Game Economist Cast
What does the new wave of open economies mean for monetization? Will negative externalities overcome cosmetics 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 tool kit.
Episodes
38 episodes
E36: Pokémon Pocket's Gimped Trading and Matthew Ball's State of Gaming
Pokémon TCG Pocket is one of a handful of games to implement P2P trading on mobile. Yet it sucks. On purpose. As @Eric explains, their game economy needs high sinks to combat hourly sourcing of card packs. Without the nearly 80% trading tax, pr...
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1:13:44
E35: In Defense of Loot Boxes (w/Dr. Matthew McCaffrey)
Loot boxes have all the markings of a moral panic. Dr.McCaffrey reviewed the emerging literature, and like the research on video game violence, it's destined for methodological malfunction. We discuss why everything isn't a loot box, th...
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1:22:32
E34: A Theory of Optimal Economic Balance
Is game balance bullshit? The crew goes toe-to-toe debating Sirland’s Don't Use Math in Balancing Games. Chris emerges from his Roblox hibernation, Eric t...
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1:20:45
E33: Halo's Economist & Player Price Experiment Complaints? (w/Dr.Jason Arentz)
Anti-cheat economics, web3 property rights, Deirdre McCloskey, institutional incentives, Halo UGC, and the if single player games have a natural advantage outside the West. Oh my.Dr.Jason Arentz finally guest stars, and he's bringing th...
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1:10:21
E32: Should more firms be like Valve? (w/Dr. Peter Klein)
Economist Dr.Peter G. Klein joins the cast to discuss Why Managers Matter: The Perils of the Bossless Company. We debate Valve's organizational structure, the evidence for manager economic impact, and Sweden's success. Rea...
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55:56
E31: Potty Mouth & "That" Levitt-King Paper
Phil and Chris return from Asia, and it's gachupon from here in-out.
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1:11:19
E30: The Economics of Game Development
Eric develops an economic model to explore or exploit game development decisions, while Phil wants a block-grant style gate process to align incentives. Chris is back at Marvel Snap, and boogies with some new social casino mechanics.The...
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1:00:54
E29: Can a Stick of Butter Keep You Sober?
Can a stick of butter keep you sober during high-stakes diplomatic meetings? Eric is sure to tell us. Chris provides a compelling theory for the death of mods, while Phil undergoes a Supercell detox after analyzing Squad Buster's launch. The cr...
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1:17:05
E28: B-A-N-A-N-A!
Play to earn hits Steam, and the crew is here to dissect the phenomenon. Why now, and why bananas? Phil is back into the economics of social casinos, while Chris develops a progression model for Darts. Eric and Phil debate the exte...
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58:16
E27: The Best Game Economy of All-Time
The crew convenes to square off on....what counts as a store of value? Is Match3 the best game economy of all time? Is progression a wage rate? Will Chris buy digital Gloomhaven? Was Eric among the five people who watched Ghostbusters: Frozen E...
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1:04:20
E26: Price Theorists Battle Behavioralists for Marvel Snap
Phil gets Eric pilled into a trio of roguelikes, where we prime the pump for Squad Buster's eventual shake-up of th...
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1:05:42
E25: The Veblen Goods Model That Explains Web3 (w/Dr.Sam Rosen)
Dr. Sam Rosen of Temple University finally unleashes the Veblen Goods model for which every Game Economist yearns. We discuss:Why don't sold-out artists raise ticket prices?Why ...
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56:35
E24: Tragedy of the UGC Commons & Gold Bugs
Eric reminds us that The Wizard of Oz is a heated monetarism debate, while Chris goes six ...
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1:03:43
GEC BONUS EP: What's up at GDC 2024?
Eric Guan on the economics of the video game job marketPhillip Black
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49:46
E23: Four Game Economists Walk into a Social Casino (w/Dr.Matt Melnyk)
Matthew Melnyk joins the crew to finally tell us what's social about social casinos. Eric discovers a genre outsid...
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51:44
E22: Airdropping The Missing Web3 Palworld Take
No Palword take is too late; something is not lost on the Game Economist Cast crew. Eric beguiles us with Cassette Beasts' analysis, while
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1:14:42
E21: Subs, Doms, Surprise, and Suspense
Eric starts 2024 with a new paper on League of Legends published by leading researchers. Is there an optimal amount of excitement in matches, and if so, where is it?
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1:07:26
E20: Game Inflation is Misunderstood
Inflation is a wild word, with everyone playing fast and loose with the definition of in-game economies. Eric isn't convinced inflation is the evil Friedman claims it is, while Chris defends the honor of game tokens from Phil's stablecoin...
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1:04:03
E19: Why Doesn't Apple or Steam Use Regional Pricing? (w/Bill Grosso)
Price discrimination is the economist "duh," yet few firms engage in the *welfare* enhancing practice. What's with that? Dr. Bill Grosso, CEO of Game Data Pros, joins the crew to tell us that s...
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1:04:47
E18: Internet Spaceships Are Serious Business (w/Dr.Eyjolfur Gudmundsson)
It's finally here...the EVE episode. The crew speaks to one of the world's first Game Economist, Dr.Gudmundsson, who helped manage and advise on one of gaming's most durable and well-known game...
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1:07:39
E17: Regressions, Gin Rummy, and a VERY Special Guest (w/David Nelson)
Somehow, the cast wrings another guest, David Nelson, the former VP of Experimentation at King. Christopher Kaczmarczyk-Smith runs a regre...
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1:15:46
E16: Should Match-3 Players Choose Their Difficulty? (w/Dr.Julian Runge)
You won’t want to miss this episode of Game Economist Cast.Guest! Finally! Dr.Julian Runge is here to add some much-needed seasoning to the regular crew, bringing the takes. We dis...
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1:19:55
E15: Video Game Monetary Policy Real Talk
Chris wants to close the loop on game economies, while Eric compares Pikmin to Marx's Labor Theory of Value. Phil thinks Hawked is the next evolution of extraction shooter but doesn't understand why Indiana Jones needs to be involved. The Ameri...
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1:16:42
E14: Hayekian Emergent Gameplay & Reddit Gone Wild
Chris beguiles us with tales of Disc Golf, while Eric describes, in detail, the "fully modeled genitalia" of Baldur's Gate 3. Phil is too busy brushing up his Redditor voice which will surely get him canceled. The crew laments the declining uti...
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1:21:50
E13: Rank Inflation, Chris' New KPI, and Defending the Indefensible
Eric brings us to the streets of Vegas for EVO while Phil finds solace in another hypercasual hit. Chris has a new metric for web3, and the crew laments inflation: it got ranked systems. The crew debates taking a bullet for millionaire execs wh...
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1:09:52