At GamesBeat Next 2026 in San Francisco, veteran game developer Rich Vogel, Blue Moon Production Company director Richard Browne and Dragon Snacks Games CEO Jen Maclean took the stage to argue that tighter funding and new tools are forcing studios to reconsider how they build games. Frost Giant Studios co-founder and CEO Tim Morten moderated.

Maclean opened the conversation by describing today’s funding market, which she says is the toughest of her 30-year career.

“I think we’re in the eye of the hurricane in a lot of ways because funding is significantly more difficult to get,” she said. “I think more difficult than I’ve ever seen it in 30 years of experience.” Maclean then explained how games-focused venture capital firms have largely disappeared from industry events, with roughly eight at Dice Europe in September 2024, one in 2025 and, as far as she knows, none this year.

Next, Vogel pointed to the gap between mid-budget hits and the most expensive blockbusters. He said games costing $40 million to $60 million are competing with titles that cost $300 million to $500 million, and that the math no longer works.

“You realize something has got to give, and the thing that has to give is how we produce our games,” he said. He added that “$250 million, $350 million budgets are not sustainable” when studios have to sell enormous numbers of units just to recover development costs.

Browne said the problem is concentrated in the West. “The cost of producing games here is just far, far too much,” he said.

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