Lars Janssen

Time management !!! Thank you Thomas Lemesle for the great video -> https://lnkd.in/evRVfkdC Here’s a summary of Randy Pausch's lecture on time management with bullet points: - Prioritize Tasks: Focus on what's most important. - Set Goals: Clearly define what you want to achieve. - Avoid Procrastination: Tackle tasks promptly. - Delegate: Assign tasks to others when possible. - Handle Interruptions: Manage distractions effectively. - Maintain Balance: Ensure personal well-being. - Use To-Do Lists: Organize and track your tasks. - Focus on Meaningful Activities: Spend time on what truly matters. #TimeManagement #Productivity #GoalSetting #WorkLifeBalance #ProTips #RandyPausch #EffectiveLeadership #PersonalDevelopment #LinkedInLearning #ProfessionalGrowth

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Dear Stretch Network Partners, Please allow me to inform you about additional changes that will take place in the global network on July 8. 🍀 All Heads-up tables will be removed 🍀 Badugi cash tables will be removed 🍀 Sonic cash tables will become 6-max 🍀 The minimum buy-in for Sonic Omaha cash tables will be 20 BB 🍀 Sonic Omaha 7 card cash tables will be added These changes apply only to cash tables and only to our Global Network. In your local networks, you decide your product strategy, but we would be happy to assist you in managing your local networks as well. If you need our help, please contact us. The above-mentioned changes are part of the new strategy for the Stretch Network Global Network, which prioritizes the comfort of novice players and casual traffic to maintain the proper balance of our ecosystem between amateurs and professionals. Caring for the ecosystem of the Global Network is our priority. The changes we are implementing now and will continue to implement will significantly improve the user experience for your players, extend their LTV, ARPU, and, of course, Revenue.

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💡 ERROR LOG #13: Feedback is essential - part 1 out of 2. I focus here on the creative side of it and the next one will be focused around performance. I believe all of you can agree with this statement, right? It also sounds simple as hell. I’m sure you’ve read tons of articles about it and heard so many stories regarding it. Cool, so here is my take on it :D. Fun fact is that it sounded obvious to me 20 years ago and today I believe it’s exactly opposite. Giving or getting feedback is complex and it is an art. It’s very tough and it requires a lot of courage to be able to deal with it sometimes. Long story short 20 years ago I thought I knew and I was wrong. I failed so many times by not being mature enough to get feedback that you have no idea. Of course there is a second side of this coin, sometimes I was getting feedback in a very unprofessional way. What is really important is to have a common understanding in a team that feedback is essential, it’s a crucial part of the process, not an extra tool, it’s a foundation in healthy teams. The more trust you have in your team the better it is to take it, but it’s worth remembering that feedback is one of the tools to build trust, so it requires an open mind to take it and skill to provide it. The most common mistake is that people give feedback in a very judgemental way which sounds pretty negative and believe me, in the current world it’s really easy to have an opinion on every subject. If you criticise what you see and on top of that you can’t build up your statement properly your feedback most probably won’t work. It can by it won’t be taken fully with a proper understanding and engagement and you don’t want that, trust me. If you give feedback starting from your need and feeling it is a completely different story from the get go. What do I mean by that? We deliver experiences in games, movies but also softwares. We build expectations with almost every action. It means that anything you do in collaborative work has a common denominator, always. Let’s use an example from the game industry. You have a team that builds a feature, all disciplines are involved you can imagine. There is always a context (at least should be) behind each feature. Ask yourself these questions: ❓ What is the fantasy behind it? ❓ What do you want a Player to feel? ❓ How do you want to motivate a Player to use it? These questions are not only referring to the core of it, these questions are common for all disciplines and everyone can ask them, starting from peers and ending on director level. This is a natural way for aligning people between all disciplines and ranks and as you see, these are questions and not judgemental statements. This difference is a key. 📘 "Radical Candor" by Kim Scott is a really great book I recommend regarding the art of giving/getting feedback. Don't hesitate to comment and share your thoughts please. Stay tuned for more ⚔ 🐻

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Match3 is not the best game economy. I know some who would say it’s not even economy! Also, digital board games are just video games with terrible UX. Listen to the episode for more on these hot takes from me and the fellas.

