Heavy industry investment during the pandemic "made us all lose sight of building sustainable companies"

• Industry experts from Konvoy, 10six Games and Sumo Digital share their games market insight, focusing particularly at the potential of better UA, new investment models and Roblox.
• Pocket Gamer Connects London will take place on January 19th to 20th, 2026.

It's no secret the challenging few years the games industry has had and continues to go through, despite a return to growth.

One of the most prominent challenges over the past few years for game studio founders and bosses has been access to funding to keep their companies afloat.

Alongside the lack of capital for start-ups, US VC Konvoy's managing partner Josh Chapman argues another challenge studios face is price-conscious consumers that have had their finances stretched.

“Until either of these things change, I think the macro of the games industry will remain in its more challenged state," he says. "I foresee this lasting another one to two years."

This funding crunch is exacerbated by growing marketing costs. Chapman highlights UA as the main challenge facing studios.

"The biggest opportunity is for companies and platforms to help bring down the cost of UA, which would meaningfully drive positive economics and accelerate innovation across the sector.”

It's an area he hopes to see positive change in 2026. At Pocket Gamer Connects London (January 19th to 20th, 2026) Chapman will argue “more people should be focused on solving this”. He also says that “creative revenue models need to emerge for the increasingly cost-conscious consumer”. 

Finding funding

Amid a tough investment landscape, some studios are still putting together funds. 10six Games CEO Susan Cummings just closed her studio’s third funding round for its forthcoming post apocalyptic time-traveling roguelike game YOU vs Zombies, and she’ll be sharing her expertise at PG Connects London.

"The heavy investment that happened during the pandemic made us all lose sight of the importance of building sustainable companies with realistic expectations and business models," she says.

With VC funding having all but left the sector and with some publishers being too predatory in their terms, she argues finding new funding models is essential.

“Funding models and finding new avenues to back new game IP is, as always, the biggest challenge and the biggest opportunity,” she states.

One such alternative is “the angel investment community”, which she hopes will become more active over time. However, she warns “It's going to take a 'village' mentality to fix and rebuild the landscape for game development".

Embracing AI

Another topic Cummings is keen to address is AI. In 2026, she’d like to see the industry embrace the technology, pointing out that “we should be harnessing it and finding creative new games and experiences that it can unlock".

Kicking back against the criticisms, Cummings argues: "AI can't make games - it doesn't have the creativity or taste for that. But we know how much players want to create within their games - hence games like Roblox and Minecraft - unlocking the ability to do that in a single-player game will be very powerful."

And speaking of Roblox, that’s precisely what Sumo Digital’s vice president Tomas Rawlings will be doing at PGC London 2026. Sumo focuses on game development and co-development including various Roblox projects.

He says the significance of the $4 billion Roblox ecosystem hasn't been fully understood.

“It’s an area of the industry that is growing in both audience and titles”, explains Rawlings, pointing out how Roblox has created a vibrant culture in terms of the memeification of gaming. 

“Titles that can encapsulate a fun, silly, and/or clever idea in an approachable way are doing well," he says, adding titles that lean into their genres and "really deliver for the players who love that type of game are thriving”.

Join us on January 19th and 20th for more essential games industry insight from over 290 expert speakers - book your PG Connects London ticket today.