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NEW YORK DAWN™ > Blog > Technology > On beginning The Combine and discovering numerous funding sources for indies | Justin Woodward
On beginning The Combine and discovering numerous funding sources for indies | Justin Woodward
Technology

On beginning The Combine and discovering numerous funding sources for indies | Justin Woodward

Last updated: June 23, 2025 2:10 pm
Editorial Board Published June 23, 2025
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Justin Woodward began out as one of many small cogs within the huge wheel of the sport business. He studied recreation artwork and design in faculty. Then he acquired a job at a triple-A recreation firm as a 3D background artist.

However he determined he would moderately be a recreation designer as a substitute of being one amongst many 3D artists. He began his personal graphic design studio, doing duties like emblem design that might join him with entrepreneurs. He discovered how one can fund tasks and create companies. He went on to create an indie recreation studio. He stayed on that path.

He finally began The MIX, the Media Indie Alternate, to assist recreation startups get seen at huge occasions just like the Sport Builders Convention. He picked up quite a lot of experience alongside the way in which and now evaluations greater than 700 pitches a 12 months whereas looking for the most effective startups that deserve consideration. In our session at GamesBeat Summit 2025, we did a hearth chat about his experiences. And we delved into the hidden ways in which builders can discover cash, whether or not it’s by means of Kickstarter, platform corporations, publishers, VCs and different means.

Right here’s an edited transcript of our interview.

Justin Woodward runs The MIX, or the Media Indie Alternate.

GamesBeat: Our session as we speak is “Game Funding Diversification for Indies.” I’m glad to be right here with Justin Woodward, who has an extended historical past within the recreation business. I’ll have him undergo a few of it right here. Are you able to speak to us about how you bought going within the indie house?

Justin Woodward: I’ve been within the recreation business for about 15 years now. I went to varsity for recreation artwork and design. Went to triple-A shortly after that as a 3D background artist. After that I actually didn’t–throughout that point I actually didn’t dig being a 3D artist. I wished to be a designer. That’s what I went to high school for, and a producer. As I began to determine my very own path, I began a graphic design studio the place I used that to do graphic design, web sites and emblem designs, for entrepreneurs, as a way to learn to fund tasks, learn to create companies, that form of factor. After which proper round that point, after I began the graphic design enterprise, I began a grasp’s program in recreation manufacturing administration. I began an impartial recreation studio.

He stayed on that path and acquired to satisfy quite a lot of mentors within the recreation business.

GamesBeat: When did you encounter that first must go and get one thing from any person?

Woodward: I used to be tremendous broke. I used to be sleeping on the ground throughout my grasp’s program. I used to be trying into what it takes to get angel funding. This was 2009, round that point. Kickstarter had simply began. We have been one of many first Kickstarters, and we failed, which was very attention-grabbing. However each time there was a chance, we used that pitch to push it additional. All the parents that took me beneath their wing, I used their mentorship to study extra.

On the time–I grew up in San Diego. There was Excessive Moon Studios. Rockstar San Diego. PlayStation, Sony San Diego. One among my mentors was Clint Keith, who was form of the grandfather of agile scrum. He took me to management workshops, when you bear in mind–that they had this stuff referred to as management boards. He would take me and I might work with people from EA, Ubisoft, all of those completely different triple-A corporations, instructing them agile scrum. I might study that as I used to be instructing, after which he was introducing me to other people. I used to be a giant fan of Oddworld Inhabitants. I acquired to satisfy Lorne Lanning, which was tremendous loopy to me. In individual. He was such a cool man. I acquired the arrogance to really feel like I may do that.

GamesBeat: Who was the one who first gave you a break by way of funding cash?

Woodward: We have been pitching the identical recreation. We tried Kickstarter. Then we moved on to Nexon. Nexon was attempting to get into indie stuff. Then this factor opened up referred to as the IGN Indie Open Home, across the finish of 2010 and into 2011. I didn’t have cash to go. I used to be in San Diego with my beat-up outdated Nissan Altima, sleeping on the ground. One among my mentors, who I met–she was from Venezuela. I used to be modifying movies for her. She mentioned, “If you take this opportunity to go up to San Francisco and get in, I’ll loan you $2,000 to cover it.”

Justin Woodward is founder of the MIX (Media IJustin Woodward is founding father of the MIX (Media Indie Alternate).

