The Playable Futures Podcast has been launched by GamesIndustry.biz, in collaboration with Ukie and Diva Agency. It accompanies the successful Playable Futures article series, a collection of insights, interviews and articles from global games leaders sharing their visions of where the industry and medium will go next. Now in podcast format, Playable Futures is hosted by games journalist Will Freeman and is available to listen to below.
New episodes will be added to this page as they are released - so be sure to check back. Alternatively, you can keep up to date with the podcast by following us on Twitter, LinkedIn or subscribing to the newsletter.
Episode One - Sam Barratt
"In eight years' time, I'd like to see the video games industry being the greenest industry in the world and that the players that play games are coming to it, not just to escape, but to give back as well."
The wider creative industries are increasingly looking to games for inspiration. After all, it’s probably fair to say that gaming is now bigger than the Beatles – so why wouldn’t the world of music and film be looking to video games for a steer on how to engage their audiences?
This episode, the first of the series, see Will Freeman speak to the UN Environment's Chief of Education, Youth & Advocacy, Sam Barratt, about the United Nation’s Playing for the Planet Alliance, and why the UN sees games as part of its mission’s future.
In this wide-ranging chat, Sam reflects on how the gaming sector can use its influence to shift the world from where we are to where it needs to be. As a medium that inspires and engages like no other, he discusses how games could encourage audiences to act and make a real difference.
Episode Two - Tommy Palm
“You want more intricate interaction with games. Visually, they are stunning, but you want more interaction with your games. In VR you have hands, eye-tracking, and voice.”
There are now more than ten million headsets in the market, so with VR well established as an accessible gaming platform, the barriers to entry are now significantly reduced. With the initial years of hype behind us, the format has begun to flourish on its own terms, becoming a fertile creative space for experimental games and ideas that were previously impossible to achieve.
In this episode Will Freeman chats with Tommy Palm, founder and CEO of Resolution Games to reflect on the future of virtual reality. An industry veteran responsible for the enormous success of Candy Crush Saga, Palm has since shifted his focus to the world of virtual reality, courtesy of Ultimechs, Resolution’s new multiplayer VR gaming experience.
Palm reflects on VR’s complete reinvention of the traditional gaming experience, which in many ways parallels the evolution he witnessed in the mobile gaming space, and the world of creative possibilities that are only possible in VR.