Author: Tim Browne

Management, Video games

The Candle Trend: Why “Italian Brainrot” Is a Warning for the Entertainment Industry

Italian Brainrot is not really a brand, a franchise, or even a coherent creative project. It is a label that got stuck to a wave of AI-generated absurdist characters that flooded short-form video and somehow ended up on plush toys, soda cans, and merchandise shelves worldwide. If you work in entertainment IP, the temptation is to log it as a weird little footnote and move on. That would be a mistake, because what happened here has not happened before and it is not going back in the box. Continue reading The Candle Trend: Why “Italian Brainrot” Is a Warning for the Entertainment Industry

Unknown's avatarTim BrowneLeave a comment
Indie Vtubing, Management, Vtubing

The VTuber Contingency Problem – Part 1: The Value of IP

In VTubing, the character is the product.

The avatar, the personality, and the brand identity form the core value of the entire ecosystem. Merchandising, collaborations, sponsorships, and licensing all rely on the stability of that IP.

If the company cannot reliably control or retain that IP, the entire business model becomes fragile. Continue reading The VTuber Contingency Problem – Part 1: The Value of IP

Unknown's avatarTim BrowneLeave a comment
Management, Video games, Vtubing

An Introduction to E³ Part 3: ENABLE

Creative industries have a strange habit of ignoring the conditions required to produce creativity.

Teams are rushed.
Budgets are misallocated.
Projects scale beyond their justification.
Then when the result fails, the conclusion is that the idea didn’t work.

More often, the environment failed the project.

This is where the third pillar of E³ comes in: Enable. Continue reading An Introduction to E³ Part 3: ENABLE

Unknown's avatarTim BrowneLeave a comment
Management, Video games

An Introduction to E³ Part 2: ENGAGE

We do not live in a one-screen world anymore.

There was a time when content had to serve everyone at once. One television. One living room. One shared experience. If something was broadcast, it was broadcast to a household, not an individual.

That world is gone.

Now everyone has their own screen. Their own feed. Their own algorithm. Their own schedule.

And that changes how IP has to function. Continue reading An Introduction to E³ Part 2: ENGAGE

Unknown's avatarTim BrowneLeave a comment
Management, Video games, Vtubing

An Introduction to E³ Part 1: EMPOWER

Modern entertainment has a problem.

Demand is exploding, but production cannot keep up.

Games take longer to make. Updates are expected faster. Communities move on quicker. Meanwhile, the biggest IP holders are no longer competing against one game or one show, they are competing against entire ecosystems.

If you want an IP to survive long-term, you need more than output. You need momentum. And the most scalable form of momentum is not produced internally.

It is created by the community. Continue reading An Introduction to E³ Part 1: EMPOWER

Unknown's avatarTim BrowneLeave a comment
Video games

How User-Generated Content Validated Age of Empires II, And Why UGC Is the Future of Gaming

User-generated content (UGC) is often framed as a nice-to-have or a community perk in gaming. But the story of Age of Empires II shows that UGC can be a de facto market test, incubator of talent, and essential signal of long-term value even convincing a major publisher to revive a dormant franchise. Continue reading How User-Generated Content Validated Age of Empires II, And Why UGC Is the Future of Gaming

Unknown's avatarTim BrowneLeave a comment
Hololive, Indie Vtubing, Nijisanji, Vtubing

VTubing in 2026: From Live IPs to Industry Consolidation

2025 was one of the most important periods in VTubing’s history not because of any single breakout star or controversy, but because it forced the industry to confront uncomfortable structural truths. Community sentiment, particularly on platforms like X, has increasingly framed VTubing as a space where corporations are losing relevance and indies are “winning.” That narrative is loud, emotionally charged, and largely misleading. Continue reading VTubing in 2026: From Live IPs to Industry Consolidation

Unknown's avatarTim BrowneLeave a comment
Video games

The Game Awards: Gaming’s biggest show and its growing identity crisis

After the somewhat controversial streamer awards earlier in the week, The Game Awards delivered few surprises as Expedition 33 dominated the night and claimed a record nine awards. Even so, the ceremony was not without its own share of debate, alongside several announcements that ranged from exciting to fairly routine for the video game industry. In this article we will break down this year’s show and consider whether The Game Awards remains a positive force for the medium or whether it is beginning to feel like it is chasing the prestige of the Oscars. Continue reading The Game Awards: Gaming’s biggest show and its growing identity crisis

Unknown's avatarTim BrowneLeave a comment
Indie Vtubing, Vtubing

How I 200x’d a Vtuber’s Youtube in two months

Meet Miyra Mirage, a snow leopard Vtuber based in Australia. Miyra began her Vtubing journey in mid-2025 but recently experienced an incredible surge in growth between September and November, jumping from just 100 subscribers on YouTube to over 20,000, while also gaining nearly 2,000 new followers on Twitch during the same period. Continue reading How I 200x’d a Vtuber’s Youtube in two months

Unknown's avatarTim BrowneLeave a comment