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How can experts seeking to prevent and counter violent extremism build effective public-private partnerships with the video games industry? I spoke to a group of practitioners in the EU’s Radicalisation Awareness Network Policy Support group on Wednesday to give them practical tips on how to broach a challenging topic with games companies in a positive way. My advice was: 👷‍♂️ Be constructive. Video games have been blamed unfairly and inaccurately for a range of social ills. Explain fairly where your concerns are and approach industry with a positive mindset. 🤝Define common ground. Behaviours that games companies want to stamp out online, such as toxicity and harassment, are often closely associated with extremist behaviour. Identifying shared goals builds trust and helps to create useful next steps. 🎯 Set goals. The best partnerships have clear outcomes. Identify targets that the industry can meaningfully help with (e.g. demonstrating reach to a community) to create an incentive to act. 💡Favour practical ideas. Creating in game content is exciting but challenging. Favour leveraging existing infrastructure - such as communication channels or access to industry trust and safety professionals - to turn theory into action. 🙌 Acknowledge best practice. Use the cultural and political capital of your organisations to celebrate good work through positive private engagements and appropriate public reinforcement (e.g. a supportive statement from a senior official post campaign). Thank you to Galen Lamphere-Englund and Menso Hartgers for inviting me to speak at the event and to give me the opportunity to meet some fascinating people doing incredibly important work. Here’s a picture of me taken during my presentation, where I was outlining comparatively “light lift” ways to reach players through communication channels managed by games businesses.

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#NYC I will be attending Games for Change conference, and will be in NYC from 24th to 30th of June. If you need any assistance with your startup, Game studio, TV animated show, Board game or Physical toys, I would love to sit down for a coffee and chat. Special love for developers of anything related to Mental Health, Conflict Resolution, Authenticity of information and Finance education. Like Comment Share & Repost - Lets talk! 😎 (also, if you want to go shoot some hoops on the basketball court, I'm game!) #gamedesign #ai #socialimpact #games4change #mentalhealth #toys #animation #boardgames #gamedevelopment

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"Six of the Best" - No. 5 A short series of six personal reflections from the last year of Player One Consulting.... **There is a business world out there fascinated by the games industry - we need to welcome them in...and be their guide!** Many of my most interesting clients in recent years have come to me from outside the games industry, and this seems to be increasing. We might not realise it as we look outwards, but our industry is actually making waves across the wider business world. It still remains a bit of a mystery to many however. The cliché of "the 15-year old playing Call of Duty in his mum's basement" is still alive out there - in fact that’s a verbatim quote from a CEO I met who was looking to get their company into games. Not saying this archetypal character doesn’t exist but we all know there is a lot more to it than that! At Player One Consulting, we act as trusted guides for these "games-curious" companies….providing an unbiased overview of the industry landscape, the value chain, where the opportunities lie and how to best to take advantage of them. There are a LOT of companies in adjacent business areas that could bring gaming into their overall strategy to their benefit - whether as a brand new revenue stream, a way to reach new audiences or as a source of great IP. I see film companies, telcos, toys, board games, media organisations and many more within this group and I feel we've only just scratched the surface. We need to be more proactive as an industry however, and remove the barriers that we sometimes put up (e.g. impenetrable jargon to describe genres, our general annoyance about games being looked down upon for so long, our occasional lack of understanding of other industries' priorities). There is so much potential, but clear-eyed guidance is required to make this happen. The huge transmedia successes of The Last Of Us and Fallout are the big stories well documented elsewhere…but I believe there are major untapped opportunity at *all* levels of scale, and I'm looking forward to exploring it with our clients & partners over the next moths and years   P.S. Web3 folks - apologies for the meme btw - I love you really!*   (*If you ever show me a good business case... 😉 )

