High Resolution: inside the video games industry

Xbox's brilliant accessibility strategy explained | Interview with Anita Mortaloni (Xbox)

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 03:48:41 GMT

Xbox is regarded by many as being the leader in game accessibility, with an inclusive vision that starts at the top. In recent years, the Microsoft brand has delivered various programs aimed at including people of all ages and abilities. From the Xbox Accessibility Guidelines for developers, to the addition of American Sign Langauge interpreters on official livestreams, and accessibility feature tags on the digital store, there are plenty of fantastic initiatives happening at Xbox. Anita Mortaloni, Director of Accessibility Xbox, explains how Xbox works with communities to foster inclusion and accessibility at all levels.

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Cult of the Lamb: where did this wonderfully creepy game come from? | Interview with Julian Winton (Massive Monster)

Mon, 05 Sep 2022 05:58:18 GMT

Cult of the Lamb is yet another Aussie success story, having already welcomed more than a million cultists into its flock. Julian Winton, the Creative Director of the game, shares how Cult of the Lamb went through multiple iterations before settling on the satisfying gameplay we see today. Join us for an entertaining chat about the highs and lows of game development - no sacrifice required!

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What are the best games of 2022 so far?

Tue, 26 Jul 2022 03:28:12 GMT

There are already many strong entries for the best game of 2022. Edmond Tran and Emily Spindler from GamesHub join Byteside's Chris Button to discuss the year in games so far. Elden Ring, Horizon Forbidden West, and Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes headline a selection of worthy contenders.

Read the GamesHub best games of 2022 (so far) article: https://www.gameshub.com/news/features/best-games-of-2022-so-far-pc-ps5-xbox-nintendo-switch-mobile-23864/

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Rogue Legacy 2: the story behind the roguelike hit | Teddy Lee (Cellar Door Games)

Tue, 21 Jun 2022 08:08:51 GMT

Rogue Legacy walked so Hades could run. Now, nearly 10 years after the original, Rogue Legacy 2 is another shining example of the highly replayable roguelike genre.

Cellar Door Games co-founder and designer Teddy Lee joins High Resolution to detail the tricky path to capturing success a second time.

From finding popularity with Rogue Legacy, the commercial struggles of the studio's follow-up in Full Metal Furies, to the surprisingly emotional Early Access journey of Rogue Legacy 2, Lee explains it all.

Also, there's a little discussion about the studio's early Flash games, including Don't Shit Your Pants, a game we've all played IRL at some point in our lives.

To keep up to date with High Resolution, follow the podcast and subscribe to Byteside’s twice-weekly newsletter examining all things tech, digital culture, and video games: https://newsletter.byteside.com/

Articles referenced:

https://www.destructoid.com/why-is-rogue-legacys-follow-up-considered-a-pretty-massive-failure/
https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/rogue-legacy-2-early-access-takeaways/

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Inside Australia's fastest-growing studio & Conan Chop Chop | Kim Forrest & Jeff Wong (Mighty Kingdom)

Thu, 12 May 2022 02:11:00 GMT

Mighty Kingdom recently launched Conan Chop Chop, a chaotic rogue-lite that transforms the typically adult-focused Conan the Barbarian franchise into a more family-friendly cartoon outing.

Hear from Kim "Kimbo" Forrest, studio creative director, and Jeff Wong, producer, as they discuss the sometimes challenging development of a game announced on April Fool's Day some years ago. It turns out that game development can be about the friends you make along the way!

To keep up to date with High Resolution, follow the podcast and subscribe to Byteside's twice-weekly newsletter examining all things tech, digital culture, and video games.

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How to create a culturally diverse and cosy farming game | Amanda Schofield (Studio Drydock)

Wed, 13 Apr 2022 06:01:14 GMT

Made by Studio Drydock, a remote team founded by former EA developers, Wylde Flowers is a cosy life and farming sim with a witchy twist. It launched via Apple Arcade earlier this year and has since become one of the top games on the subscription service ahead of its upcoming PC and Nintendo Switch release. In Wylde Flowers, you play as Tara, who moves to a charming rural island to help out her grandma and the family farm. However, she discovers not everything is as it seems...

Amanda Schofield, Studio Drydock co-founder and creative director on Wylde Flowers, joins High Resolution to discuss her time working on The Sims franchise, the challenges of founding a remote studio, and what goes into making diverse characters.

To keep up to date with High Resolution, follow the podcast and subscribe to Byteside's twice-weekly newsletter examining all things tech, digital culture, and video games.

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Hi Rez is back!

Thu, 07 Apr 2022 02:25:25 GMT

Chris Button takes the reins from Seamus Byrne to prepare for a fresh new look at how videogames are made and the industry's wider cultural impact. Get ready for new episodes of High Resolution soon featuring guests from across the videogame industry, locally and abroad!

In the meantime, subscribe to Byteside's twice-weekly newsletter examining all things tech, digital culture, and video games.

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The end of the beginning - get the Byteside podcast

Fri, 16 Jul 2021 05:36:37 GMT

We're wrapping up the show to consolidate the Byteside podcast network into our core show, Byteside!

Search 'Byteside' in your podcast app or hit the relevant link below to add it to your app of choice:

Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/itunes/1482077503

Overcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/overcast-podcast-player/id888422857

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1482077503

Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5hY2FzdC5jb20vcHVibGljL3Nob3dzLzA0NzA5ZTVkLWU0ZTQtNDk0Ny1hYmNmLTYyZDM3MmIyZTFiNg

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/43tUBmO4DknkGbd4Hw9dlb

RSS: https://rss.acast.com/byteside

And get loads more written content at byteside.com.

