Show Notes
Recorded live on-site at GDC, hosts Peggy Anne Salz and Craig Chapple sit down with Robert Burnett, Head of New Content at Skillz, and Jon Radoff, CPO of Beamable, to unpack what just changed for developers building competitive mobile games.
With the acquisition of Beamable, Skillz is pushing into a bigger role: giving developers more control over progression, LiveOps and monetisation inside the game, while still handling the infrastructure that is hardest to build well.
As Jon puts it, the goal is to build “a business operating system for a game studio” so developers can focus on gameplay instead of racking up debt. “If you’re spending any of your effort building the tech instead of the fun, you’re accumulating debt that doesn’t do you any good.”
Skillz also unveiled the Pro SDK at GDC, opening up more control inside Unity for developers who want to build competitive games with richer progression, more flexible monetisation and a stronger live-service layer.
In this episode, Peggy and Craig get into: Puzzle Blockz, the first live proof point for the combined platform What this shift means for smaller teams that want to move faster without building every part of the stack themselves How advertising, IAP and competition can start to work together instead of sitting in separate silos
If you are serious about building competitive mobile games that can keep players and grow revenue, start here.
Chapters 00:00 New Ways for Developers to Monetize 01:34 The Acquisition of Beamable by Skillz 01:59 Solving Pain Points with the Pro SDK 04:46 A Business Operating System for Game Studios 06:27 The Role of AI in Rapid Prototyping 10:14 Economies of Scale in Game Development 11:51 From Vibe Coding to Agentic Systems 16:01 Case Study: The Puzzle Blocks Proof of Concept 22:50 Iterating Based on Real-Time Player Feedback 34:31 The Future Roadmap: Intelligence and Automation
Let's Connect 👉🏻 X - https://x.com/pgbiz 👉🏻 LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/pocketgamer-biz/?originalSubdomain=uk 👉🏻 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PGbiz 👉🏻 Website - https://www.pocketgamer.biz
Check out more world-class speakers sharing their insights and expertise at one of our events. You can find details of our next event here - https://www.pgconnects.com/next-event
More from PocketGamer.biz Podcast
PocketGamer.biz head of content Craig Chapple and deputy editor Paige Cook talk through the latest games industry news on the 105th episode of the Week in Mobile Games Podcast. On the show this week: Europe's CPC targets King, Supercell, Mojang and others over virtual currencies. Mark Pincus reveals Zynga nearly acquired Supercell for $400m in 2012. Daily log-in bonuses and activity streaks under threat in EU Kids Act. The future of cloud gaming. And Craig rants about the insane AI PR machine and why cloud gaming will never work.
PocketGamer.biz head of content Craig Chapple, features and data editor Aaron Astle, deputy editor Aaron Astle and editorial director for events Mariam Ahmad talk through the latest games industry news on the 104th episode of the Week in Mobile Games Podcast. On the show we discuss: The newly announced Apple foldable phone, the iPhone Duo. The backlash against Apple's new EU terms and the European Commission's "apparent endorsement" of them. The top mobile games from August 2026's revenue and download charts. The change in leadership at UK studio Trailmix, developer of Love & Pies. The secret karaoke video.
PocketGamer.biz head of content Craig Chapple and features and data editor Aaron Astle talk through the latest games industry news on the 103rd episode of the Week in Mobile Games Podcast. On the show we discuss: Our Gamescom 2026 insights. Sony Music's acquisition of a 23.29% stake in Puzzle & Dragons developer GungHo. The exit of CEO Brian Ward from Savvy Games Group. W4 Games' $18m investment, the rise of Godot and a very short history of game engines. How Monster Hunter Outlanders is bringing the classic experience to mobile. The newly announced animated movie Pokémon: Wild Card. 00:00 Introductions 05:41 Gamescom 2026 insights 14:36 Monster Hunter Outlanders 17:50 Sony Music's GungHo investment 20:28 Brian Ward exits Savvy Games Group 24:02 Pokémon: Wild Card movie 31:02 The rise of Godot 35:42 Conclusions ** Let's Connect ** 👉🏻 X - https://x.com/pgbiz 👉🏻 LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/pocketgamer-biz/?originalSubdomain=uk 👉🏻 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PGbiz 👉🏻 Website - https://www.pocketgamer.biz 👉🏻 Check out more world-class speakers sharing their insights and expertise at one of our events. You can find details of our next event here - https://www.pgconnects.com/next-event 👉🏻 Read our games industry region reports on the UK, China, Nordics, Iberia and more here: https://www.pocketgamer.biz/reports/
The PocketGamer.biz Podcast welcomes Xsolla president Chris Hewish in a new episode that dives into the world of direct-to-consumer and the company's key new announcements.Xsolla is rolling out six new solutions right now in the build-up to Gamescom, including Web Shop Ecosystem, a complete D2C offering built specifically for mobile games. There’s also 15 new local payment methods; the Xsolla AI Toolkit and its new CLI, an AI-assisted path from a new publisher account to a working web shop; an expanded creator platform; and a backend partnership with AccelByte.Sponsored by Xsolla and hosted by Peggy Anne Salz, this episode delves into: The state of the D2C space following legal and regulatory movements. Why the suite of tools announced by Xsolla aren’t just about payments. How the company is embracing AI to empower D2C. Developers can build a working storefront in a single session - but should they? How the Xsolla Partner Network works and the relevancy of creator campaigns for mobile publishers. The partnership with AccelByte and what it means for developers and Xsolla’s tool suite. ** Let's Connect **👉🏻 X - https://x.com/pgbiz 👉🏻 LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/poc... 👉🏻 Facebook - / pgbiz 👉🏻 Website - https://www.pocketgamer.biz Check out more world-class speakers sharing their insights and expertise at one of our events. You can find details of our next event here - https://www.pgconnects.com/next-event
PocketGamer.biz head of content Craig Chapple, features and data editor Aaron Astle, editorial director for events Mariam Ahmad and our special guest, AppsFlyer global director of product for gaming Adam Smart, talk through the latest games industry news on the 101st episode of the Week in Mobile Games Podcast. On the show we discuss: The upcoming big expo that is Gamescom - and what impact a discless console future could have on fandom. If cloud gaming really has an audience. Türkiye's fast-moving games hub and why it's so successful. Pokémon Go's stellar July for revenue and more chart toppers for the month. MTG's rebranding of its midcore division to Playamp and what it means for AI and D2C.