Ep.4 Merging with Success: How Merge-2 is becoming the New Match-3 - with Arseny Lebedev

Hey there! Welcome to Games & Names podcast, a place where we casually chat about the gaming industry with a hint of magic. In the fourth episode, we talk with CEO and founder of Original Games, Arseny Lebedev, about merge games and their rise. What are merge games? How did they appear? Why Merge Mansion ended up so successful? And how Original Games perfected hybrid monetization? Tune in to know more!Episode's crew: ⁠⁠Stan Minasov⁠, ⁠Jesse Kroon⁠, ⁠Arseny Lebedev⁠Don't forget to subscribe, like, and share this episode with your friends, colleagues, friends, and pets. Especially pets!In this episode, we talk about:what it takes to make a merge game and why company size doesn’t really matter;how Merge Inn was made in 2 weeks and why animal characters were a risky bet;3 approaches to launching a new game in the casual (and merge!) market;why Merge Mansion ended up so successful (UA team and data) and how economy PhDs can always find a job in gamedev;how to treat live-ops mini-games as hyper casual from a market perspective;what is the main problem of merge games right now and how social features help to solve it;how Original Games succeeded a hybrid monetization and came to 50/50 splitWe also share a bunch of game recommendations that we loved recently, including a peculiar mod for Doom II! Stay tuned for the next episodes. Good luck and have fun :)Check YouTube if you want to see us:👉 https://youtu.be/fePEPCMl4J8 👈Please share feedback and comments - sm@appmagic.rocks