Thanks so much for tuning into the show – we've got a lot more in store, but all distilled into the one true podcast feed... Byteside.

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E3 2021 hype with Kosta Andreadis

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 05:37:15 GMT

From the early announcements to the unknowns, Seamus and Kosta explore the E3 virtual experience and what's getting us excited for games in the year ahead. Playstation, Xbox, Indies, and more, we look at where the hype is justified and where it's... all hype. Will Xbox and Bethesda joining up this year be good or bad? Will Devolver be as crazy as ever? And does the Ratchet & Clank release set a new high bar for what we need to see to make something feel truly 'next gen'?

Check out all the AusGamers coverage here:

https://www.ausgamers.com

Find Kosta on the tweets here:

https://twitter.com/toadovsky

vvrAbGwAvz1RXqEd6e9h

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Diablo Immortal interview: heavy metal PVP on your mobile

Mon, 31 May 2021 09:33:46 GMT

Seamus talks to two of the lead developers on Diablo Immortal – Scott Shicoff, Principal Game Designer, and Kris Zierhut, Senior System Designer – about building an intricate, hardcore PVP system into the game. We explore how the Cycle of Strife works, how the game is being treated like an MMO, the style of play you can expect across PVE and PVP, and how they're going to approach class balance and other critical aspects for this experience. And, ultimately, just how much it means if you become the Immortal Leader.

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Deconstucteam interview on 'Essays on Empathy'

Sun, 30 May 2021 02:36:58 GMT

Seamus talks to Jordi de Paco on the release of 'Essays on Empathy' and what it means to release a compilation of ten short-form narrative game experiences. A fun chat that digs deep into our need for shorter games and why sometimes a development team needs to take a big reset to remember why they love making games.

You can find Essays on Empathy at Steam right here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1586880/Essays_on_Empathy/

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Creating truly amazing worlds in Minecraft

Mon, 17 May 2021 03:53:32 GMT

You'll be hard pressed to find someone on the planet today who doesn't know about Minecraft. It's one of those games that has evolved to become much more than just a game but also a tool for creativity and for education, and today I'm speaking with James Delaney, Managing Director of Blockworks, one of the world's leading design groups for creating amazing environments and architectural designs using Minecraft.

Blockworks recently worked with NRMA to create a map called Climate Warriors, which is available for download through Minecraft Marketplace for free. It was designed to teach kids aged 7-12 about sustainability and the impacts of natural disasters on Australian rural and regional areas. I speak with James about his own journey with Minecraft, how Blockworks has developed its expertise, and the importance of working on projects like Climate Warriors and how it elevates Minecraft as a medium. Blockworks is a true world leader in this space so it's a pleasure to talk to James about his company and its place in the evolution of Minecraft and using these kinds of platforms for engaging styles of education like this.

I start by asking James to remember that very first time he opened up Minecraft.

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4Corners "Are you being played?": thoughts and reflections

Tue, 04 May 2021 06:42:48 GMT

Seamus is joined by Jeremy "Junglist" Ray and Steve Farrelly from AusGamers to discuss this week's ABC Four Corners episode on manipulative techniques used in videogames, especially around predatory monetisation practices. We discuss our thoughts on the episode, what it got right, what it got wrong, where the nuance lies, and what we wish we saw more of in debates over the real issues that are attached to our beloved videogaming hobby.

We're also joined via Twitter Spaces by Woody Wu from META High School Esports for some added comments and discussion.

It's not lost on us that this episode is longer than the episode of Four Corners, too...

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The future of the Australian games industry in 2021

Thu, 11 Mar 2021 01:07:19 GMT

The Interactive Games and Entertainment Alliance, IGEA, released a survey of the Australian games industry that captured the state of the community in 2020. Hundreds of millions of dollars sounds good, but it's a tiny fraction of a percent of the global industry revenue. So how does the industry grow? What support does it need? What's working now?

We discuss all this and more with Ron Curry, CEO of IGEA, and we even get into the difficulties of the politics and how the industry struggles with generational change and not being 'political' enough to get the attention it deserves.

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The new Hearthstone era w/ Dean Ayala and Chadd Nervig

Mon, 01 Mar 2021 06:27:56 GMT

We sat down (through the magic of our screens) with Dean Ayala and Chadd Nervig, two of the critical members of the Hearthstone design team, to talk about all the new things coming to the game in coming weeks.

Catching up just after the BlizzConline announcements we talk about what to expect from the new Core Set, what it means for the future of the game, and then we talk Forged in the Barrens and what that new set brings to the mix in such a year of big changes.

And we find out how the pronunciation of Hearthstone seems to have taken on an almost regal quality.

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Zero Latency CEO Tim Ruse

Fri, 04 Dec 2020 02:44:39 GMT

Tim Ruse is the CEO and co-founder of Zero Latency, a world leading free roaming virtual reality centre that is now in 46 locations around the world. Make that 47 with the launch of Sydney this week!

We talk to Tim about the five years of Zero Latency since it launched in Melbourne, how the tech has evolved, and how they've developed their experience. They've worked with hardware companies to help make their backpack and tracking technologies work better, and they're even working with Ubisoft on a Far Cry experience for 2021.

You can book now for Sydney, or any venue, via zerolatencyvr.com.

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Hearthstone: Madness at the Darkmoon Faire roundtable

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 07:40:17 GMT

This week we've got highlights from a roundtable with Hearthstone Game Director Ben Lee and Game Designer John McIntyre, talking about the latest expansion Madness at the Darkmoon Faire, which lands next week (November 17). They talk new cards, new game modes, new progression systems, and also a lot of behind the scenes thinking. How did they approach designing new iterations on the Old Gods? What went into getting the Yogg-Saron spinning wheel just right? And how are they evolving the business model through new ideas for welcoming new players or bringing back those who've taken a break?

