Visionaries: Gaming, Media and the Internet Explained

Gaming has long grappled with challenges related to diversity and inclusion. From the high-profile lawsuit targeting Activision Blizzard, the publisher behind World of Warcraft and Call of Duty, for gender discrimination, to a recent incident involving a colorist joke by OfflineTV co-founder William "Scarra" Li, the industry has shown a lack of inclusivity for individuals of diverse gender, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. In response to Li's comment, influencer and gaming executive Erin Ashley Simon joins the podcast to discuss the path forward in a constructive manner. "Humanizing stars are always going to be the best form of connecting and the best connecting stories." Use code OVERCOME for $20 off a BEACN products today at www.beacn.com. Subscribe to the Jacob Wolf & Mikhail Klimentov Patreon: www.patreon.com/JacobWolfMikhailKlimentov

Dan Fornace is the creator and developer of Rivals of Aether and its forthcoming sequel Rivals 2. In mid-November, Fornace and the Rivals team launched a Kickstarter to help fund further development on Rivals 2. The Kickstarter received public support from some of the largest influencers in the Super Smash Bros. community, including streamer Ludwig Ahgren. In just a month, the Kickstarter raised $1 million. But what's next for Rivals?You can follow Dan at @danfornace.Subscribe to the Jacob Wolf & Mikhail Klimentov Patreon for bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/JacobWolfMikhailKlimentov

Ever reached a game level that stirred intense emotions? Odds are, music played a pivotal role. Join content creator Marco "MarcoMeatball" Cammarota, a former opera singer, as he talks with Jacob to explore the profound impact of music and scoring on the gaming experience. Dive into a conversation about iconic musical moments in gaming history, spanning from the sweeping scores of the Final Fantasy series to the rhythmic realms of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Uncover the subtle ways in which music subconsciously influences the player's journey.Subscribe to the Jacob Wolf & Mikhail Klimentov Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JacobWolfMikhailKlimentovFollow Marco on Twitter at @marcodmeatball. 

It's been a busy year for gaming, as the billion dollar industry's undergone transformative mergers and acquisitions and unnerving scandals. You've seen the stories and the reports, but how does someone on the inside see these changes?In the latest episode of Visionaries, Lightforge Games co-founder and CEO Matt Schembari breaks down the intricate layers of his career, from his roots at Blizzard to his time at Epic Games and the departure to create his own studio.Matt shared his insight on game design principles and how Lightforge is attempting to bend gaming's programming rules to create a choose your own adventure style RPG, inspired by tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons. Matt discussed his hopes for Microsoft's impact on the culture at Activision Blizzard after that developer's tumultuous two and a half years of labor disputes and sexual harassment lawsuits. And Matt talked about Epic Games scaling back and the broader issues around consolidation in gaming."I want to make a studio that lasts. I want to make a studio that's, yes, profitable so we can stay in business and keep doing what we're doing, but I want to make a game that brings people lots of joy. And so that's really what the focus is. I do truly believe that if you make a good game and then all the other things happen right."You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattSchembari.To support Visionaries and gain access to exclusive content, subscribe to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JacobWolfMikhailKlimentov

Alban Dechelotte became Chief Executive Officer of G2 Esports in a critical moment of the organization's history after the controversial resignation of G2 Founder, Carlos 'ocelote' Rodriguez. Less than a year later, he joins Jacob on Visionaries to dive into G2's past problems and future obstacles. Explore G2 Esports' evolution from an up and coming Spanish brand to a global esports powerhouse, and understand how Alban handles hard questions about the future of esports at large."The fans give us their passion and attention. We should pay them for that." You can follow Alban on Twitter @AlbanDechelotte.To support Visionaries and gain access to exclusive content, subscribe to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JacobWolfMikhailKlimentov

Get ready for a Marvel-ous treat with the latest episode of Visionaries! Joanna Robinson, the co-author of the upcoming book "MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios" joins Jacob Wolf to discuss the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its profound impact on the entertainment industry.Diving into the unique challenge of crafting an ending for a narrative constantly evolving within the expansive Marvel Universe, Joanna shares how she and her co-authors captured Marvel's journey, from its triumphant highs to its occasional stumbles. With Jacob, Joanna explore the hurdles of reporting on nerd culture, shedding light on why it's tricky to unveil these behind-the-scenes stories. You can follow Joanna on Twitter @jowrotethis.To support Visionaries and gain access to exclusive content, subscribe to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JacobWolfMikhailKlimentov

