The Gaming Playbook w/ Harry Phokou

How do you revive and regrow a 10-year-old mobile game in one of the toughest markets in gaming?
Today, I'm joined by Johnny Mang, General Manager at Rovio, who breaks down how his team rebuilt Angry Birds 2 from the inside out, tackling technical debt, redesigning strategy, restructuring teams, and shifting culture to unlock sustainable growth.
We explore what it really takes to turn around a live-service game, how to balance innovation with fundamentals, and why “doing the right things right” became the mantra behind Angry Birds 2’s resurgence.
If you’re a game developer, product leader, mobile marketer, or founder scaling a live-service product, this episode is packed with actionable insights on strategy, execution, team alignment, and brand evolution.
Connect with Johannes:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannes-mang-166323/
Open positions at Rovio: https://www.rovio.com/open-positions/
Connect with Harry:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hphokou/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@hphokou
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hphokou
Join our industry events: https://hivemind.world/
Never run out of LinkedIn content ideas again: https://idea.phokou.com/c/system
Get exclusive podcast recaps & industry insights:
→ Subscribe to The Gaming Playbook Weekly at https://join.thegamingplaybook.com/
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
03:14 The Rise, Peak & Reinvention of Angry Birds 2
04:54 The 3 Types of Debt Quietly Killing Live Service Games
07:20 What Actually Changed Since Johnny Joined
09:43 Why Turnarounds Usually Take Around 3 Years
13:50 Why Focus Matters More Than Doing More
18:17 Strategy vs Targets: What Leaders Often Confuse
22:00 How to Align 80+ People Around One Clear Direction
23:52 Profit, Incentives & What Really Motivates Teams
29:50 The 4-Part Plan Behind the Comeback
33:31 Why Fixing the Basics Changed Everything
36:30 Doubling Down on Tech Debt (The Hard Call That Paid Off)
39:30 How Product Improvements Made UA Profitable
41:10 The Weekly Meeting That Keeps the Business on Track
45:20 What Innovation Really Looks Like in Live Service
47:07 Why They Paused New Game Development
52:40 How to Make a 10-Year-Old Brand Relevant Again
57:07 The Untapped Opportunity in Social & Community
58:38 Who They’re Hiring & What Makes You Stand Out
1:02:17 Final Lessons on Leadership & Rebuilding

The games industry is changing fast and not everyone is keeping up.
Today, I sit down with Charlotte Cook (former Team17, Sega, Skybound, angel investor, and fractional CCO) to break down what’s really happening behind the scenes of the games industry right now.
We cover why publishers are obsessed with safe bets, how greenlight decisions actually work, why most developers misunderstand publishing deals, and what it really takes to get a game signed in today’s market. Charlotte also shares hard-won lessons from transitioning into fractional and consultancy work post-COVID, navigating burnout, AI’s impact on teams, and why people, not tools, remain the biggest multiplier in games.
If you’re a game developer, publisher, founder, consultant, or anyone trying to survive (and thrive) in the modern games industry, this episode will challenge a lot of assumptions.
Connect with Charlotte:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itscharlottecook/
E-mail: [email protected]
Connect with Harry:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hphokou/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@hphokou
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hphokou
Join our industry events: https://hivemind.world/
Never run out of LinkedIn content ideas again: https://idea.phokou.com/c/system
Get exclusive podcast recaps & industry insights:
→ Subscribe to The Gaming Playbook Weekly at https://join.thegamingplaybook.com/
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
02:15 Why the games industry feels stagnant right now
03:52 Inside publisher pressure, incentives, and safe bets
05:50 Leaving Team17 & starting a consultancy (twice)
08:46 Navigating conferences without a big title
12:00 How pitches really get judged at events
14:06 Publishing myths developers still believe
15:15 What publishers now expect before signing a game
18:32 Financial reality vs creative ambition
20:59 Why some games succeed years after launch
23:09 Greenlight decisions: what actually matters
26:27 Pricing strategy & why devs get it wrong
28:09 IP, minimum guarantees & access problems
30:21 Democratizing IP for indie developers
33:23 Why people are the real multiplier in games
36:01 AI, efficiency, and fear inside studios
41:32 Fractional work: pros, cons & survival tips
43:56 Burnout, energy cycles & working for yourself
48:58 Building community as an independent operator
52:04 Consultants, stigma & industry perception
56:55 Risk, creativity & the future of games
57:21 What Charlotte does as Fractional CCO day-to-day

