Games industry economist Joost van Dreunen joins ELO as Strategic Advisor

London, UK — 7 October 2025 — ELO (ELO Group Ltd.) is pleased to announce that Joost van Dreunen has joined as a Strategic Advisor. This appointment strengthens the company’s mission to empower gaming communities globally through its agency and venture activities.

Van Dreunen is a leading games industry economist, featured in Bloomberg, The New York Times, and Forbes. He is the author of ‘One Up: Creativity, Competition, and the Global Business of Video Games’ and teaches at NYU’s Stern School of Business.

Most recently, Joost founded Aldora.io, a data-intelligence firm for interactive entertainment. He was previously the co-founder and CEO of SuperData Research, a games market research firm acquired by Nielsen in 2018. He also publishes a weekly newsletter on gaming, tech, and entertainment called SuperJoost Playlist.

Too often, a game’s community is an afterthought. Success metrics focus on consumption, not participation. ELO’s mission is to empower the global gaming communities that drive gaming culture and innovation. Joost’s wealth of experience and economic insight will be invaluable in proving that empowered communities lead to greater success for games.

Joost will support ELO in developing insights to help game studios understand the impact of community empowerment. His entrepreneurial track record and experience advising investors, studios, and startups bring the expertise and perspective to help ELO scale its vision.

“The games business is at an inflection point,” said Joost van Dreunen. “The $220B global games market is under pressure as publishers cut costs and traditional growth stalls. The future of gaming will be defined by community-led innovation and new publishing models. ELO is at the forefront of this shift. I’m excited about ELO’s mission and am keen to contribute my perspective on data and economics to support their vision.”

“We are thrilled to have Joost on board as a Strategic Advisor,” says Wouter Sleijffers, co-founder of ELO. “Few people in the industry have such a fundamental, data-driven, micro- and macro-understanding of games and the games industry. Joost is a true entrepreneur, and his book, ‘One Up’, is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how the games industry works. We are keen to learn from and collaborate with Joost in community empowerment.”