E153: Why Game Studios Keep Funding Projects the Team Knows Are Broken

Free Live Workshop for Game Dev Leaders: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg/leaders-workshop

Are you leading a game team or managing a reality distortion field?

In this third installment of our series with Leif, we confront a common occurrence in game development: "shared delusion." When project leads, executives, and producers trade the sometimes brutal reality around us for short-term optimism and investor cover, studios build massive, expensive ships on top of broken foundations.

Ben and Leif break down how incentives twist leadership roles, why the truth becomes an organizational liability, and how to build a culture that celebrates reality over fake consensus.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• What drives producers and leaders to choose delusion over reality
• Why short-term financial alignment often destroys long-term game development
• How executive pressures and broken incentive structures create project distortion fields
• What lessons game studios can draw from Supercell
• How to empower your team to call out problems before it's too late

If you're a leader in game dev who wants to build games grounded in reality rather than managing a delicate house of cards built on shared "white" lies, this episode is for you.

🔗Level up your leadership: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6

🔗Connect with Leif on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leif-johansen-52139141/

🔗 Watch the first installment of this series here: https://youtu.be/woOMalag9MA

🔗 Watch the second installment of this series here: https://youtu.be/ISDJAMGBVOU

Connect with us:

🔗Ben's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-carcich/

🔗BBG's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/building-better-games/

🔗Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildingbettergames/#

🔗Website: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg

🔗YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@buildingbettergames

If you want help leading teams and studios to better games players love, you can reach me at: [email protected]

#GameDev #GameDevelopment #GameStudio #GameLeadership #Production