Game Over for "Growth at All Costs": The New CFO Playbook
It has been a few weeks since I last wrote to you. In that time, I’ve been observing a massive shift in the conversations happening in boardrooms across the gaming industry.
The "Infinite Growth" cheat code has been disabled.
If you look at the headlines; layoffs, studio closures, and cancelled projects, it paints a bleak picture. But as a Strategic CFO, I don’t see the end of the industry; I see a return to fundamentals.
For the better part of a decade, gaming finance was often about Top-Line Growth and User Acquisition (UA) at any cost. Today, the conversation has shifted violently toward Unit Economics and Sustainability.
The Shift: From User Growth to Contribution Margin
In 2021, a pitch deck could raise millions on the promise of Daily Active Users (DAU) and a "sticky" mechanic. In 2025, investors and Boards are asking different questions.
They don't care how many users you have. They care how much it costs to keep them versus how much they spend.
If you are leading a gaming studio, your finance function needs to pivot from "Accounting" to "Strategic Forensics." Here is what that looks like:
1. Ruthless LTV/CAC Analysis
We used to tolerate a long payback period on UA spend because capital was cheap. That is no longer the case.
The Old Way: "We are acquiring users for $5 and they spend $12 over 3 years. Let's scale!"
The Strategic Way: "If we don't recover that UA spend within 180 days (ROAS), our cash flow cannot support the burn rate required to scale."
The Action: A Strategic CFO stops the ad spend before the cash crunch hits, not after.
2. Identifying "Zombie" Projects Early
In my time working with companies like Supercell and CCP Games, I learned that killing a game is just as important as launching one.
The most dangerous drain on a studio’s P&L isn't the failed prototype; it’s the "okay" game that limps along, consuming server costs and LiveOps attention without ever hitting breakout metrics.
We need to have the emotional intelligence to tell the creative teams: "The data says this isn't the one. Let's save our resources for the next hit."
3. Fixed vs. Variable Cost Discipline
During the boom, many studios bloated their fixed costs (headcount, expensive office leases, SaaS bloat).
In a hit-driven business, your cost structure needs to be as elastic as possible.
Shift what you can to variable costs. This allows you to scale up when a game hits, and scale down without restructuring when a game misses.
The Opportunity in the Crisis
This sounds heavy, but there is a silver lining.
Studios that master their Unit Economics today will be the titans of tomorrow. When the market stabilizes, the companies left standing will be the ones that didn't burn their runway chasing vanity metrics.
To the CEOs reading this: You don't need a CFO who just reports the weather (tells you what you spent last month). You need a Pilot who can read the instruments and tell you if you have enough fuel to reach the destination.
If you don't know your core cohort's retention curve or your real burn rate (excluding one-off grants/tax credits), it’s time to find out.