The Hearthstone team has been doing a great job over the past year, with lots of really cool new ideas and evolutions on the game. This chat reveals a lot of the thinking behind how they've approached keeping the game fresh recently and in the year ahead.

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Byteside special 2: Sony PlayStation 5 reviewed

Fri, 06 Nov 2020 21:01:21 GMT

We've got a special double episode of Byteside to share over the next two days. In the last show, Seamus Byrne and Alice Clarke looked at the Xbox Series X (and Series S), with both having review units over recent weeks. This time it's the PlayStation 5's turn! What's the future of PlayStation look like? How is the new DualSense controller? And we wrap things up by looking at the 'Xbox vs PlayStation' question and how the console market looks for the new generation.

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Byteside special: Xbox Series X reviewed

Thu, 05 Nov 2020 20:36:25 GMT

We've got a special double episode of Byteside to share over the next two days. Seamus Byrne and Alice Clarke discuss and debate the merits of the new Xbox Series X, with both having review units over recent weeks. What does the future of Xbox look like? And what about the new controllers? Should you be running out the door to knock people over to find one? Or is it OK to wait?

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Inside the Disc Room with Kitty Callis and JW Nijman

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 08:59:20 GMT

Kitty and JW sound way too nice to have made a game that is all about killing you with vicious sawblades. But they have and DISC ROOM looks great, so we had a chat about the game, the inspiration for trying to murder players with such vigour, and their thoughts on forming an indie collective instead of a dedicated company.

Check out the details here: DISC ROOM

And the Gamejam: Disc Room Gamejam

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Building a new old brand

Tue, 06 Oct 2020 08:40:13 GMT

We catch up with Andres Jessen and Maya Sand-Grimnitz from Epos Audio, the new gaming headset brand has formed as an offshoot of the former Sennheiser Gaming sub-brand. We talk about building a new brand in a competitive space like gaming headsets, building the right reputation and partnerships, and what tech factors they believe set them apart. Plus why calling your mother is a great way to test your new headset.

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Legacy's Tim Wendel from Worlds 2020

Fri, 25 Sep 2020 04:43:02 GMT

Tonight, League of Legends World Championships for 2020 kick off in Shanghai, China. No surprises that the live event was very close to not going ahead this year. Riot Games cancelled the mid-season invitational this year but they've found a way to push ahead with the biggest event of the year.

Teams travelled to Shanghai two weeks ago, quarantining for two weeks to keep things safe and get the worldwide teams bubbled up nicely. Of course, the teams have been training hard through that time and from Australia, the 2020 champions, Legacy Esports, are there to represent the Oceanic Pro League community.

This morning I had a quick chat with Tim Wendel, who has run the team since 2014, has captained the team himself in the past and is now Head of Esports for the Adelaide Football Club, who has owned the team since 2017. We caught up via Microsoft Teams from his setup with the team there in China to hear his thoughts on this year's campaign and the Worlds competition they've been preparing for.

We're just hours away from the first match when we spoke, so it's great he fit us in for a chat.

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Steve Wang, General Manager, Wargaming Sydney

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 11:45:29 GMT

Last week we ran our interview with founder and CEO of World of Tanks makers Wargaming, Victor Kislyi, and this week it's a kind of part two as we look at the local story of the same company.

Today we're hearing from Steve Wang, General Manager of Wargaming Sydney. Before that he was the CEO of Big World, the middleware developer that used to make massively multiplayer systems and license them to companies, including Wargaming, before being acquired to become part of the World of Tanks family and run this critical aspect of its online infrastructure for the whole company and all its games.

We talk about that transition, about working and collaborating in a global organisation like Wargaming, and on the state of the industry in Australia and NSW, and also how we can keep improving the environment to ensure we are growing great talent to create more opportunities like the one Big World made for itself.

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Victor Kislyi, Founder & CEO, Wargaming.net

Thu, 10 Sep 2020 09:39:46 GMT

The local Wargaming office has been really generous with their time lately - we spoke to Thaine Lyman back in July - and this week we go all the way to the top off the back of all the 10th anniversary celebrations for World of Tanks. Today I'm talking to Victor Kislyi, the founder and CEO himself, direct from his HQ office in Cyprus. We explore the history of World of Tanks as well as the much longer history of Wargaming and what it was like to finally make a game that defined a genre. Victor has some really insightful thoughts on what it means for a game to become a real hobby for its fans, and how to respect your audience by never forgetting a few critical factors that maintain the trust with your audience. We also talk about having studios all around the world and what values that brings to a game company too.

This is part one of a pair of episodes, with Victor's global perspectives this week and then next week we'll look closer to home when we chat to Steve Wang, the head of Wargaming Sydney, about how his local team has evolved and become such a critical part of the global Wargaming empire.

Let's hop to it, my chat with Victor Kislyi, founder and CEO of Wargaming.net.

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Inside ESO's Stonethorn DLC with Mike Finnigan, Lead Encounter Designer

Mon, 24 Aug 2020 06:21:04 GMT

A few months back we spoke with Rich Lambert, Creative Director on The Elder Scrolls Online about the Dark Heart of Skyrim year of storylines currently taking place in the game. This week the latest dungeon DLC is added into the game, and Bethesda offered us a chat with Mike Finnigan, the Lead Encounter Designer.

Finnigan has been on the team a long time but just recently took charge of all things 'encounters'. So we talk about blending story with core gameplay and the way these ideas flow back and forth and around the team, and delve into lots of other ideas around inspiration, about when to keep things comfortably similar to previous content and when to push new boundaries, and lots more.

