Paul Ingalls

Good games often feel simple to play. Making them is hard work. I recently spoke at Gamesforum in SF. The conference brought together experts to discuss user acquisition and monetization strategies for mobile games. I had the chance to share insights from running a chess learning platform Chess.ing and learned valuable lessons from industry leaders. I discussed using Discord for activities. I explained how parents plan for after school. This means they often prefer annual payments over monthly ones. I also talked about chess. For chess, curriculum should adapt to each student. Girls and boys approach problems differently, and we adjust our curriculum to match these learning styles. More girls are playing online now than two years ago, which reflects broader changes in how young people engage with competitive activities. The conference taught me how much testing shapes successful games. Games that seem polished today went through years of iteration. Players are tired of generic ads that break immersion, dah no surprise! Advertising can enhance rather than interrupt gameplay when it aligns with the story and offers genuine rewards. This was hard to believe until I saw a few. Two metrics came up repeatedly in conversations. ROAS measures how much revenue each dollar of advertising generates. ARPUU tracks revenue per paying user, helping teams understand which players contribute most to sustainability. Segmentation matters more than I expected. There are countless ways to group users based on behavior, preferences, and engagement patterns. The best teams keep experimenting with different segments to find what works for their specific audience. Everyone at the conference talked about AI and personalization. I also met Devin Becker who was terrific. He suggested teaching chess by starting with endgames rather than openings. Most curricula begin with how pieces move and opening principles. Starting from endgames might help students understand the purpose behind each move earlier in their learning journey. Chess combines art, science, and sport in ways that few other activities do, and each conversation reminded me how many approaches exist to teach it well. Thank you Josh Vowles, Mariam Ahmad, Joe S., and the entire Gamesforum team for putting it all together 🎉 

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One of the scariest parts of the 2026 GDC State of the Industry report isn’t just layoffs. It’s how funding itself has dried up compared to last year. Look at the shift from 2025 to 2026: > Self‑funding dropped from over half to about a third > Publishing / project‑based funding also dropped in share > Banks, accelerators, and other “extra” funding sources have basically exited for now Translation: There are fewer games in active development, backed by fewer funding sources, and every remaining project is carrying a lot more pressure. In 2025, more than half of devs were basically betting on themselves. In 2026, that’s closer to a third. At the same time, publisher‑funded projects also went down. So we’re in a world where: > Fewer projects are getting greenlit > Fewer safety nets exist > And cancellation risk is higher than completion as a cause of layoffs If you’re running one of the relatively few funded games that made it through this filter, you’re not just “lucky to have work.” You’re sitting on a very expensive bet that the rest of the market is no longer willing to make. In that environment, you can’t afford fantasy roadmaps, invisible work, and “we’ll figure it out later” planning. When funding tightens like this, my job is simple: > Take the project you already fought to get funded > Cut the noise > And rebuild a realistic plan so this rare bet actually ships instead of becoming another cancellation statistic. I’ll drop the link to the 2026 GDC report (and the 2025 comparison chart) in the comments so you can see the contrast yourself. If you’re a funded indie or AA studio head looking at these numbers and thinking, “We have to make this one count,” comment ROADMAP and I’ll send you the Defund Risk Check template I use to align scope, time, and team around a plan that can actually survive in this funding climate. #gamedev #gamefunding #gdc2026 #stateoftheindustry #indiegames #AAstudios #producers #production

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