We ended up on one of many management discussion board journeys, which was attention-grabbing. I used to be already in San Francisco. I linked with the parents at IGN and mentioned, “I’m in town. Can I meet you in person and pitch you?” They beloved the thought. They mainly gave me every week. “You have to make a decision to come up here in a week.” I went to Alicia and went to Clint and mentioned, “What do you think I should do?” Clint mentioned, “You have to take the bull by the balls and make this happen.” Alicia mentioned she’d give me the $2,000. We packed our stuff and drove as much as the bay. We didn’t know what would occur, something like that. I used to be capable of persuade IGN to let me write weblog items for my faculty for an extra $2,000 a month. That helped me pay for it.

We confirmed the pitch at GDC. We had a bunch of individuals come and take a look at the sport. Then Alicia grew to become the primary investor. She invested $40,000. Adam Boyes, earlier than he was at PlayStation, was taking me to Capcom and Konami and all these completely different locations to pitch. I began getting the arrogance to pitch. The subsequent factor you realize, the following step was I acquired a take care of Grownup Swim Video games. That pushed it excessive. That’s after I actually understood how one can get my grounding in funding.

GamesBeat: What have been some observations concerning the indie ecosystem that you just encountered over time? San Francisco in some methods grew to become a Mecca for indies, however dwelling bills acquired so excessive that indies have been priced out of the town. They needed to go additional out into Oakland and different components of the bay. There’s at all times been this bigger sample that’s affected indies and decided whether or not or not they’re viable.

Woodward: It was very attention-grabbing throughout that point. You’d see this while you have been within the enterprise lengthy sufficient, see the cycles of the place issues are going. On the time social gaming was the factor. Everybody was doing Fb video games.

GamesBeat: That was the precise motive GamesBeat and its first convention took off. Corporations like Zynga had come on the scene, and everybody who was competing with them. All these social gaming people have been there. I’d left my job considering I might by no means cowl video games once more. I went to VentureBeat to cowl startups, and there have been no gaming startups on the time. However unexpectedly social gaming got here alongside.

Woodward: There was a bizarre transition within the time with the arrival of social gaming, and in addition indie improvement. For the IGN Indie Open Home, for instance–GameSpy, which was a publication on the time, additionally did backend multiplayer work. They labored with Iron Galaxy and plenty of others. That was their Indie Open Home accelerator. They have been attempting to get data for indies about what’s subsequent. They felt that indies can be the following huge factor, which they have been. Tremendous Meat Boy was blowing up. There have been all these enormous breakouts within the indie house, alongside know-how like Unity turning into fashionable. Unreal was working for indies. It created this landmark occasion.

San Francisco was positively a Mecca for that. When social gaming noticed quite a lot of layoffs, because the business was shifting towards cellular–in the event that they didn’t make that shift, there have been quite a lot of superb, gifted builders who wished to start out their very own studios.

GamesBeat: Typically everybody questions whether or not that new development goes to take off or not. But when it impressed all these traders to pour cash into the sport business, it turned out to be a very good factor. Get that cash, take that cash, and do what you would with it. Social gaming was a technique. Cellular gaming was a technique. In additional fashionable instances we’ve had blockchain gaming. All this stuff save quite a lot of recreation corporations from going beneath, even when typically they didn’t wish to do a blockchain recreation or one thing like that. It’s attention-grabbing that that development has at all times been there.

There’s at all times been this concern, too, that everybody has had across the “indie apocalypse.” Did you’re feeling that? Did you ever consider in that?

Woodward: I at all times thought it was BS. Everybody’s terrified of all these things, however you need to know how one can–I hustle. It’s important to know how one can transfer round. As you simply mentioned, each time there’s a wave, you possibly can trip that wave for funding. Across the time once we have been beginning, it was proper when the PS4 was getting its toes. They wanted content material. It was taking so lengthy for them to make first-party video games. The budgets have been ballooning, and the time it took. They jumped into indie. They began to put money into indie. PlayStation was dropping checks for round $200,000.

Each wave has this. You have been speaking about blockchain, which was attention-grabbing as properly. That has additionally shifted now. Blockchain fell off, and funding goes again into conventional net 2.0. You simply need to know how one can trip these waves.

GamesBeat: We’ve to dwell as much as the billing of our session right here. The place is the cash now? The place is the hidden cash?

