The Red Barrel Report

Ever wondered about red barrels in video games? We have.

We also wonder about how the video game industry’s business decisions shape the games we play, and how the games we play shape the video game industry.

Which got us thinking about the ‘red barrels’ that shape our industry. The hazards, the people, the companies, the trends and the decisions that cause things to sometimes blow up.

Welcome to our blog and our podcast. ‘We’ Mike, a former video game journalist (GamesTM Australian edition, Official Playstation Mag AU edition, PC Gamer AU edition, among others) and Matt, a former software publishing executive who’s bought, sold and operated software publishing companies across Asia and Australia.

We’re lifelong gamers who’ve seen plenty of console generations come and go. We’re interested in the ways economics, business decisions, popular games and popular culture influence the way games are made, marketed and monetised.

We’ll be dissecting games, talking about industry trends, exploring business models and investigating how games make money. Plus how all these factors create feedback loops that directly influence what games get made.

Not to mention the red barrels that sometimes go boom.

It’ll be a fun ride; we hope you’ll join us.

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