Recognizing Patterns
Gaming industry pattern recognition from inside the conversations. How one game delay reshapes an entire calendar, why roguelikes are eating everything, and what studios are really doing right now.
| Platform |  | Pricing | Only free issues | Publishes | Weekly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issues | 34 | Founded | 8 months ago | Last Issue | 8 days ago |
| Active | |||||
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recognizingpatterns.substack.comLatest Issues
How China Turned 90-Second Soap Operas Into a Billion-Dollar Game Genre
TL;DR:
- Microdrama is the largest entertainment format you have never heard of. Vertical-video soap operas, ninety seconds an episode, went from $500M in 2021 to $9.4B in 2025, overtaking China’s entire domestic box office.
...
Glitch Productions Is Building Games for 2027 and Beyond
TL;DR
- Glitch is building a games division from scratch, with multiple titles already in planning. Behind it: eighteen million YouTube subscribers who have already proven, with merch dollars and theater tickets, that they will pay...
Who Can Still Afford to Play?
TL;DR:
- Console and handheld prices surged through 2025 and into 2026 on a global memory shortage; while new games climbed toward $80 and subscriptions became a monthly bill that never ends and leaves the player owning nothing ...
Congratulations, You Ignored the Chinese Games Market. Here's What You Lost.
TL;DR:
Simplified Chinese is now Steam’s most-used language. It crossed 50% during Chinese New Year 2025 and held the annual lead over English across all of 2024.
For well-localized premium PC titles, China is the single...
Cozy Games Are Starting To Repeat Live Service's Mistake
TL;DR:
Live service did not collapse because the model was wrong. It collapsed because the trust supporting the model ran out.
Cozy is four years into the same arc. Palia, Disney Dreamlight Valley, and the “cozy live ser...
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Authors
The writers behind this newsletter.
Award-winning producer of games and animation. 25 years shipping Video Games, Peabody-winning transmedia, and securing $17M+ for studios. Now shares the intelligence that stays in publisher meetings and conference bars at 11pm.
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