On September 20, the LCS waved goodbye to TSM, once the most popular name in the North American league, and rolled out the welcome mat for Shopify Rebellion. This unexpected move had everyone buzzing: What's Shopify Rebellion's game plan? Dario "TLO" Wünsch, ex-StarCraft pro turned esports leader at Shopify, joined Jacob this week to discuss how the e-commerce platform will be different and whether the current storm in the esports industry.TLO and Jacob discuss how to build fandom in an environment that over indexes on winning—by shelling out million-dollar player salaries—and sees fans traditionally move with players, rather than building deep connections with teams. The two also discuss criticism around Shopify's perceived goals and whether or not the company's committed in the long term to the esports industry.You can follow TLO on Twitter at @TLOgg.If you enjoyed this episode, consider subscribing to the new Jacob Wolf & Mikhail Klimentov Patreon for exclusive Visionaries content: patreon.com/JacobWolfMikhailKlimentov

Listen to the full episode by subscribing to the Jacob Wolf & Mikhail Klimentov Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JacobWolfMikhailKlimentovIn our first Patreon exclusive episode, Jacob is joined by former Riot Games and Loaded executive Avi Bhuiyan and attorney Bryce Blum to discuss their new set of essays entitled, "The Esports Reckoning." Long-time veterans of the esports industry, Bryce and Avi discuss their motivations behind publishing the most comprehensive writing of why the industry that many analysts praised as being worth billions is now struggling to become stable. You can follow Bryce on Twitter at @esportslaw and Avi at @avibhuiyan.

David "GrandPooBear" Hunt is one of Twitch's fastest-growing stars, but he is, by no means, new to the art of content creation. After a snowboarding accident left him severely injured in early 2013, GrandPooBear found a new way to compete: Speedrunning — the art of competing for the fastest completion time in a certain game. In his time as a speedrunner, Poo's broken multiple world records at some of speedrunning's biggest events.In this episode, Poo and Jacob talk about how Poo found his competitive drive (09:05) and what it means to represent Red Bull, one of the most iconic brands in action sports, as someone who transitioned from snowboarding to speedrunning (21:50). Then the two discuss how the birth of Poo's son in 2019 has affected his outlook on his career and changed his point of view in content creation (41:34). You can follow Poo on Twitter at @GrandPooBear.If you enjoyed this episode, consider subscribing to the new Jacob Wolf & Mikhail Klimentov Patreon for exclusive Visionaries content: patreon.com/JacobWolfMikhailKlimentov

After a combined span of 13 years at Riot Games, the developer of League of Legends, Andrea Sepenzis and Michael Chu have embarked on a new venture: Codename Islands. Taking inspiration from games like Minecraft, Roblox, and other cooperative multiplayer titles, the duo is deliberately veering from their origins of crafting competitive, player-versus-player experiences in their latest project.Andrea and Michael delve into the apprehensions linked with leading a game startup following their tenure at the prosperous Riot Games (10:26). They also explore the reasons behind League of Legends' unfavorable reputation among gamers, attributed to its toxic and fiercely competitive culture (26:12). Lastly, Jacob, Andrea, and Michael discuss the disproportionate investment given to alumni of California-based gaming industry giants such as Riot Games, Blizzard, and Twitch, while also addressing the challenges of securing venture capital in the year 2023 (52:27). You can follow Andrea on Twitter at @ajseps, and Michael at @WatChuKnow.If you enjoyed this episode, consider subscribing to the new Jacob Wolf & Mikhail Klimentov Patreon for exclusive Visionaries content: patreon.com/JacobWolfMikhailKlimentov

'Visionaries' is back and Prem and Jacob are joined by Jeff Gardiner, an award-winning game developer who worked on some of gaming's highest-grossing titles, including Fallout 3, Fallout 4, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 76. Jeff is now on a new journey: Building a game studio and learning how to transition from full-time game development to the C suite. Jeff is the founder and CEO of Something Wicked Games, whose employees include veterans from Bethesda Game Studios, Obsidian Entertainment, Electronic Arts and Ubisoft. The studio is creating a new role-playing game Wyrdsong. In this episode, Jeff talks about the mental health difficulties of becoming an entrepreneur in gaming and the pressure of getting a game right on release day.You can follow Jeff at @jg93.Subscribe to the new Patreon to support 'Visionaries': patreon.com/JacobWolfMikhailKlimentov

We have some exciting news! We're moving to Patreon. Starting Monday, August 14, you can find new content from Jacob Wolf and Mikhail Klimentov, the former editor of The Washington Post's Launcher video game vertical, on our new Patreon. Subscribe today to get exclusive content from The Jacob Wolf Report, ReaderGrev and the 'Visionaires' podcast.Subscribe: patreon.com/JacobWolfMikhailKlimentov

If you've spent any time on the Internet, chances are, you know who Taylor Lorenz is. The blogger turned New York Times and later Washington Post reporter is arguably the most relevant journalist on the Internet — sometimes for better or worst. A fascination of the American MAGA conservative movement, Lorenz's reporting and her bombastic personality's drawn the ire of the world's richest man and Twitter owner Elon Musk, as well as former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. And when those fires start, Lorenz can sometimes fan the flames on social media, putting her at odds with her more cautious past and current employers.You can pre-order Taylor's book "Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet" (out October 3rd) here. You can follow here on Twitter here.

