The Big Show Latest Episodes

1 0

It’s been just over a year since Mike Minton took the reins as @Twitch’s chief product officer in July 2025, following a five-year stint as the company’s chief monetization officer. Work and life are never simple in the hub of online livestreaming — but at Twitch, Minton is known for his even-keeled approach to leadership. The secret behind his steady hand? Fourteen years of experience in the U.S. Marine Corps, including the liberation of Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm.

“It was three weeks of very intense, very little sleep — a lot of stuff going on,” Minton said during the podcast discussion. “Obviously, when you go through an experience like that, it really hardens you in some ways.”

Minton’s 27-minute episode of the BIG Show — GamesBeat’s podcast exploring gaming industry leaders’ candid thoughts and opinions in an after-hours environment — covered a wide range of topics, from his professional background to his belief that the burgeoning practice of clipping across social platforms is “a little bit over-toasted.”

Timestamps:
0:00 – Intro: meet Mike Minton, Twitch CPO
1:04 – Does Mike consider himself a gamer? First gaming memories
1:43 – The Twitch acquisition headline that changed his path
2:52 – His role at Amazon's app store before Twitch
3:29 – What brought him to Amazon
4:34 – Connecting a military background to a tech career
4:59 – Michigan Tech, dropping out, driving a bulldozer
5:50 – Why he joined the Marines
6:27 – University of Michigan and finding computer science
7:20 – "Drop out of college" joke and his career advice
8:02 – Michigan family connection banter
8:53 – Leadership lessons from the Marine Corps
10:12 – Combat experience and staying even-keeled through Twitch's security incident
11:22 – Does he still play shooter games?
12:22 – Building his own house back in Michigan
13:38 – Becoming Twitch's Chief Product Officer
14:05 – How Twitch has evolved over the past year
15:13 – Twitch's role in the rise of creator-run events
16:10 – Untapped opportunity: collaborative, multiplayer content
17:01 – Is the "clipping meta" overhyped?
19:05 – Defining clipping and aggregators for the uninitiated
19:49 – Michigan CS trivia and the North Campus arcade
20:37 – What excites him most about Twitch's next 12 months
23:12 – Speed round: current game obsession
24:14 – What he's watching (creators + live sports)
25:06 – His sports allegiances
25:41 – Streamer shoutout
26:33 – Closing thoughts

0 0

1 0

GamesBeat's Dean Takahashi sits down with Dmitri Johnson, Co-Founder of Story Kitchen, and Amanda Kruse, who heads up @Blumhouse's video game publishing division, to talk about the deepening — and increasingly two-way — relationship between Hollywood and games.

Dmitri and Amanda dig into what makes a great game-to-film adaptation (using Sonic, @Fallout, and their upcoming @lifeisstrange series as examples), why respect between the two industries has finally caught up to reality, and how the old "give me your rights and go away" dynamic has been replaced by real creative collaboration. They also talk candidly about risk — including learning from projects that didn't land — and why chasing games "because they're shiny" is far more dangerous than a slow, thoughtful adaptation process.

The conversation also covers the industry's shifting geography (with major productions now shooting in Vancouver and London instead of California), why "Hollywood is an idea now" more than a location, and how the box office boom this year — powered by titles like Mario, @mortalkombat, and @streetfighter — signals games and film are becoming allies rather than competitors for audience attention.

Plus: teases for what's next, including Amanda's upcoming game "Grave Seasons" (an Agatha Christie-style farming sim with dating mechanics) and Story Kitchen's packed 2027 slate — including Life is Strange, Tomb Raider, and Sonic 4.

Timestamps:

0:00 – Introductions: Dmitri Johnson & Amanda Kruse
1:10 – Blumhouse's move into original game IP
2:35 – Dmitri & Amanda's shared history
3:22 – Adapting Sonic: capturing feeling over lore
5:14 – How Fallout and Life is Strange balance old fans & new audiences
6:24 – Respect, communication, and the "old way" vs. now
9:04 – Trust between filmmakers and game developers
10:46 – What worries Dmitri: chasing shiny objects
12:09 – Learning from adaptations they didn't pursue (Exit 8)
13:19 – When adaptations miss — and why it doesn't kill the trend
15:05 – Blumhouse's willingness to experiment (and fail)
16:44 – California's production exodus & tax incentives
18:13 – Is Hollywood becoming "an idea" rather than a place?
18:39 – Final teases: Grave Seasons, Life is Strange, Tomb Raider, Sonic 4

2 0

0 0

GamesBeat's Alexander Lee sits down with David Lee — President of Wattpad and Global CFO of Webtoon — to talk about his path from Zynga to Impossible Foods to leading one of the biggest storytelling platforms in the world.

David shares his gamer origins (yes, he was a dice-carrying D&D kid with a TRS-80), his time helping take Zynga public alongside Mark Pincus, and what drew him back to content and gaming after a detour into food tech.

The conversation dives deep into how Webtoon and Wattpad — with 145 million monthly active users and 27 million creators uploading 120,000 new stories every single day — are tackling one of gaming's toughest challenges: user acquisition. David breaks down Webtoon's "pull strategy," where Gen Z fans discover and champion content organically instead of being targeted through paid pushes, and explains how that translates into measurable, performance-based tools for game publishers (including a Steam wishlist rewards program already driving thousands of new sign-ups weekly).

We also get into real examples of IP crossover — like the Capcom x Street Fighter 6 collaboration on the hit webcomic "Ordeal" — and what the future could look like if Webtoon becomes a true destination for fandom, not just content consumption.

Timestamps:
0:00 – Introduction
0:39 – David's gamer origins & Zynga days
3:27 – From political science to Leo Burnett to Zynga
6:54 – Wattpad vs. Webtoon: what's the difference?
9:17 – David's new role as Global CFO
10:07 – The user acquisition problem in gaming
11:07 – Webtoon's "pull strategy" explained
14:03 – Steam wishlist rewards & measuring ROI
15:38 – Bringing game IP into Webtoon content (Capcom x Street Fighter 6)
17:07 – Targeting & demographic data
19:19 – Lightning round: what David's reading & his greatest gaming moment

2 1

2 0

Owen Mahoney says fear is holding the games industry back.

The former NEXON president and CEO joins Dean Takahashi for a candid conversation about leading one of gaming's biggest companies, why public company executives have become reluctant to fund new IP, and how that hesitation is shaping the industry's future.

Having spent years in boardrooms weighing billion-dollar decisions, Mahoney says the reluctance to take risks often comes down to something much simpler:

"They're like anyone else," Mahoney said. "They're afraid of losing their jobs."

After more than a decade leading Nexon through extraordinary growth, Mahoney reflects on balancing shareholder expectations with creative risk, and why he believes the industry can't afford to stop betting on the next big idea.

3 0

0 0