PGC London's industry health check: Investment, AI, D2C, and advantages of the UK

• Curve Games' Stuart Dinsey, Mihada Capital's Jim Ying, Amber Studio's Mihai Pohontu, ustwo games' María Sayans, and FastSpring's Chip Thurston spoke on a panel at PGC London.
• They discussed the state of the games industry entering 2026, with hopes and expectations for the year ahead.

‘The Industry Health Check’ served to update Pocket Gamer Connects London patrons last week on a range of topics like investment opportunities, AI, direct-to-consumer, and the strengths of the UK.

Checking in on the state of the games industry some years on from the pandemic, Curve Games CEO Stuart Dinsey hosted a panel where speakers expressed broadly positive but grounded perspectives, with a sense of emergence out of a slump.

The panel featured Mihada Capital founder and managing director Jim Ying, Amber Studio CEO Mihai Pohontu, ustwo games CEO María Sayans, and FastSpring head of gaming Chip Thurston.

"It’s not like we’re ever going to get to a place where making games is a pain-free experience. It’s about figuring out that flavour of pain, how you can build something that can succeed. It’s about really adapting to the reality of what is now a more mature industry," said Sayans.

"I think we’re emerging into a new ‘something’. The definition of what that means really depends on the space that you operate in."

She suggested that though the games industry has matured, there is still room for growth of "a different kind". Developers and publishers must simply look for it in different places.

AI, D2C and UGC: the latest trends

A number of hot topics came up during the panel, chiefly AI, D2C and UGC. Different panellists focused on the potential of each.

"AI is a controversial topic," Pohontu said. While acknowledging how the tech has put some people out of work, he believes that AI-centric design and LLMs will allow developers to imagine new types of games, which could bring rise to entirely new genres.

It’s a use for the tech he believes should "definitely" be explored, and that it’s something developers should be excited about, but he hopes that going forward AI will be used to help create new games without replacing people.

Pohontu said the industry's mass layoffs have hopefully been an "anomaly", and hopes they are over in 2026.

Meanwhile, Thurston concentrated on the strengths of D2C, already proving itself a profitable avenue in 2025 with web shops’ exemption to App Store and Play Store fees.

Highlighting how prevalent the D2C topic is among studios, he presented data from a FastSpring survey that said 57% already have a web shop and 96% without one plan to utilise them in the future.

Still, despite this keenness from companies, Thurston reminded that a player’s trust shouldn’t be "taken for granted". He claimed it often is, and that studios and publishers must consider how much more accustomed a user is to spending on a major app store than a web shop.

He suggested consistent branding and a consistent voice with the game itself can help reassure players the web shop is genuine, and noted that D2C is likely to work better for a midcore game than a casual title. The former has more predetermined decision-making, where casual games’ more impulsive purchases don’t translate as easily to D2C with the extra steps involved.

Ying followed with the advantages of UGC, which had a strong showing in 2025 through Roblox’s record player milestones.

He said: "Whenever you have disruption in the gaming ecosystem and there’s room for new players to emerge, that’s when there’s a significant upside for both developers and investors."

Investment opportunities

On the subject of investment, Ying noted that investments came easier during the pandemic, but today gamers are benefiting from a lot of content while developers have more competition. He shared what it is investors are looking to back in 2026.

Put plainly, they are looking for growth opportunities and return on investment, so Ying advised looking at investment through this lens even as the one trying to raise capital.

More specifically, he suggested new companies should focus on making "a great game" rather than an IP, as merchandise will be irrelevant if no one is interested in the game. Whereas, a great game that players are interested in will consequently be of interest to investors.

Pohontu expressed his hope that 2026 will see a resurgence in investments, meanwhile Thurston suggested publishers must keep pushing for investment to manifest this reality. He warned that if publishers think there are few investment opportunities, they won’t seek them out and there will indeed be fewer investments.

"Perception is reality," Thurston said.

This mindset can only change so much, however. Ying stated that the games industry needs a shake-up like a new platform to open up more opportunities, and that until this happens, developers will be "competing for the same pie".

Meanwhile, Sayans spoke of cultivating communities and growing the pie, rather than competing for the same piece of it.

UK advantages

Lastly, the panellists discussed the UK games sector specifically. UKIE is growing, meaning more companies are being created in the UK, and the panel praised the country’s quality of talent in and outside of London.

Sayans suggested this isn’t only a benefit for UK games companies but should also be an incentive for international studios to expand into the country, especially from the US. She described the UK games sector as "friendlier" in many ways, although acknowledged room to improve in hiring young talent out of university.

Incentives to bring more foreign talent to the UK also need fixing, according to Sayans.

The UK Video Games Council also held a panel at Pocket Gamer Connects London, where it was suggested the industry needs a loud, collective voice to gather more government support.

Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco is taking place on March 9th, 2026.