As I said, the two new dungeons, Castle Thorn and Stone Garden, are now in ESO and there's also the usual badass trailer for the new content you can check out too.

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Inside League of Geeks with Blake Mizzi & Lisy Kane

Tue, 18 Aug 2020 02:21:25 GMT

This week's show is a chat with two of the leading lights from the League of Geeks, co-founder and design director Blake Mizzi and lead producer Lisy Kane. It's a really fun chat with two people I admire a great deal in the local scene and we spend a lot of time talking about the culture they've cultivated at the company as well as how their great game, Armello, has evolved over the years since its launch.

The very first time I visited Melbourne's indie game developer hub, The Arcade, a good few years ago I met some of the fine folks from League of Geeks. I always loved their passion for making polished games and their attitude toward building a positive and inclusive company. Blake kicks us off with his thoughts on founding the studio back in 2011.

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Blightbound designer Jasper Koning from Ronimo Games

Thu, 23 Jul 2020 01:02:58 GMT

I'm talking to Jasper Koning, Founder / Designer at Ronimo Games about their new game Blightbound, a 3-player dungeon crawler that looks like a new Golden Axe but might have more in common with Destiny or Diablo, as we discuss in the interview.

We talk about their past games, and then dig into the dungeon crawler genre, even how weird a genre it is to define with such a diverse history of games under that umbrella. And we talk a lot about the systems that will make Blightbound unique to the category.

We also touch on what it's like to work with publisher Devolver, who has carved out a really great space offering up clever indie-ish games that explore weird and crazy ideas. It's like knowing a Devolver game will have a certain taste or sensibility about it, but we talk about what it's like on the other side of that relationship too.

I'm excited for Blightbound, I'm getting really great nostalgia vibes without the feeling that it is nothing but old hat. It hits Steam Early Access on July 29.

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Mediatonic's Fall Guys: the kind of fun we need right now?

Wed, 15 Jul 2020 04:42:09 GMT

This week Seamus speaks to the team behind Fall Guys, the hotly anticipated 'Battle Royale' that is more Japanese game show than Fortnite. Lead Game Designer, Joe Walsh, and Senior Level Designer, Meg Ralph, join the show to talk about the concept behind the game, delivering a family game that can hold the attention of any player of any age, and designing levels for something as chaotic and weird as this looks.

Fall Guys hits Playstation and Steam on August 4 and you can get early access by hitting the game's Discord to join their beta test crew.

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Thaine Lyman on Wargaming's World of Tanks Blitz and the new era of free to play mobile games

Thu, 02 Jul 2020 19:00:00 GMT

Thaine Lyman had 17 years at Activision under his belt working on major PC and console games like Call of Duty before he headed to Wargaming to work on World of Tanks. After a first stint in the PC team he headed to Minsk in Belarus to lead the mobile team on Blitz. We talk about the new era of 'real' mobile games, how free to play models have changed, and the fights over creating fantasy tanks and skins in a game with a long pedigree of historical accuracy. It's a really fun chat so dive in and enjoy!

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The state of the industry 2020: with Ron Curry, CEO, IGEA

Tue, 30 Jun 2020 23:47:44 GMT

Seamus talks to Run Curry, CEO of the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association, about how the industry has been dealing with the pandemic, the highs and lows of the first half of the year, and the politics that holds back better support for the business of games in this country. If you're in the industry, or you want to be, or you just want to know what's going on, Ron is the guy and this episode is a great update on everything that's been happening and where things might go next.

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Elder Scrolls Online Creative Director, Rich Lambert, is here!

Tue, 23 Jun 2020 19:00:00 GMT

This week I'm talking to Rich Lambert, Creative Director of Elder Scrolls Online. Rich has been working on the title since its inception, which makes it a 13 year journey working on the game. Keep in mind it was in development for seven years before its official release in 2014.

The game struggled for a while but it has carved out a unique patch in the MMO space after some big changes a few years back. We discuss this and other aspects of what defines Elder Scrolls Online and how the big story arcs like we find in the new Greymoor expansion help to keep its fans coming back again and again.

Greymoor is now available and while this latest expansion has a cost, you can dive in and try ESO for free and enjoy an awful lot of the game without ever being forced to pay.

I'm a long-time WoW nerd and I've spent some time in ESO lately and after some initial confusion found the different combat and deeper approach to storyline built into the quest lines to be a really refreshing angle. It's always a good thing for there to be diversity in the MMO category.

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Philip Mayes, Founder / CEO, Mighty Kingdom

Tue, 16 Jun 2020 19:00:00 GMT

Philip Mayes is the founder and CEO of Mighty Kingdom, an Adelaide games studio closing in on its tenth anniversary. The studio was named Studio of the Year at the 2019 Australian Game Developer Awards, with a super successful focus on developing games for big brand licenses including the likes of Disney, Lego and Conan. Their games reach tens of millions around the world and they're one of the biggest studios in the country in terms of both head count and output.

This is another fantastic conversation, exploring Philip's big desire to see more studios really extending themselves toward bigger ambitions, wanting to see more small-to-medium studios pursue bigger and bigger ideas to chase the dream of becoming big studios in their own right.

It's really great hearing Phil talk with a clear mission to create a big and successful business in the games industry, and the desire to develop positive competition and look to lift all ships along the way.

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Dylan Miklashek, Studio Manager at Gameloft Brisbane

Tue, 09 Jun 2020 22:03:58 GMT

This week I'm chatting to Dylan Miklashek from Gameloft in Brisbane, he's the Studio Manager and has been with the company since it founded its Australian operation. This is a longer chat than usual, but Dylan was super insightful and really candid about both the studio and the wider industry so it was a chat that I was happy to just dig deeper and deeper into.