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After the Digital Markets Act entered into force, I received questions from non-EU game devs trying to determine if the rights and safeguards brought by the act also cover them. Leading global talent and some of the best public funding instruments are no longer the only key reasons to have a studio in the EU. If you have a studio in the EU, you have the right and means to fight back when a gatekeeper platform removes your game from an application store. Therefore, these Commission's preliminary conclusions on Apple's non-compliance and notification of further investigations on Apple's compliance with DMA are crucial. They demonstrate that the Commission is taking action to ensure that the new rights of game developers are correctly implemented and that the Commission is taking the feedback from stakeholders like EGDF seriously. If you have any further concerns about Apple's Core Technology fee, Apple's user journey to download and install games outside the Apple Appstore or the eligibility requirements for launching your own third-party application stores or making your games available for sideloading directly from the web, do not hesitate to share them with the Commission. If you are afraid of sharing the information directly, EGDF is more than happy to share feedback with the Commission on your behalf. https://lnkd.in/ghjth6P3

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+60 million? I remember the first announcement we issued when I started at ESL in 2015. It was a total prize pool of 1M USD for FOUR(!) ESL One Tournaments combined. And let me tell you, these were breaking news back then! 😅 💸While this certainly wasn’t the beginning of esports and we can obviously compare this to tournaments back in 2002 when the winners received a mousepad and a firm handshake, I personally feel impressed how large the gap is, even between 2015 esports and 2024 esports. Especially in comparison to mainstream sports events - this shows how incredible far esports has come in the past 10 years. 🏅But what impresses me the most actually isn't the huge prize money after all. The new “Club Championship” format reminds me of another competition where people unite for the sake of the sport. An event that connects people all over the world and makes them cheer for disciplines they are probably not even the biggest fan of. Olympia positively influences cultural exchange between countries, improves infrastructure and unites people. I’m hopeful that the EWC will create a similar effect, putting players AND teams in the spotlight and creating synergies between different esports communities. 🗣So Ralf Reichert from Esports World Cup Foundation did an interview about the prize money and other facts regarding the Esports World Cup in DIE ZEIT, and I’m glad the article is addressing multiple sides of the story. Arguments that have to be discussed when we want our industry to truly become global but also connected with certain values we all share. I have little to no experience when it comes to countries and cultures in MENA so I'll head to Riyadh myself to get a firsthand look at the situation. #esports #ewc #saudiarabia #culturaldifferences #prizemoney

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How I find the most relevant candidate for a role (100% of our customers work with us because of the quality of our profiles) Do your research: don't let fancy titles trick you. 1. Gather as many possible candidates you can (we have 1000+ in our DB) 2. Pass all through a predefined, custom-specific filter 3. Call with the most relevant candidates 4. Reference calls (optional) 5. Never take short-cuts Stop settling for good-enough, start going for perfect-fit. Because no one cares about your challenges, they care about winning. Earn your respect, deliver first.

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Yesterday we lost in an RFP process with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. I do not see it as a total loss though since I gained one friend! Thank you John for giving us a fair shake. This was my first experience dealing with an RFP (request for proposal) and even though interactive surveys are not at all what we do I'm proud of the quality and quickness we were able to deliver a video example to John and his team. What have I learned from this experience? 1. Going through the process is a good opportunity to show clients what your product is capable of 2. You start to build a relationship with their key contacts 3. You can demonstrate that no project is too small

