At USC in the late 1990s, Marc Merrill and Brandon Beck were bonding over video games and noticing that free, player-made modifications for the game Warcraft III were becoming wildly popular online. The two friends were so impressed by these mods that they decided to create their own multiplayer strategy game with an unusual twist: they'd offer the game for ... Show More
May 2021
The Secret Sauce of The NBA Bubble | Ingredient #1: Authenticity | 1
An NBA game is canceled just moments before tip-off. As the thousands of fans file out of the stadium, It’s the first moment for many of the impact the global pandemic will have on the sports world. Enter NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, superstar LeBron James, and a group of proble ... Show More
41m 34s
Sep 2022
Mitch Lasky - The Business of Gaming - [Invest Like the Best, EP.293]
My guest today is Mitch Lasky. Mitch is a partner at Benchmark and one of the leading figures in the video game industry. Over the last 30 years, he has built, led, and invested in a number of the best gaming companies in the world, including Activision, EA, Riot, Snapchat, and D ... Show More
1h 14m
May 2024
Fortnite: Turning a Meteoric Rise into Sustained Growth
In the 1990s and 2000s, video game developer Epic Games had a string of mid-size successes. But the release of Fortnite Battle Royale in 2017 changed the company’s path forever. The game was a blockbuster. By 2019, Fortnite had registered more than 250 million users, with 10 mill ... Show More
20m 18s
Aug 2021
Rapid Response: How Electronic Arts grows a metaverse, with CEO Andrew Wilson
<p>Hollywood may build stars, but gaming is "the biggest, fastest-growing entertainment medium in the world," says CEO Andrew Wilson of Electronic Arts. That's why businesses from Netflix to Disney to Facebook are eyeing the space, along with creators and startups eager to tap in ... Show More
33m 35s
Jul 2020
Video Games | Electric Dreams | S34-E1
<p>Call of Duty, Fortnite, Animal Crossing.... The video game industry generates billions of dollars each year. But not so long ago, video games were mostly played by the programmers who made them. On our new season, we’re telling the story of how video games broke out of univers ... Show More
38m 56s