Dylan has a really interesting background that led him to arrive where he is today and he has strong opinions about the need for government schemes like tax incentives as part of building a thriving and globally competitive ecosystem. While he's not from Australia originally, and perhaps because he's not, he's got some great thoughts on why this is such a great country to be a game developer in, but also looks at the difficulties of finding the right staff when running a development studio in Brisbane and we explore what's needed to help train developers, to get more of them to the right tier of experience, and to spread the industry around the country and not just always talk about how great things are down in Melbourne.

It's an honest mix of the difficulties and the opportunities in the scene today and I hope you get a lot out of the discussion. We dive in as Dylan explains where his journey in Gameloft began.

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Inside the new Rainbow Six Siege esports plan

Fri, 29 May 2020 08:27:41 GMT

Seamus speaks to François-Xavier Dénièle (Esports Director, EMEA) & Jérémy Somville (Senior Esports Manager, EMEA) about changes to the global regional structure for Rainbow Six Siege esports, as Ubisoft launches new leagues and new broadcasting setups over recent weeks. Siege is bigger than ever, and nabbed official 'tier 1' esport status from The Esports Observer, so we discuss the journey so far, the impact of the new changes, and how the coronavirus has influenced their esports efforts this year

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Grace Watkins, Co-founder / Director of Click Management

Thu, 21 May 2020 07:36:49 GMT

The gaming influencer and content creator agency Click Management represents some of the world's biggest names in the space. LazarBeam, Loserfruit, MrFreshAsian, Muselk, and more. Grace Watkins co-founded the company and runs the show, having peeled off from working at PwC to take on this role.

Gaming content creators are a massive force in this industry, so it's great to get Grace's insights on the role Click aims to play both locally and globally. And how they engage in that tricky space where global reach doesn't always align with where marketing dollars want to go.

This was recorded in the 'before times', at Fortnite Summer Smash back in January.

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Ross Symons, Big Ant Studios

Wed, 13 May 2020 20:10:00 GMT

Australia is known as a nation of sport lovers. Right now, loving sport is a hard task when there's nothing out there to watch. But, there's always the land of video game sport sims! And it's not just fans embracing those kinds of games, it's the sports codes as well!

This week I'm chatting with Ross Symons, CEO of Big Ant Studios, Australia's most prolific maker of sports video games. Cricket, AFL, tennis, rugby league, and even lacrosse, Big Ant has got them all in its library. What unites designing sports games of so many stripes? How has Big Ant dealt with licensing? We explore these questions and many more.

Ross is a true veteran of the industry and shares so many great thoughts about games development since some of its earliest days and how to carve a path in the industry. So we start by heading all the way back to where it began for Ross to show just how deep his knowledge of the business goes.

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Ash Ringrose, SMG Studio

Tue, 28 Apr 2020 20:45:49 GMT

On this episode I talk to Ash Ringrose, Head of SMG Studio, just ahead of the launch of their latest game Moving Out.

It's a crazy fun, family friendly, physics based couch co-op game landing on Switch, Playstation, Xbox and Steam this week!

Find out everything about Moving Out right here:

https://smgstudio.com/movingout/

SMG Studio has a diverse catalogue but every one has been an eyecatcher. One More Line, Over The Top Tower Defence (OTTTD), Death Squared and more, as well as licensed versions of Risk.

Ash has a background in advertising which comes up in our discussion as part of pinning down the clarity of vision the studio hits on with each of its games and also right here at the start as we kick off the call with the realisation Ash and I once worked together 20 years ago...

Quick technical note, the phone line was not the best, but the conversation was top shelf so I figured there's more value in sharing it than leaving it on the shelf.

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Aggregating esports with Ben Goldhaber, CEO of Juked.gg

Fri, 24 Apr 2020 04:35:51 GMT

On today's show I talk to Ben Goldhaber, co-founder and CEO of Juked.gg, a fantastic esports aggregation website that makes it easy to just see all the esports happening live online right now. When you hit the site you just get this great dashboard of live feeds as if you're looking at a bunch of screens in a sports bar. It launched in 2019 and I've been a fan since I first spotted it - it solves the classic problem of not knowing what's on and not being sure where to find it.

Ben has a huge background in both esports and live-streaming, and was even on the founding team when twitch.tv was born. So it was great to catch up and hear his thoughts on why he's created Juked as well as his thoughts on making esports easier to watch and where this still very new service might go from here.

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Nico King, Chaos Theory Games

Wed, 15 Apr 2020 01:37:07 GMT

This week I've caught up with Nico King, co-founder and Executive Creative Director of Chaos Theory Games, an independent games studio based out of Sydney, Australia.

Chaos Theory is a great blend of pragmatism and idealism, creating games for brands to help them with marketing initiatives right through to games for good, helping charities, educators and environmental causes to deliver fun and engaging experiences.

They've worked with businesses as big as eBay, M&Ms and Samsung to create mobile games and even AR and VR experiences. And then they've helped Sydney University gamify dermatology education, and created the Bleached Az game tie-in for a viral animated cartoon series.

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Michal Blicharz and that IEM Katowice moment

Fri, 10 Apr 2020 07:45:44 GMT

We last caught up with Michal 'Carmac' Blicharz, VP of Pro Gaming at ESL, at Intel Extreme Masters Sydney last year. This year, Australia's IEM is moving to Melbourne to headline Melbourne Esports Open. Or at least, it's meant to be. If we're amazingly lucky, and we're probably not going to be lucky, we'll all get to catch up in Melbourne and enjoy the show in August.

