Reach-out Strategies for Investors

A structured approach to mitigating the investment gap

The gaming industry has long faced challenges in aligning investor expectations with the realities of game development. While investors seek clear financial returns, developers are driven by creativity and innovation. To address this disconnect, a series of meetings were launched, bringing together a select group of investors and senior industry professionals to explore potential solutions.

Reaching out to non-game investors with a competence building approach

As an initial step, Pilots 7 and 8 focused on facilitating open discussions in secure, informal settings, fostering dialogue between key stakeholders. These discussions, held in Linköping, Stockholm, and Vilnius, brought together senior industry professionals and non-game investors to collaboratively identify investment challenges, mitigate risks, and explore sustainable funding models for gaming start-ups.

One of the most significant takeaways was the need for developers to better understand investor perspectives. Many investors—especially those from outside the gaming industry—struggle to assess the success potential of games in such a highly volatile market. To bridge this gap, it was suggested that game studios expand their pitches beyond financial and creative potential, incorporating broader societal impact factors such as educational or environmental benefits.

Another key discussion point was the importance of early investor involvement in the development process. Investors emphasised the need for stronger performance-tracking metrics to assess project progress before commercialisation. Unlike other tech investments, game development follows a unique trajectory, requiring specialised tools to evaluate pre-release success potential. Implementing such metric-driven tracking systems could significantly enhance transparency, improve risk assessment, and strengthen investor confidence in the gaming sector.

These first pilots were extremely valuable for BSG-Go! as they not only validated again the need for action in the gaming industry, but also has provided crucial insights that have guided the projects future efforts and served as initial starting points to strengthen the relationship between investors and game developers. These insights include:

1. 1. Investor-Developer Relationships Must Evolve: Studios should consider presenting broader societal values in their pitches, such as educational or environmental impact.
   2. The Challenge of Pure Gaming vs. Gamification: the importance of presenting clear financial metrics in investment proposals, making it easier for investors to assess potential returns.
   3. Early-Stage Investments and the Risk of Premature Exits: early exits by founders remain a key concern. One proposed solution is an owner’s directive, a structured agreement ensuring that founders remain committed for the long term
   4. The Growing Appeal of Co-Investments: To mitigate risks, co-investments—where multiple investors contribute to a single project or company—were highlighted as an effective strategy.
   5. Social Due Diligence: More Than Just Numbers: Beyond financials, investors want to connect on a personal level with the teams they fund.
   6. Educating Developers on Investor Collaboration: Developers should view investors as partners who provide business expertise and financial sustainability, not just funding.
   7. The Potential of Project Investments: One emerging investment model discussed was project-based funding, where investors fund specific game projects rather than entire studios.

Peer2peer exchange as think tank for a more resilient and efficient investement landscape

One of the most striking pilots in BSG Go! was the “game investor summit” where open-minded game investors (both angel and VC investors) met in an informal, enclosed “safe” space, without any accosting from people wanting to discuss investment into their projects or teams, hosted under the Chatham House rules (roughly “what is discussed in this room stays in this room”). During BSG Go! we piloted this approach three times, twice during the Berlin Games Ground trade fair and once in Copenhagen in conjunction with the match-making event between select studios and investors Match-CPH. New investment methods and concepts were presented and then at length discussed among the participating investors. For the participants, the discussions were summarised in a blog – in keeping with the Chatham House Rules, they are only circulated among the attendees.

Stockholm Business Region with support of East Sweden Game used the opportunity of the annual Invest in Games event to discuss solution 1 with the curated approach for investor trust building and test the peer2peer exchange amongt investors (a component in solution 2) as a reach-out method for sustaining a resilient investment landscape for the game industry. These pilots took place three times (2023, 2024 and 2025) in the beautiful Biblioteket Live before the Invest in Games event to benefit from the presence of investors in Stockholm.

Lithuanian Innovation centre in collaboration with the GameOn trade fair in Vilnius organised a similar investor approach pilot during the trade fair.

All pilots were highly successful, in particular those with the game investors’ peer2peer approach – which proved to be a unique experience for all attendees and which has a great potential for a durable implementation as part of game trade fairs.

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