Woodward: It’s important to know the place to look. That’s fairly apparent. However I simply talked about blockchain. Quite a lot of people who had blockchain cash, they nonetheless have that cash, however they’re trying to make investments it in numerous methods. Quite a lot of publishers acquired purchased up by Embracer and Xbox and so forth. A few of these corporations acquired let go. Saber Interactive purchased themselves out. They’re now trying to put money into smaller tasks, as a result of earlier than that implosion, their tasks have been round $15-30 million. Now they’ve let go of those enormous tasks. They’re keen to put money into video games which are nearer to the $1-2 million vary. Clearly there needs to be due diligence for this, but when builders could make a recreation for $250,000 to $500,000, that’s additionally a market the place they’re keen to make a wager that’s not so enormous.

Corporations with IP have been keen to make bets. We simply launched a recreation with Nickelodeon, a Rugrats recreation, in October. That was a smaller indie model of title with a giant title. Shortly after they noticed what we did, Paramount began to fund extra impartial tasks. Quite a lot of this has been popping up. Platforms, completely different funds–

GamesBeat: Meta put some huge cash into VR video games.

Dean Takahashi of GamesBeat tries out the Meta Quest 3 VR headset.Dean Takahashi of GamesBeat tries out the Meta Quest 3 VR headset.

Woodward: Precisely.

GamesBeat: How would you charge a few of these alternative ways of getting cash? You talked about Kickstarter. There are platform corporations, publishers, VCs. The place do you go first?

Woodward: It relies on the place you’re at along with your studio and your expertise, and in addition your relationships. Unbiased publishers, that looks like a very good wager, in addition to platforms. When you’ve got a very good marketing strategy and you’re feeling such as you’re going to be making a VC 10X-plus, then it is sensible to gravitate your recreation and your pitch towards that–I’m going to say it’s a recreation. Each time you talk with a funder, you need to perceive the vernacular. How do you talk with them? They’re in search of sure issues that others aren’t.

An impartial writer like Uncooked Fury or Devolver, they’re in search of creativity and expertise. They’re in search of your subsequent three video games. Whereas VCs they’re in search of the cash. How is that this going to earn a living? That additionally rides waves, like AI. VCs are in search of AI. Beforehand it was blockchain. Each wave, they’re going to be in search of sure issues to put money into, as a result of they’re investing in a number of studios. That’s one other factor to contemplate. Are you attempting to fund your studio in the long run, or are you attempting to fund one venture? That’s additionally going to find out the place a developer desires to go.

GamesBeat: In what capability are you in search of video games? What do you search for among the many indies?

Woodward: I form of skipped previous this, however I run The MIX, the Media Indie Alternate. As I began my studio in San Francisco, I spotted that there was a necessity for builders to get in touch with publishers, traders, and press. In 2012 I teamed up with some people and we ran this occasion out of the IGN workplaces. We had an incredible group of individuals. We had Towerfall and Retro Metropolis Rampage, some huge indies that confirmed up. It was packed. The subsequent 12 months I referred to as it The MIX. It was even larger. It was tremendous grassroots. There was a line wrapped across the IGN constructing till we couldn’t even slot in there. We needed to get different amenities. We began doing E3 and that sort of factor.

Now we do 4 or 5 reveals a 12 months. We’ve one arising in the course of the Summer season Sport Fest. We’ve a web-based occasion and an in-person occasion. Now that that is my enterprise, we’ve an obligation to our companions – one, the builders, two, the press, after which three, our sponsors – to have extraordinarily good content material. Any time we’ve an occasion, I look by means of, with my workforce, round 700 video games. Throughout a 12 months I’ll most likely look by means of 1,500 video games or extra. It’s attention-grabbing to see the completely different traits occurring. After I’m speaking to builders, I’m saying, “You have to do something extremely different.” If you happen to’re attempting to do one other roguelike Metroidvania, you’re misplaced within the shuffle regardless of how good it appears.

GamesBeat: What sort of video games are getting traction?

Woodward: Extra emergent gameplay, the place it doesn’t take as lengthy to develop the sport, however each time you play it’s completely different. That’s the roguelike style, in a approach, however what’s your twist on it? How are you constructing your neighborhood? That form of factor.

GamesBeat: Fascinated about different sources, are there any we haven’t talked about but? Or is the cash actually not there proper now? I see some publishers coming again. Acclaim simply arrange store once more beneath Alex Joseph. A number of years in the past there have been one thing like 30 publishers that had gone out of enterprise. When a writer goes down they take so many builders down with them.

Indies are the innovators in games now.Indies are the innovators in video games now.