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Game Economics: 'Well Played' People mention these days very often that Player versus Player games are on the way out. How likely is this? The very first game in arcade edition was Computer Space; made by none other than Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney themselves. It had the players maneuver ships in space and shoot at each other. The first home system's best selling game was Table Tennis. The version of it, Pong, would catch fire shortly after. Fast forward to now. Esports, competitive play in forms other than directly against another player(s), and more...are still widely made and sold by the gaming industry. Before the *actually* comments about toxicity. First, I wrote about toxicity already in detail: https://lnkd.in/exkzJbdq Second, this is issue is more tied to other systems at work than the game options and competition. So companies like Riot Games, Hi-Rez Ventures and others will happily (and profitably) continue to provide players this kind of gaming option. Even as seemingly popular opinions continue against it. Sales and growth will determine the outcome, and it will only continue expand and diversify in the games being offered. Creative, entertainment and technological services and offerings only expand and subspecialize as time goes forward. If you don't believe me ask some of the veterans in the Industry if, when they started 25-30 years ago, hyper-casual was even a term at all?

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LVL is back! And we started with one of the coolest showcases in quite some time: the first Valorant Console Creator Cup powered by Mastercard was a get together of 20 of Germany's greatest gaming influencers - among them Amar, Rohat, AbuGoku, Breitenberg (Burak Türkyilmaz), SidneyEweka, Chefstrobel, Mahluna, StarletNova and many more (if you don't know who these people are, go and ask your kids 😎 ). The concept: 4 teams of 5 gaming influencers play their first tournament in Valorant's Beta on console. Valorant is Riot's FPS game and has been among the most popular games at LVL since its launch on PC in 2020 - so popular in fact that we established a monthly tournament for the local community over the past year. Now that the game is set to launch on console, it was quite the spectacle to see how some of the most well-known creators in the German Valorant community handle themselves with a Controller instead of Keyboard and Mouse... and with fun jokers interrupting their gameplay with new challenges. The result was pure entertainment broadcasted for almost 9 hours on 20 Twitch channels simultaneously, generating millions of views. What a way to relaunch LVL! Pulling this event off in such a short time-span with a much smaller team, led by the amazing Sina Turgut, felt truly rewarding. A big thank you to the great crew at MediaTotal GmbH who made this event a reality and to Mastercard and Riot Games (Adrián Padín Suárez, Kristin Banse) for making this an unforgettable night. It feels good to be back! 📸 : spyders #gaming #esports #gamesindustry #sponsoring

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Terrible news this evening with Humble Games having shut down his publishing label today, impacting 36 employees, seemingly without any prior warning. Nicola Kwan announced the news on Linkedin about an hour ago (https://lnkd.in/eyjqeD5t). At time of writing, Humble itself has yet to comment on the matter. To those impacted by this, please find a comprehensive list of resources, below: 🥇First, reach out to us at People Can Fly Studio, we have many roles open right now in Canada, the UK, Ireland and Europe, please check them out here: https://lnkd.in/eWpV5PbA 🥈Next, Discipline Games Jobs Resources: Over the past weeks I have created 9 (at time of writing) Games Jobs Resources to find jobs in a wide range of disciplines: 🎨 Art, Animation, VFX and UI This resource contains around 1,400 jobs worldwide across all links. Link: https://lnkd.in/eH-yWEms ⚙ Engineering and Programming This resource lists just over 2,300 jobs worldwide across all links. Link: https://lnkd.in/eMYuN-zV 🕹 Quality Assurance This resource lists over 400 QA jobs worldwide. Link: https://lnkd.in/ecHRqMnN 📑 Game Production This resource lists around 390 jobs worldwide. Link: https://lnkd.in/erVSuNwi 📢 Marketing & Community This resource lists around 330 jobs worldwide. Link: https://lnkd.in/eDmmXtP6 🎶 Audio and Sound Design This resource lists around 120 jobs worldwide. Link: https://lnkd.in/e9vpruEY 📠 Studio Support, HR, Recruitment and BizDev This resource lists around 340 jobs worldwide. Link: https://lnkd.in/eDeasJYj ⚙ IT This resource lists around 100 jobs worldwide. Link: https://lnkd.in/eTpRYvy2 🎮 Game Design This resource lists around 660 jobs worldwide. Link: https://lnkd.in/eXuJA9Vq 🥉 Third, the Ultimate list of Video Games Career Resources: This should be your one-stop shop for all information. My dear friend Amir Satvat maintains these documents, he is a legend for doing this - please check them out: https://amirsatvat.com/ 🎖 Finally, do not give up. Ever. No matter how dark things may look right now, I KNOW you will get through this, you have got this! 👊 Remember you are not alone. If you need help, advice, or even an ear to listen, we're here for you. Always! ➡ A request to my community, please can I ask you to repost this post to your colleagues and friends, so that we can get as many into jobs as possible! And please comment if you or your studio are currently hiring - let's help each other! Much love ❤️ #humblegames #layoffs

