago

Top Business Podcasts

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

Zigging with Nintendo & Scrambling with Roblox
Q: Why is Nintendo so successful despite not chasing the latest tech?
Because they prioritize player experience, brand values, and a publishing/distribution strategy that rebuilds ecosystems and retailer relationships, creating a reliable, long-term value proposition rather than chasing high-spec hardware.
Pod Friends with Julian Togelius
Q: What makes games a unique testbed for AI research?
Games offer interactivity, player agency, and a variety of rule systems that illustrate different aspects of intelligence, which makes them a rich testing ground for models and methods that can generalize to broader tasks.
“Pod Friends” with Colleen Macklin
Q: How is UX positioned within a game development pipeline and when do designers get involved?
UX is embedded across menus, gameplay interfaces, audio cues, and immersion, with a push for closer collaboration with engineers, designers, and artists to improve learnability and accessibility.
“Pod Friends” with Colleen Macklin
Q: What stood out at the Game UX Summit in terms of its focus beyond AI?
The emphasis was on people, cognition, and the integration of UX with engineering to improve retention, accessibility, and collaboration across teams.
Union Wins, Summer Heat, and the Reorganization of Embracer
Q: How do the recent changes at Embracer impact the wider gaming landscape?
Embracer's restructuring highlights industry consolidation challenges, prompting discussions on creative management and labor issues.

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Frequently Asked Questions About This Podcast

What is This Podcast about and what kind of topics does it cover?

Two NYU professors bring a scholarly lens to the games industry, pairing archival insight with data-driven analysis of current events. Across episodes, they dissect major industry shifts—from conference formats and branding moves at GDC to the economics of loot boxes, platform consolidation, AI-powered tools, and global labor dynamics. They mix historical context with practical guidance for practitioners, covering policy debates, regulatory developments, and the business implications of mergers, sponsorships, and governance. Their conversations often weave in personal teaching experiences, student perspectives, and vivid industry anecdotes, offering listeners a thoughtful, historically informed view of how games operate within the broader e... more

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These podcasts share a similar audience with this podcast:

1. Deconstructor of Fun
2. New Books in Game Studies
3. Gamecraft
4. The Game Business Show
5. Video Game History Hour

How many episodes of this podcast are there?

this podcast launched 4 years ago and published 72 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

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Recent guests on this podcast include:

1. Julian Togelius
2. Mitu Khandaker
3. Colleen Macklin
4. Paolo Petrocini
5. Phil Salvador

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