One of the big lines in the sand for seeing the coronavirus shut down a lot of major events around the world was this year's IEM in Katowice, Poland, in the country where Carmac is from. The event was all systems go until the very day before the doors opened. With travellers already in the city, ESL had to make the announcement that authorities had decided they could no longer enter the arena to watch one of the most beloved events on the annual calendar.

In today's conversation, we talk about how esports has had to respond to the crisis in the age of stadium events as a norm, how the shock now turns to opportunity for the industry, and whether this will be a chance to change minds and open the door to new fans and new perspectives on what esports has to offer.

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Ben Lee, Blowfish Studios

Thu, 19 Mar 2020 04:51:51 GMT

Ben Lee is the co-founder and Managing Director of Blowfish Studios based in Sydney. He's been a games and software developer for over 20 years and Blowfish has been producing games for nine years – and recently they also started publishing games too.

They're best known for their Siegecraft games but have a super diverse range of games across consoles, PC and mobile. Lee is also particularly insightful on running a game studio as a business, and what you can learn from other businesses of all stripes, not just other devs. We had this chat a couple of weeks ago in the Blowfish offices in North Sydney.

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ESL Australia's Josh Inman

Sun, 08 Mar 2020 20:58:03 GMT

Seamus caught up with Josh Inman, Operations Manager for ESL Australia, a few weeks ago around the AO Summer Smash event (ESL was behind the scenes on production) to talk about the importance of that event to the local scene.

Plus Josh dropped the IEM Melbourne news on Seamus in this chat so you get to hear his raw reaction to the news and then they discuss just how Melbourne is getting so serious about being Australia's "home of esports".

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Siobhan Reddy, Studio Director, Media Molecule

Wed, 04 Mar 2020 13:21:24 GMT

Seamus chats to Siobhan Reddy, Studio Director at Media Molecule, about her creative journey and what she loves most about making games like Dreams and LittleBigPlanet – and building creative communities around MM games.

This interview first appeared on the Uplink podcast.

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Behind the scenes at an under construction Fortress Melbourne

Thu, 20 Feb 2020 07:28:00 GMT

Seamus speaks to Fortress CEO Jon Satterley and Dell General Manager Ben Jackson during a visit to an under construction Fortress Melbourne. From the theories about its events calendar to the business model its pursuing, and the importance of getting the tech just right through the partnership with Alienware. If you want to understand the thinking behind Fortress - this is the conversation.

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Tennis Australia's Mark Reidy talking AO Summer Smash

Fri, 14 Feb 2020 02:12:29 GMT

Do it once, you're testing the waters. Do it twice? You must really see value in esports. Seamus talks to Mark Reidy, events organiser at Tennis Australia, about AO Summer Smash 2020 and his thoughts on the value for local esports players, fans, and how it fits into Tennis Australia's Australian Open program.

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David Gaider interview (via Uplink podcast)

Mon, 10 Feb 2020 06:00:12 GMT

The show formerly known as The Esports Moment is returning as High Resolution, covering a wider view of the business behind videogames. We'll still explore esports, but also game development, content creators, and the many other folks behind the scenes that bring games entertainment to life.

To whet the appetite we're sharing an interview with David Gaider – the wonderful narrative designer who spent 17 years at Bioware before more recently launching a new studio, Summerfall Studios, based in Melbourne. Enjoy the interview and we'll have more really, really soon!

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A gift for esports? Do you have what it takes? (PAX Aus 2019 panel)

Thu, 17 Oct 2019 23:41:46 GMT

A special panel at PAX Australia 2019 featuring a trio of amazing industry experts to explore the topic of shifting gears from just playing to truly pursuing esports as a passion.

Jocelyn Brewer: https://twitter.com/JocelynBrewer

Andrew Kinch: https://twitter.com/gameawareprogr1

Brandon Defina: https://twitter.com/SINJuves

Find Seamus here: https://twitter.com/seamus

Find Byteside here: https://twitter.com/byteside

Catch all the Byteside podcasts and our weekly newsletter via https://byteside.com/

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Fortnite World Cup Aftermath

Wed, 31 Jul 2019 10:30:00 GMT

Seamus rounds up his thoughts from being there, as well as the mainstream media interest that blew up around the event. Plus why the haters need to calm the farm - Fortnite is an esport and it's not going away anytime soon. And the positives of the shift into a new phase of Fortnite esports starting just days from now with Season X.

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Fortnite World Cup - pre-show thoughts

Fri, 26 Jul 2019 01:30:53 GMT

A quick podcast at the end of the Fortnite World Cup preview day. Seamus shares his initial thoughts on what he thinks the weekend is shaping up to look like and what the event is really focused on – it's all about the fans and the players!

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Inside the Intel/Acer deal with Meta High School Esports

Mon, 01 Jul 2019 07:02:01 GMT

This week we're taking a bit of a dive inside the new sponsorship deal between Intel and Acer and the Meta High School Esports program, owned and operated by Adelaide Crows Football Club.

These are global companies getting involved in an Australian grassroots esports operation, so it seemed an interesting opportunity to talk to all involved about why it's happening, what it means for Meta and the value for Intel and Acer.

So I spoke to reps at all involved - Intel, Acer, Meta, and the Crows, plus I also had a chat with one of the teachers at a school that participates in the Meta program to get a sense of how this league is impacting on some of the students too.

The first half of this episode will talk to the dealmakers. Nigel Smart, COO of the Adelaide Crows; Darren Simmons, Managing Director at Acer Australia; and Santosh Vishvanartan, Managing Director of Intel covering Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia. I spoke to each about the drive behind the partnership, why they care about this space and what they hope this sponsorship deal enables in the category.

