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Each week I compile a gaming industry insights newsletter that I share with other Rioters, including Riot’s senior leadership. This edition is the public version that I publish broadly every week as well. Opinions are mine.
Hi, my name is Kenny Liu, and I work in Revenue Strategy at Riot Games. Each week I compile a gaming industry insights newsletter that I share with other Rioters, including Riot’s senior leadership. This edition is the public version that I publish broadly every week as well. Opinions are mine.
See more or subscribe at: https://tinyletter.com/kliuless
The New F-Word: Feedback
HBR: The Feedback Fallacy
"Underpinning the current conviction that feedback is an unalloyed good are three theories that we in the business world commonly accept as truths
The first is that other people are more aware than you are of your weaknesses, and that the best way to help you, therefore, is for them to show you what you cannot see for yourself. We can call this our theory of the source of truth [...]
The second belief is that the process of learning is like filling up an empty vessel: You lack certain abilities you need to acquire, so your colleagues should teach them to you. We can call this our theory of learning [...]
And the third belief is that great performance is universal, analyzable, and describable, and that once defined, it can be transferred from one person to another, regardless of who each individual is. Hence you can, with feedback about what excellence looks like, understand where you fall short of this ideal and then strive to remedy your shortcomings. We can call this our theory of excellence [...]
What these three theories have in common is self-centeredness: They take our own expertise and what we are sure is our colleagues’ inexpertise as givens; they assume that my way is necessarily your way. But as it turns out, in extrapolating from what creates our own performance to what might create performance in others, we overreach
Research reveals that none of these theories is true. The more we depend on them, and the more technology we base on them, the less learning and productivity we will get from others. To understand why and to see the path to a more effective way of improving performance, let’s look more closely at each theory in turn"
The Dying Art of Conversation: Interview with Author and Speaker Celeste Headlee
"In a society where more and more of our communication with one another is done electronically, Celeste’s [work] is a timely and welcome nudge for more face to face interaction. Backed by research, Celeste makes the case that our relationships, our happiness, and even our health depend on it
In this interview, Celeste shares a number of ways anybody can improve their communication skills immediately, what the three levels of effective listening are, and identifies the fatal faux pas that will suck the wind out of any conversation"
Revenue Strategy
Fortnite season 8 battle pass is free with Overtime challenges [KL: likely in response to Apex Legends]
Paradox Interactive's expansion-driven strategy resulted in best revenue & profit year to date​
Related: Paradox & Microsoft create open modding platform to deliver mods to Xbox One, PC
Amazon launches new rewards service called Amazon Moments for developers to help motivate consumers by the use of personalized discounts
Startup Hashletes, partnering with NFL Players Association, is taking fantasy football to a whole new level
It launched tradable digital tokens for 2,000 players during 2018 football season. These tokens allow users to put players in their fantasy lineups on Hashletes app, and will eventually give users access to exclusive merch and content from players
Its platform backend is built on Ethereum, where each token is attached to a smart contract
By the end of 2018 NFL season, Hashletes was dispensing $10,000 in prize money weekly to almost 20,000 active players
PC/Console
Mobile
Samsung’s foldable phone is the Galaxy Fold, available April 26th starting at $1,980
U.S. iPhone users spent, on average, $79 on apps last year, up 36% from 2017
Rovio prepares to sell Hatch following lackluster financials
PUBG Mobile launches its Resident Evil 2 crossover event
XR: AR/MR/VR
ARCore 1.7 adds augmented faces, object animations, and UI Elements
Lego Hidden Side uses ‘haunted’ toys to advance AR on Android and iOS
Asia
Douyin, China's version of TikTok, just launched its first mini game
Tencent in talks with EA to bring hit battle royale game Apex Legends to China
China’s gaming regulator said to call halt on new approval submissions to clear backlog in potential blow to Tencent, NetEase
a16z: Four Key Product Principles from WeChat’s Creator [KL: must-read]
Tencent claims 2018 was its best year yet for investments
Netmarble forms consortium with Tencent, MBK for Nexon
Japan's Top 10 Mobile Games in 2018 (by Revenue)
Overtime
The state of BioWare
Podcast: Into the Breach with Justin Ma
12-year-old Fortnite player on iPad [KL: wow]
Nintendo reveals Tetris battle royale game for Nintendo Switch
Nintendo of America head Reggie Fils-Aime retires, Bowser [KL: yes, really] taking over
Inside the weird world of Chinese romance video games
The Secret History of Wu-Tang Clan’s Bizarre Hip-Hop Fighting Game
Female viewership of esports has increased to 30% of watchers
Oxford: Violent video games found not to be associated with adolescent aggression
Telia tests world’s first 5G movie theater with livestreaming films
Facebook mulled multi-billion-dollar acquisition of Unity, book claims
The Tinder algorithm, explained
See more or subscribe at: https://tinyletter.com/kliuless
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