As the social Internet begins to fracture, gaming faces a pressing new challenge: the emergence of extremist havens within some of its communities. From Discord to Roblox, even the most beloved games and apps must now forge innovative systems to confront this growing risk. Join Jacob in an insightful conversation with Stanley Pierre-Louis, the head of the Entertainment Software Association, which oversees prominent events like the E3 Expo and the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Together, they delve into this critical topic and explore the measures being taken to address it.

The founding members of pop punk band Motion City Soundtrack, Justin Courtney Pierre and Joshua Cain, open up about their careers and how addiction, grief, and mental health shaped their journeys both in music and life. Reflecting on the power of music as a tool for healing and self-discovery, the band’s members share an insightful look at how their personal struggles reached their fans through music. “People started sending me messages about like, 'oh, hey, I have OCD and anxiety too.' It took me like another 10 years, but then I realized like, oh. I actually have some of these things that these people are telling me and I didn't even know it."You can follow Justin and Joshua here.

War games have revolutionized the gaming industry, captivating millions with their immersive experiences. But have you ever wondered about the real-life consequences and their portrayal of warfare? John Phipps, a U.S. Marine Corps and Iraq War veteran and host of the Super Deluxe GamesCast, joins Jacob on the pod to discuss Six Days in Fallujah, a new war title controversially attempting to replicate the real-life battle in Iraq. In the show, John and Jacob delve into the fascinating evolution of war games and their divergence from unrealistic cartoon depictions to the harsh realities of actual conflicts. Discover how these virtual battlegrounds have influenced our lives and shaped our understanding of warfare.“When you look in the mirror, everybody looks at themselves as the main character of their own story, right? And people tend to have this very heroic image of themselves. 'This is what I would do if I was in combat.’ But the reality of it is 99% of people who have never been in combat would s*** their pants and die immediately. And this is a way for people to act out fantasies. But that's all they are, our fantasies." Follow John on Twitter here.

In a hunt for profitability, Reddit's begun limiting access to its API behind a paywall, functionally killing extremely popular third-party apps like Apollo and Infinity. The policy change's started an entire revolt, with volunteer moderators on the site taking some of their subreddits private, ensnaring the website in a battle between its administrators and its community. So how did this all begin? And how is it demonstrative of a larger issue with the Internet and access to free information?Journalist Alex Pareene, the former editor-in-chief at Gawker and a writer at Salon, joined Jacob to discuss how the Reddit saga is impacting the Internet as a whole. "It became much more about these communities and about the user generated content, which has become so important to Reddit. But it's sort of important to the Internet in general. A lot of people were very seriously saying all of their Google searches were broken when the subreddits were down because everything, if it was a particular tech support issue or all these other subjects, that you wanted to Google these things, the first page of links would've a bunch of Reddit links."You can read Alex's piece on Defector here: https://defector.com/the-last-page-of-the-internetFollow Alex on Twitter here. 

Fresh from Summer Games Fest, Jacob and Prem handpick their top three thrilling game announcements and delve into the whirlwind of Xbox's extravagant marketing campaign for Starfield, which is fueling astronomical expectations. Will Xbox finally deliver a groundbreaking title following its acquisition of Bethesda Softworks, the creators of blockbusters Skyrim and Fallout? Join Jacob and Prem as they also tackle the recent controversy surrounding bigotry sparked by comments made by Twitch streamer Nick "Nickmercs" Kolcheff and explore gaming's expanding influence on the cultural and political zeitgeist.

On Tuesday, Amazon-owned livestreaming platform Twitch announced controversial new advertising changes, severely prohibiting streamers from the ways they can promote sponsors. The change would affect nearly all of Twitch's top earners. The platform walked it back on Wednesday after much backlash, but there's still some concern the same rules will be enforced. Twitch is also now restricting all broadcasters regardless of partnership status from multistreaming on other longform video platforms like Facebook and YouTube.This week OTK chief strategy officer and former Twitch staffer Zachary Diaz and Novo co-founder and content creator Devin Nash join the show to discuss how Twitch is losing its way and why this might be a watershed moment for livestreamers.

The League of Legends North American esports scene braces for what could be a full-scale crisis. The financial problems in the scene kicked off a chain reaction that is leading the sector towards a downward spiral. Is there a way to avoid it? The New York Times' reporter Kellen Browning joins Jacob Wolf on ‘Visionaries’ to discuss the current challenges the esports scene in North America is facing.“If esports wants to be a mature, mainstream industry, it's going to face the same kind of scrutiny as any television or film industries or any sort of entertainment industry. And that's going to include tough questions about how you are going to make money.”