In the second half, I talk to Woody Wu, Commissioner of Meta High School Esports, about the program and its progress after the first year and a half of operations, and then Toby Fogarty, a teacher at Northern Adelaide Senior College, on the value he sees for students getting involved with Meta. Interestingly, it goes beyond just the playing in tournaments as well and touches on learning a lot of the skills associated with running events too.

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Jamie Skella, Mogul.gg (amongst many other credits)

Sun, 02 Jun 2019 23:20:21 GMT

Seamus talks to Jamie Skella, Chief Strategy and Commercial Officer at Mogul.gg, an Australian-owned online tournament platform that first launched across South East Asia but is now pushing to build its presence at home. Jamie has quite a history in esports and gaming - from playing high level CS 1.6 and Magic Arena, helping develop Telstra's GameArena platform back in the old days, and being an owner of Melbourne's GGEZ bar.

We touch on a little of everything while focusing in on Mogul and what it's trying to achieve and the path ahead.

Find Mogul here: http://mogul.gg/

Find Jamie on Twitter: http://twitter.com/JamieSkella

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Daniel Ringland, Country Manager, Riot Games Oceania

Thu, 30 May 2019 00:36:43 GMT

Seamus talks to Daniel about the first five years of Riot in Oceania, the evolution of the OPL, its partnerships with the AFL, schools and universities, and where the next five years takes us.

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Michal 'CARMAC' Blicharz, ESL VP of Pro Gaming

Wed, 15 May 2019 22:05:41 GMT

One of the smartest minds in all of esports sits down with The Esports Moment at Intel Extreme Masters Sydney. We cover the importance of big stage events, how Twitch has changed the business, whether influencers are a threat to esports, and the big challenges the industry has yet to solve. It's a deep chat that gets clinical answers from the man who has been around since the earliest days of the industry and has helped drive it all to where we are today. Enjoy.

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Finn 'karrigan' Andersen: on being benched at FaZe, loving the big stage and leading a young team at Mousesports

Fri, 10 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Karrigan is one of my favourite players on the world circuit so it was fantastic to get time to sit down with him at IEM Sydney. We talk about his interesting year, from winning IEM Sydney with FaZe Clan, to being benched, and now finding a new home at Mousesports. He tells us how he treats every time on the big stage like it might be his last, and how much the Counter-Strike scene has changed since his early 1.6 days.

It's an honest and insightful conversation. Please enjoy!

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Chad 'SPUNJ' Burchill, Australian CS:GO analyst & former professional player

Tue, 07 May 2019 12:30:22 GMT

At IEM Sydney 2019, I grabbed some time with Chad ‘SPUNJ’ Burchill, a former pro CS:GO player and now an analyst seen regularly on the global circuit. He’s an Australian and over the past few years has really helped build the identity of IEM Sydney, especially with the Caches show match that takes place before the grand final.

We talk about his transition from playing to casting, why he thinks CS:GO is the best esport in the world, and what young casters should be trying to do to find their voice.

He managed to squeeze in a quick chat between maps during the grand final so a huge thank you to SPUNJ and to ESL for managing to fit this in for your listening pleasure.

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Sam Mathews, Co-founder / Chairman, FNATIC

Tue, 23 Apr 2019 22:50:00 GMT

One of the longest-running team brands in the esports scene, FNATIC was founded by Australian Sam Mathews and his mother Anne, so I wanted to get a better sense of his story of the team and its journey. Sam’s a busy man so thankfully diaries were able to align and we had a great half hour chat about everything from selling a car to finance the team in the earliest days through to what the future holds.

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Morgan Romine, Director of AnyKey (Diversity Advocacy Organisation)

Tue, 16 Apr 2019 10:51:51 GMT

This week I’m sharing a really interesting, and hopefully useful, conversation with Morgan Romine that delves into some of the trickier areas of the state of online gaming, competitive gaming, esports, and the diversity problems that float around this industry like a *really* bad smell.

Morgan is a long time gamer and one of the founders of the Fragdolls all-women esports team run by Ubisoft back in the day, and is now a cultural anthropology researcher and is the director of the Anykey organisation which advocates for greater diversity and inclusiveness in gaming. It works closely with Intel and ESL to run elite women’s CS:GO tournaments as well as other initiatives across both tournaments and research efforts to improve the gaming landscape to make it more positive and inclusive across the board. It’s a great project and one that’s desperately needed and something we can all do more to support.

So in this conversation I try to get Morgan to talk about how we overcome frustration when things don’t change fast enough, how we can all do better when those standard questions crop up that push back against diversity initiatives, and what straight white guys like me can do to be better allies and supporters of change for those who deal with bad online gaming experiences every day.

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Jack Harari, VP of International Partnerships, Activision Blizzard Esports Leagues

Tue, 09 Apr 2019 08:27:45 GMT

This week on The Esports Moment we get one-on-one with Jack Harari, Vice President of International Partnerships at Activision Blizzard Esports Leagues. He’s in charge of making the big commercial partnerships happen beyond the US borders for all Blizzard and Activision esports franchises, including the Overwatch League, which we talk about in depth, and he’ll also be tackling the needs of Call of Duty World League as well down the track.

Jack came to Activision Blizzard in mid 2018 from almost five years in global partnerships development at the NBA, so he brings some very serious traditional sports expertise into the esports domain.

Jack was a really nice guy and was in Sydney to speak at a Business of Sports Summit event so it was a real treat to have Activision Blizzard make the time to sneak The Esports Moment into his schedule. His insights are really interesting so I’m sure you’ll get a lot out of this conversation about his experience so far in esports, how he sees commercial and broadcast partners fitting into the evolving landscape, and lots more.