Woodward: I additionally helped to run the Humble Black Sport Developer Fund for 4 years, the place we funded builders’ prototypes. Humble Video games–Ziff-Davis didn’t wish to deal in that sort of enterprise anymore, so Humble Video games shut down. What occurs to all of the expertise there? Now there’s a holding firm caring for them. It’s very attention-grabbing. The factor about it that’s cool, although–none of that’s cool so far as corporations tanking, however as an illustration, Versus Evil was purchased by TinyBuild. They purchased quite a lot of corporations proper earlier than the crash. These gifted individuals who ran these studios are nonetheless on the market. Now non-public traders wish to put money into these individuals. They’ve cash. However they’re privately in search of funds. It’s important to construct your community and perceive the place these people are at, what they’re in search of, and what ‘s on the market.

GamesBeat: We’ve had actual successes. Some triple-A video games have failed, however they depart a gap out there. Indies have moved in to take their place within the final couple of years. Helldivers 2, Palworld, Balatro. We’ve seen numerous video games with a single developer behind them, like Animal Properly. What do you suppose is occurring as you have a look at the patterns there?

Woodward: I positively suppose there’s a gap out there, particularly within the center, the double-An area. Instruments are permitting builders to make double-A experiences, massive experiences on decrease budgets. Additionally, for the reason that world is opening up so far as communication–it’s at all times been there, however now you can work with builders in Brazil, in Indonesia, within the Philippines, that form of factor. You may have a simpatico relationship the place it’s not simply transactional. That’s opened up the potential for making video games very lean and really shortly. Quite a lot of impartial builders fail after they’re attempting to compete with market costs and that form of factor, moderately than negotiating how they’re doing enterprise with distributors and the parents they work with. Actually protecting it lean to flip that for a win. The delayed gratification of being an entrepreneur is actual. You don’t wish to elevate $2 million and pay your self $350,000. I’ve seen that form of factor occur.

GamesBeat: I simply got here again from Gamescom Latam in Brazil. There have been 130,000 individuals on the present. I met with a lot of startups there. Newzoo places them at about $7.7 billion in income out of the $180 billion or so for the entire recreation business. It’s a smaller a part of the market, however it’s rising at 6% a 12 months. The U.S. is rising at solely .5% per 12 months or so. Wanting on the Convoy information for the primary quarter, there have been zero offers between VCs and anybody in South America. Likewise there was nothing in Australia and nothing in Africa. All the cash went into Asia, Europe, and america.

I see a disconnect right here. This is likely one of the fastest-growing areas on this planet for video games. It has a vibrant indie market. But no person is placing cash into it. The cash financing no matter is occurring in Latin America is all homegrown. That appears loopy.

Woodward: If anybody is investing, they need to put money into these studios. We’re working with a studio proper now, one in all our companions, they usually’re doing superb work in full manufacturing. At The MIX we work with builders all around the world – Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia. We see so many nice video games now. The Latin American Sport Showcase, David Lucio is operating that. There are such nice video games arising there that at the moment are at The MIX or in Day of the Devs or any of those showcases, as a result of they’re high notch. That’s the place issues are going to go. If traders are sensible, they’re going to start out trying there. I do know there are quite a lot of taxes and rules and hoops you need to leap by means of. It prices a bit extra when you’re working with people in, say, Brazil.

GamesBeat: If there are methods for underrepresented communities and recreation builders from these communities to get funding–is there recommendation you’d have on that entrance?

Woodward: From The MIX, I additionally began a nonprofit referred to as Expertise Studios, which has a fund, the XP Fund. We ran an accelerator with Netflix Video games to assist black builders. The nonprofit can be doing enterprise as Black Voices in Gaming. We’ve a neighborhood that works with tons {of professional} builders. Quite a lot of it’s simply entry. Entry to networks. Figuring out the place the funds are. Being ready to do these pitches. However the expertise is similar. Discovering the cash is similar. There could also be further funding choices, like by means of our program. Quite a lot of this has dried up because of the political local weather.

GamesBeat's Dean Takahashi and The MIX's Justin Woodward at GamesBeat Summit. GamesBeat’s Dean Takahashi and The MIX’s Justin Woodward at GamesBeat Summit.

Xbox has achieved lots within the house. We work with them for his or her DAP program, the Developer Acceleration Program. They’ve been doing issues behind the scenes for years that folks didn’t find out about. These are the parents you wish to speak to. Likewise PlayStation has had one thing behind the scenes. They’re not blasting it out to the world, however they’re funding tasks from underrepresented devs.

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