Why do 90% of games fail, even when the game itself is good?
Today, I sit down with Robbie Ferguson, Co-Founder at Immutable, to break down the real data-backed reasons most games never make their money back, and what the top-performing studios do differently.
Robbie shares insights from 690+ funded game launches, explains why Steam wishlists are often misleading, and reveals how pre-launch audience warming, cohort quality, and lifecycle marketing determine whether a game succeeds or dies quietly.
If you’re a game founder, marketer, indie dev, publisher, or investor, this is a must-watch breakdown of modern game economics and launch strategy.
Connect with Robbie:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robbieferguson/
Website: https://www.immutable.com/free-demo-campaign
Connect with Harry:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hphokou/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@hphokou
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hphokou
Join our industry events: https://hivemind.world/
Never run out of LinkedIn content ideas again: https://idea.phokou.com/c/system
Get exclusive podcast recaps & industry insights:
→ Subscribe to The Gaming Playbook Weekly at https://join.thegamingplaybook.com/
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:40 What Immutable actually does (beyond “Web3”)
02:59 690+ funded game launches & why most fail
03:38 Why Robbie is still obsessed with fixing game launches
05:24 Why marketing efficiency matters more than game quality
09:48 Why sending traffic straight to Steam is a mistake
13:01 Predicting player spend before launch
16:12 Doubling wishlists AND conversion rates
17:37 The #1 pre-launch mistake devs make
19:24 What an optimal modern marketing team looks like
21:25 Personalisation, AI, and player archetypes
23:19 What a “whale” actually looks like (surprising answer)
25:23 AI, oversupply, and the future of game distribution
27:10 Apple tax, margins, and why economics are changing
29:00 Why “Web3 games” is the wrong framing
32:14 Why AAA studios are shifting to influencer marketing
36:20 East vs West: how Asia builds and tests games differently
39:55 Using launch data to raise funding
44:09 Robbie’s hardest lessons building Immutable
47:20 Identifying and solving business constraints
52:36 Should founders spend time pitching publishers?
54:28 Robbie’s real motivation & long-term vision

Building great teams is harder than building great products.
Today, I sit down with Ionuț Codreanu, Head of Studio at Funcom and veteran of titles like Assassin’s Creed and Dune: Awakening, to break down what actually makes teams work in game development and beyond.
We explore hiring mistakes founders make early, why “rockstar” employees often fail long-term, how to build a strong core team, and what remote work during COVID really changed inside studios. You’ll also hear practical advice on hiring, culture, leadership conflict, market validation, and how aspiring developers can break into the industry today.
Whether you’re building your first team, scaling a game studio, or trying to break into game development, this episode gives you real, battle-tested insight; no theory, no fluff.
Connect with Ionut:
Website/LinkedIn: http://ionutcodreanu.ro/
Connect with Harry:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hphokou/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@hphokou
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hphokou
Join our industry events: https://hivemind.world/
Never run out of LinkedIn content ideas again: https://idea.phokou.com/c/system
Get exclusive podcast recaps & industry insights:
→ Subscribe to The Gaming Playbook Weekly at https://join.thegamingplaybook.com/
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
02:35 What a Head of Studio actually does day-to-day
04:52 What “building a team” really means in game studios
07:28 The biggest hiring mistake founders make
09:38 Culture fit vs skills: where most hires go wrong
16:34 Competitive personalities & cultural mismatch
17:30 Why hiring people “like you” works (and when it fails)
20:14 Profiling candidates: red flags, yellow flags, honesty
25:09 Rockstar employees: worth it or not?
26:47 When imperfect hires are unavoidable
28:31 How COVID & remote work changed team dynamics
34:33 What a “core team” really is (and why it matters)
36:38 Indie studios vs big studios: who’s actually right?
38:05 Producers, managers, and shipping games
39:30 Creative vs product conflict inside studios
41:58 How to handle disagreement without breaking teams
50:14 The biggest mistakes studios make
53:16 Why “fun” is the most misunderstood concept in games
58:41 Breaking into the games industry today
01:04:03 Unreal vs Unity & industry shifts
01:06:55 Final advice on leadership and team building

How do you actually get your game discovered in 2026, without killing creativity?
In this episode, I sit down with Frode Krisner, Founder and Co-CEO at Gameopedia, the hidden data layer powering discovery for YouTube, Google, Amazon, Samsung, and others, reaching over a billion gamers every year.
We explore how game discovery really works, why genre is breaking down, how emotional data beats tags, and how AI can amplify creativity instead of replacing it.
If you’re a game developer, founder, publisher, investor, or strategist, this episode will permanently change how you think about discovery, data, and creativity in games.
Hivemind: B2B Gaming Events
Curated roundtable mixers for founders and executives in the games industry.
Food and drinks provided.
2026 event calendar now live.
https://hivemind.world/
Connect with Frode:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frode-krisner-87692b6/
Website: https://gameopedia.com/
Lumos: https://asklumos.com/
Connect with Harry:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hphokou/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@hphokou
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hphokou
Get exclusive podcast recaps & industry insights:
→ Subscribe to The Gaming Playbook Weekly at thegamingplaybook.com
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
02:15 Why Gameopedia exists and what it actually does
04:03 How gaming saved Frode’s life
06:27 How data actually decides which games get discovered
09:16 Lumos: turning game data into real developer decisions
11:30 How Gameopedia actually works behind the scenes
14:04 How specific features shape a game’s success or failure
17:08 When data helps creativity — and when it ruins it
20:28 Why most developers compare against the wrong games
22:54 When data-driven thinking actually hurts innovation
25:33 How publishers and investors really judge games
26:32 Using data to strengthen your pitch (not fake it)
28:05 Catching fatal game mistakes before it’s too late
33:10 Why game tagging is broken (and genres don’t help)
38:34 Making serious game data accessible to indie devs
42:19 Why players don’t choose games by genre
48:48 How broken tagging systems hurt discovery
54:17 The Gameopedia flywheel explained
59:32 Building a company with extreme time and energy limits
01:06:01 Hiring great people (and what founders get wrong)
01:15:55 The best interview question founders should ask
01:18:51 Leadership, suffering, and self-reflection
01:24:03 Asking for help without losing authority
01:26:19 Facing fear to unlock growth
01:35:53 Why caring about people actually matters