Deniz Gezgin

What I’m seeing in the marketplace right now feels like a split screen. On one side: AAA publishers. EA just went private at a $55B valuation, big capital doubling down on IP, sports franchises, and predictable cash flows. Safe bets, multi-year cycles, global reach. On the other hand, UGC breakouts. Roblox reporting shows games like Plants vs Brainrots, a 4-week-old title that peaked at 3.3M CCU and nearly 200M visits. Simple loops, community-driven, algorithm-fueled. Zero to millions overnight without a massive marketing budget. Two completely different models. Both are shaping the same audience: 9–34 years old, global, and spending more time (and money) within digital economies. This is the dichotomy brands, agencies, and investors need to understand.  • AAA = reach, prestige, longevity  • UGC = speed, culture, explosive upside The EA news and Roblox data together tell the same story: the future of gaming isn’t one or the other. The real opportunity is in connecting the worlds. Where do you see the next billion-dollar franchise coming from: a AAA publisher or a Roblox dev team?

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when i was at RDC last year, Tencent had a huge unofficial, uninvited presence. it's been my assumption that the chinese are building a Roblox clone to release into western markets it will likely have heavily subsidized payouts to developers. don't worry though, they're not stupid enough to release it during the trump administration

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Hyptothetical. Game distributor charges "X" amount of money per month to join a "Club" where that "X" amount of money is turned into "points" that the Club Member can then use towards buying any game? Can the distributor say -- "That's not Cash", keep it all for itself, and Screw the Developer out of that amount of Money? Any Legal Minds want to chime in on that reprehensible behavior?

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How to hide a $1.5B debt trapdoor behind a "strategic divestiture." I just ran the public filings for Arcosa’s recent $450M barge divestiture through an adversarial M&A diligence engine I’ve been engineering. The company claimed the sale was a "strategic portfolio simplification". The AI’s "Attacker Agent" took 60 seconds to cross-reference the filings and flagged it as a CRITICAL RISK. Here is what it caught that an exhausted analyst might miss: 1️⃣ The Leverage Squeeze: They sold off a cash-cow that generated $60.8M in operating profit (18% of the company total). 2️⃣ The Trapdoor: At the exact same time, their Credit Agreement mandates a tightening net leverage ratio from 5.00x to 4.00x. Any EBITDA softness triggers a technical default on $1.5B in debt. 3️⃣ The 2028 Cliff: They are hyping near-term wind tower demand to mask the fact that the OBBBA terminates their AMP tax credits after 2027. LLMs that just "chat with PDFs" are liabilities in M&A. They try to be helpful and gloss over risks. Due diligence requires paranoia. It requires two neural engines arguing over risk allocation. For the VPs running point on lower-middle market deals: How many hours would your team need to map this out manually? https://lnkd.in/gUMn3e-Q #InvestmentBanking #MergersAndAcquisitions #DueDiligence #LegalTech

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If you predict an adjusted EBITDA result of $500m USD and still stick to only talking about Adjusted EBITDA then that’s… something.

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We've been talking about this one for a while... "UA Monthly" is finally back on the Deconstructor of Fun podcast. The first episode is out now with co-host Josh Chandley and guest host Cihan Oklap, who are filling Eric Seufert's massive shoes, who used to run the growth segment on the podcast. The concept is simple: real performance marketing strategies, explained clearly enough that you don't need to live inside a campaign dashboard to get value from it. My stupid questions are there to ground the conversation. That's how I try to justify a seat. Let's see how long I last before Josh kicks me out. This is episode ONE, so we want your input. Who should we bring on next? What topics are you not seeing covered elsewhere? What can we do better? Let us know. Link in the description.

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“The video game industry is approaching $200B in global revenues and so nearly any business plan is worth funding!!” At least, that was the sentiment a few years ago. With the deflation in investor enthusiasm tied to failed returns from this euphoria, spending on new projects has dropped dramatically. Even so, pitch materials still often reference the entirety of interactive to entice funders. In addition, many pundits looking for compelling angles commonly use statements like “Roblox has grown 30% since last year and dwarfs the concurrent player base of Battlefield 6 – traditional game developers had better transition if they want to remain in business!” This is false equivalency. What do mobile F2P, PC/Console premium, online, Roblox/UEFN, VR, casino and web games have in common? They are interactive experiences and require similar development roles to create them. Because of this, they have been placed under a single entertainment umbrella, but in reality they target vastly different markets. A typical mobile slots player was not lured away from League of Legends. Someone might enjoy each of these, but this is no different than liking to both watch baseball and to play Clash of Clans. Certain interactive segments even have more in common with other media, such as strategy games and tabletop games, than with other video games. It is the 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘺 of entertainment that is zero sum, so UEFN player growth may well be a much larger problem for social media apps, TV and recreational sports leagues than for PC gaming. As Netflix CEO Reed Hastings indicated back in 2019, “We compete with (and lose to) Fortnite more than HBO”. The consequences of mistaking ourselves as one homogenous industry are hindering forward progress. We are still clearing the terrible wreckage from oh-so-many new IP $100M+ PC games that have been scrapped one after another. When an investor is looking at a pitch for a premium PC/Console game, what should matter is the size, stability and growth of the PC/Console premium game industry. At DDM, we have seen so many game pitches untethered to this market reality. As an industry we are all navigating the consequences of funder hubris and outsize project expectations. It is certainly true that there is a struggle to find an audience given the tsunami of entertainment content, yet marketing difficulties have been a consistent complaint since the first game disks & cartridges were sold. Throughout 2025, we have seen one PC game success after another on a regular cadence, many from smaller companies, who have sized their projects correctly and created community. It is vital to remember that we are many industries! It is incumbent on all of us to scale appropriately and take risks accordingly in order to weave sustainability into interactive. With this, investor and publisher confidence will continue to return in measured ways, strengthening industry stability and generating a lot more positive news.

