About this episode

Blake and Mitch discuss the current funding environment for games and the challenges and opportunities for founders.

Blake and Mitch discuss the current environment for funding games and some of the challenges and opportunities for founders in the games space. They begin with a short survey of the current venture capital environment and the difficulties presented by industry consolidation, which has taken several of the important buyers out of the market. They also look at the pivots of some of the major game-specific venture funds, and how their investment strategies are changing to meet the current moment. They turn to discussing the need to do more work, to show more proof, with less cash. They talk about the need for founders be prepared to answer questions about AI (and its implications for reducing costs). Regardless of whether AI will actually make games less expensive to create, venture capital investors will assume AI leverage in a new studio. They warn against trying to hand-wave or finesse the AI question, and instead argue for a purposeful, first-principles approach to this new, disruptive technology. Your hosts turn to a look at the history of Stardew Valley and show how it has become a shining example of an independently-developed Forever Game that reached extraordinary success in…

More episodes of Gamecraft

• QF Update: World Cup Consumer Guide (Ep. 36) · July 9, 2026 · 1h 33m
• R32 Update: World Cup Consumer Guide · June 28, 2026 · 1h 22m
• World Cup Consumer Guide (Ep. 34) · June 12, 2026 · 1h 24m
• Holy Grail, or Poison Chalice? (Ep. 33) · May 27, 2026 · 52 min
• A Theory of Fun · May 13, 2026 · 1h 5m
• Navigating the AI Future (Ep. 30) · May 6, 2026 · 1h 18m

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Gamecraft podcast page.