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Erik Anderson, Head of Esports, FaZe Clan

Tue, 02 Apr 2019 06:35:33 GMT

This week we have another top tier conversation for you from my trip to IEM Katowice. I managed to grab some time over a coffee with Erik Anderson, the head of esports at FaZe Clan.

A super cool guy who has some really interesting perspectives on the esports scene given he came to this industry from the music scene. We explore some of his thoughts on how the two industries are alike, and maybe even get weird about what genre of music we’d put esports into.

FaZe is not your average esports org so we also try to unpack a little of what helped the clan build a distinct fanbase that has devotees right across the world.

Find Erik on Twitter: @budgetkeanu

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Nicola Piggott, Co-founder of The Story Mob (Esports Communications Consultancy)

Tue, 26 Mar 2019 03:28:36 GMT

This week we're bringing you one of the best voices in the business for selling what esports has to offer to big business. Nicola Piggott is the co-founder of Story Mob, an esports communications consultancy that works closely with some of the biggest teams and brands in the industry. Team Liquid, G2, Splyce, Kinguin, Riot Games and many more.

The co-founders are ex-ESL and ex-Riot Games, Nicola being the Riot half, which is where I first met her back when the Oceanic Pro League was first launching here in Australia. She's a great communicator and has a deep love of esports so she has so many great thoughts to share from two very interesting angles. How can esports tell its stories better? And how do brand marketers build the right relationships with teams and fans so that everybody wins?

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Starcraft casters PiG and Maynarde behind the scenes at IEM Katowice

Sat, 16 Mar 2019 01:18:27 GMT

Over at IEM I caught up with two of the Aussie casters covering all the action from the Starcraft stage. Usually we only ever get one of these great Australians calling on the world stage at a time, so it was special to be able to catch both Jared 'PiG' Krenzel and Leigh 'Maynarde' Mandalov behind the scenes on the other side of the world.

The guys were great to squeeze me in between Starcraft quarter-final calls, so we were catching up backstage from the great Spodek Arena. And that's why there's a lot of noise in the background.

We explore the state of Starcraft esports, being Aussies behind the casting desk and sharing the stage with a very international line up of talent, and plenty more about what's on their minds.

PiG on Twitter: @x5_pig

Maynarde on Twitter: @MaynardeSC2

Seamus on Twitter: @seamus

Lots more stuff: https://byteside.com/

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Fnatic's Rainbow Six Siege team captain and coach

Sun, 03 Mar 2019 13:46:57 GMT

This week I’ve got two of the members of the Fnatic Rainbow Six team - team captain Etienne ‘Magnet’ Rousseau, and coach/manager Jayden ‘Dizzle’ Saunders.

We had a chat about the team’s journey over the past year with their initial success under Mindfreak, joining Fnatic, and the ups and downs of the tournaments since then.

This Aussie team has been building a solid global fanbase under the Fnatic brand and continue to grow in skill and demeanour, so it was great to catch up with them during the big event.

They bowed out at the quarter-final stage so we were catching up in the press room between then and the Grand Finals of the Invitational weekend.

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Rainbow Six Siege: Brand Director Alex Remy and Esports Director François-Xavier Dénièle

Mon, 25 Feb 2019 00:31:40 GMT

I sit down with two of the key brains behind Rainbow Six Siege and its smart and steady rise toward the top tier of global esports. Esports Director François-Xavier Dénièle and Brand Director Alexandre Remy. We talk about the road so far, the moves to open up their ecosystem to more third-party tournament partners, and their ambitions for the year ahead (and beyond).

All the latest Siege news here:

https://rainbow6.ubisoft.com/siege/en-au/esports/

Follow Siege on Twitter: @R6esports

Find Seamus on Twitter: @seamus

Find all the shows and Byteside things at byteside.com

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Order Army top brass: Jake Tiberi and Adrian Giles

Tue, 19 Feb 2019 05:41:05 GMT

The latest Esports Moment is a chat with Order General Manager Jake 'Spawn' Tiberi and Order Chairman Adrian Giles. From founding the org to the future of the industry, we cover a lot of ground in this latest episode.

You can find Jake on Twitter: @spawnlol

And all things Order here: Order.Army

Read up on the Order crowdfunding in my Australian Financial Review article from when it happened back in November 2018.

Find me here: @seamus

And all my shows via byteside.com

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Our full Moment with Ben 'DrLupo' Lupo

Sun, 10 Feb 2019 20:30:00 GMT

The extended interview with Ben 'DrLupo' Lupo when he was in Melbourne for the Fornite Summer Smash at the Australian Open.

Find him on Twitch, Twitter, Instagram, and his website.

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The Moment Fortnite went to the Australian Open

Sun, 10 Feb 2019 03:00:00 GMT

Seamus was in Melbourne for the Fortnite Summer Smash event at the Australian Open and interviewed a host of streamers, competitors and organisers about the show. And with Fortnite Battle Royale now one year old, how has that year changed the lives of so many people at the event?

Featuring Loserfruit, Valkyrae, MrFreshAsian, DrLupo, Vondle, TheSchnake, Altro47, and Mark Reidy from Tennis Australia.

Find Seamus: @seamus on Twitter.

Find more shows at byteside.com!

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The Esports Moment

Thu, 24 Jan 2019 08:24:40 GMT

Every week, every month, there’s yet another sign that now is the time when esports levels up and shows the wider world why it’s time to take notice. This show will talk to people who have had a big hand in the esports journey so far, and those who are shaping its future.

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