Justin Waldron: The Past, Present, and Future of Game Companies - [Web3 Breakdowns, EP. 18]

This is Eric Golden and my guest today is Justin Waldron, co-founder and President of Playco. Justin is a pioneer of the social gaming industry, having co-founded Zynga at age 19 and then Playco, the world’s first instant gaming company. Our conversation explores the industry’s evolution from web to mobile to blockchain, the unique opportunities crypto offers game creators like Justin, and how Playco’s Web3 project, Storyverse, is creating a game engine for communities. Please enjoy my conversation with Justin Waldron.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

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Show Notes

[00:02:15] - [First question] - The story of pizza and how he thinks about game design like restaurants 

[00:06:07] - Why bringing people together with games feels better than simply being together

[00:07:40] - Overview of instant gaming and how people can find creativity and joy from it

[00:10:34] - How Farmville’s onboarding process brought in so many new players 

[00:13:59] - How much of game design is planned out versus being accidental 

[00:18:08] - Why the industry left web-based gaming and went into the mobile and app space

[00:24:55] - His thoughts on seeing the industry shift away from his vision

[00:27:55] - How he first approached crypto and Web3 game development 

[00:33:29] - Was he always sure of the direction he wanted to go in Web3

[00:38:59] - Where the idea of Storyverse came from and what the vision for it is 

[00:41:43] - How Storyverse decreases the friction with NFTs and brings them to life

[00:45:35] - The ways that their tokens can interact and communicate with stories 

[00:49:24] - How Storyverse’s IP differs across communities and problems that can arise 

[00:56:17] - What he’s most excited to see built over the next six months and the next six years

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