- Labubus
There’s still no game for this. We’re missing out on one of the biggest cultural phenomena of all time, especially one that originated in the East and should have a Cookie Run Kingdom spinoff within months. In case anyone is not familiar, the CEO who made these dolls is now worth more than Peter Thiel (~$22B).
At the very least, we should be having IP collabs. These have timelines of days, not months or years. And where is Fortnite? Fortnite was supposed to be our cultural vacuum, sucking in anything that’s relevant outside of games and bringing it into our world. That’s the metaverse I want to live in – the one in which we aggregate all the cultural elements and provide new ways to interact with them, fundamentally different from the other forms. Bi-directional, not omnidirectional.
- K-Pop Demon Hunters
K-Pop Demon Hunters is now the most-viewed Netflix movie of all time, accomplished in record-time. In case anyone is also unfamiliar, another product of the East, and perhaps the one with the strongest cultural voice. Perhaps in a bizarre way, Squid Games walked so K-pop demon hunters could run. And yet, despite dominating not only the most viewed charts, the movie’s songs have crept up into the top 10 listening charts. The silence from Netflix Games is deafening. Ironic for a music-based movie.
One of the key challenges Netflix Games faces is that it’s hard to know who the winners and losers will be. Good luck trying to build a 2+ year dev cycle around new IP. The fact that Eastern culture continues its westward drift is also a reminder that perhaps Netflix’s game strategy should too.
Our only counterattack right now is Roblox, which has fostered not only the phenomenon in Grow a Garden, which continues to sustain a healthy, active user base, but also Steal A Brain Rot. Repeated hit-fostering is a crucial bellwether symbol, showing that Roblox has a chance to capture the Zeitgeist in a way that only Fortnite, Call of Duty, and Halo have previously (sorry, Nintendo stans).