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What is the biggest benefit of joining an accelerator? The exchange with other cohort startups! That exchange is a natural accelerant. And when velocity is the ultimate success factor for a startup, being able to learn from others in your cohort is like being handed a cheat sheet. You don't have to learn, research, implement everything from scratch. Others may have gone through the trials and tribulations you may be going through already. And with every startup having such a vastly different background, the pool of learnings is tremendous. Be smart about how you learn...use every single shortcut you can find. And if your fellow cohort founders have solved your problem already, don't reinvent the wheel. Just adopt, copy, borrow and move forward! Let's go!

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🚀 Breakfast at Nasdaq Yesterday, I had the honor to join an AlphaTON Capital breakfast at Nasdaq. Starting the day in a place where global markets open and ideas become reality set the perfect tone for what followed. 🌐 A Window Into the Open Network Future Hearing Brittany Kaiser and Enzo Villani talk about digital sovereignty, open networks and the scale of the Telegram ecosystem was energizing in the best way. It felt less like theory and more like a shift already in motion. One billion users, decentralized infrastructure and a new kind of participation on the internet. There is something very real taking shape here. I walked out thinking about how these systems can transform not just finance, but learning, access and inclusion. 🎮 And yes… we made a fan game And because at Breshna we build when we get inspired, we created a tiny tribute called TON Treasure Trail. A light, fun game where you race through the open network catching the “gems” of decentralization, speed, scale and privacy. A small nod to the opportunity AlphaTON is helping shape. ⚡ Why this matters to us We believe games can do so much more than entertain. They can teach, spark curiosity and empower people to participate in new systems. That is why we are excited about Telegram mini apps. They offer a powerful distribution channel for: • Financial literacy • Health awareness • Youth empowerment • Community-driven learning Play that has purpose, inside platforms people already use daily. 🌍 Proof this model works Earlier this year, we partnered with a telco super app in Pakistan. The results: • 400 games in under 7 months • 1.45 million plays • 1200 plus days of gameplay time Accessible creation + distribution = engagement at scale. 🎯 What comes next Gaming on Telegram is just getting started. And the future looks like: Play with meaning. Create without friction. Participate without permission. We are excited to bring our no-code game engine and purposeful game experiences to this ecosystem. Big thanks to the AlphaTON team for a thoughtful and energizing morning. Grateful to be learning, building and showing up where the future is unfolding. Onward. Link to the game ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/eH5mQtEs Sandra Ditore Jennifer de Broglie Wes Levitt, CFA Yury Mitin William De Ath

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Cardscapes by Malpa Games scaled to more than 3 Mil. downloads last month. Want to see how UA financing by PvX Partners works? Read here 😎 The game is already #2 in the Jigsaw category by downloads, closely behind Jigsolitaire, which we reviewed recently. These are all nearly 100% ad monetized games, so the setup is different than your usual IAP based puzzler. Proper ad placements, segmentation and interstitial intervals can mean the difference between making money or loosing all your players too fast. This category is very perspective as we mentioned on our previous pod, as it utilizes Solitaire traffic and monetizes on Jigsaw 🧩 core gameplay. The company more than doubled their monthly downloads as they also have a lot of other word based games on the portfolio. UA financing requires a very specific context as you need to be able to properly predict your return of advertising spend (RoaS) otherwise you can run yourself to the ground ☠️. But if you do it right and you understand your campaigns this can unlock scale, which has much bigger advantages than just higher revenue. Especially on Ad mon driven games scales gives you leverage with Ad networks 💸. Thanks Uladzimir and Ridzki for coming on the podcast and sharing a lot of insights 💡, always a pleasure. Join us as we talk about all of this with Matej 🦩 & Felix on the two & a half gamers podcast 😎. Data based on Sensor Tower, 10x 4 the support 🤗

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