A grant, an investor or a shawarma shop? Yes! 💸

A grant, an investor or a shawarma shop? Yes! 💸

At Moscow Video Game Week, I led a session on where developers find funding. We didn't find a universal formula. But we did hear stories that don't fit into a single model.

Broken Arrow was self-funded for its first two years. One of the partners even opened a shawarma shop to earn money for development. The reasoning is straightforward: the more you manage to build yourself, the stronger your position when negotiating with a publisher.

The War of the Worlds: Siberia and Distortion received grants. But funding comes with budgets, performance indicators and obligations. And when schedules slip or budgets grow, you need a financial cushion and an honest conversation with your investor. The team behind Red Recon: 1944 found another route: it put revenue from a mobile game into developing a PC project.

That's how it goes: every studio finds its own route. To open up more of those routes, the industry could certainly use several more large funds with a mandate to invest in video games — backed both by industry players and by major corporate groups outside gaming. What do you think? Who do you think might fit the bill?

If you're thinking along similar lines, drop me a message. Let's talk it over.