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Shrinking attention spans have led to a decline in strategic play styles "There are many seemingly-related findings in terms of our media consumption habits. For example, over time, shorter YouTube videos have garnered a higher share of overall views. The duration of shots in movies (i.e., between each cut) has decreased from 16 seconds in 1930 to 4 seconds in 2010. The average time spent on a computer app window (e.g., on a Word doc before switching to a browser window) has decreased from 2.5 minutes in 2004 to 47 seconds in 2016. In this light, the decline in Strategy is likely not an idiosyncratic phenomenon among digital gamers, but parallels the general reduction in attention spans observed by researchers in different fields."

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“I’ll give you a hint: It’s not about what’s viable. It’s about what’s valuable.” Well said Pete Sena. Let’s shift toward the Most Valuable Experience 👏 Viable doesn’t convince, it doesn’t convert. Removing friction is key for adoption. #UX #productdesign #mvp #mve #valueproposition #adoption

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"Six of the Best" - No. 4 (The next in a short series of six personal reflections over the last year running Player One Consulting...) **The games industry is currently facing a leadership challenge, and this offers a real opportunity to drive change** Its an unpopular message for many but I've felt for a while now that the business leadership across the games industry isn't quite where it needs to be. It was firstly seeing it from the perspective of having worked cross-industry for years, and then making the comparison with the games world - not always flattering on a strategic, operational or financial basis. Then it was underlined by being at Xbox where although we were the "games people" there (and all the fun that entailed!) we were a still just small part of a massive enterprise focused corporation that demanded commercial focus & rigour...and there was no special dispensation given to miss our numbers "because games". Somehow we found it was possible to be true to the games, the devs, the fans....and yet still run things in a commercially smart way.  By comparison, a lot of the people that floated into Xbox from the rest of the games industry at the time really seemed to lack that cutting edge, and they were often out again within months. Yes, games is a creative business, but that doesn't mean that the management should be sub-standard. The frequent "flakiness" on the management side of the industry (as I saw it) was what prompted me to start Player One Consulting, to initiate a change in culture and raise the standard of professionalism. It was tricky to get traction though, especially at the AAA level. So many businesses I spoke to seemed oblivious to the issues besetting their companies. "Everything is fine, its all under control" was a common retort, even from companies whose share price was in the toilet, who were shedding staff and who hadn't seen a major hit in years. The level of complacency across the industry was actually pretty shocking. Well, in the last year I think that we are at last starting to see the flaws in that approach. The industry is beset by challenges, there continue to be massive layoffs every week and (based on my recent conversations) investors are becoming increasing unhappy with some of the decision making by leadership teams at studios & publishers. I do believe however that with the right external guidance (as provided by Player One Consulting) there is a way out for many currently challenged games companies. The next year is going to be extremely interesting.

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#NormainMetaland was a project focused on the experience of mass adoption for GRAMPUS, while #JuicyAdventure is about bringing the community together with a funny-looking, fast-paced multiplayer game and diverse earning experiences. Considering the nature of #Web3gaming, which aims to both expand the ecosystem and dive deep into the community, products and content being onboarded to the ecosystem must be approached from a portfolio perspective. The governance token-utility token structure facilitates this. Introducing Juicy Adventure's tokenomics, centered around NFTs and '$GRAM & $Jelly'!

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