This rather short Hook hovers around the state of the mobile game, its development-distribution-monetization side, and what that means for us as gamers.

01 “Analysis: Mobile games explosion comes with a price”

by Colin Campbell / on Polygon

What in the world happened to games that they’ve become a mere subject of numbers and matrixes in spreadsheets? An in-depth piece about the state of mobile gaming. And yes, about data and analysis.

“While there are still creative guys in their back-rooms knocking out surprise hits, most of the money in mobile gaming is going to performance-marketers who understand how to take a hit game and monetize it all the way down to the very leavings. The ability to navigate response advertising is not so easily found among sexy young game developers. It is the domain of people in gray suits, adapted perfectly to a number-crunching matrix where zero point one of a percent can make all the difference between success and failure.”

02 “Mobile is burning, and free-to-play binds the hands of devs who want to help”

by Barry Meade / on Polygon

This article turns against the common conceptions and misconceptions of a games industry that seems to have abandoned interest in the audience. A case for why it’s time to change tack in thinking about and executing mobile gaming, so developers can deliver great gaming experiences.

“Free-to-play producers chime that quality levels are obviously fine, "If it's making money it's objectively good, see?" Well no, not quite, shit sells by the ton every day. In the real world Burger King doesn't get three Michelin stars. Burger King gets to be happy with its revenue not its reviews, and our industry’s inability to see the difference will only pull us further into our creative vacuum.”

03 “Gabe Newell on what makes Valve tick”

by Andrea Peterson, with Gabe Newell / on The Washington Post

Some people say Valve is the future of the company. No hierarchies, no job titles, a focus on creating value for the people. In this insightful interview, Valve’s co-founder Gabe Newell talks about why they do what they do, how they manage, and how this somehow magically attracts some of the most talented people on the planet.

“One of the nice things about having pretty distributed decision-making in the company is that it tends to scale really well. You can trust that lots of good decisions are being made all the time.”