At GDC 2026, Room 2010, West Hall. Talk starts at 10:30.
Game Funding: Lessons from Outersloth
Presented by Victoria Tran and Forest Willard

What's it like funding games? This talk will go over the stats, learnings, and reflections on starting and running Outersloth, an indie game fund created from the success of the game Among Us. Starting in 2022, it has successfully funded 20+ games of varying genres. See what happens behind-the-scenes when you submit a game, insight into self-publishing, and a call for more game funds to exist (or at least, for publishers to give better support.) This is NOT a talk about how to perfectly pitch a game or self-publish as an indie - it is a transparent reveal of the journey behind running a games fund, insights we've gained from submissions, and why self-publishing has become more important than ever.

Notes:

• Forest: CEO cofounder, started as a programmer
• Victoria: Communications Director
• Developers
  • What does survival mean for an indie?
  • 1 game is usually make or break
  • 48.4% have 100% recoup, after recoup an average of 41.8% rev to publisher
  • Cumulative sales chart is more useful to evaluate publushers
  • Stacked graph shows you what portion yiu make compared to publisher, so you can see when you have the money to make the next game.
  • 70/30 flip is more adventageous for developer
  • Multiple recoups, perpetual rev share, and IP transfers are less adventageius for the developer.
  • Know publishers better than they know themselves.
• Self Publishing
  • You know your game best, you keep all revshare, but no one is doing more work for you like a publisher would. It is more work.
  • You can build your own community.
• Outersloth
  • Outersloth is a game fund, not a publisher
  • Founder decided to invest in other games
  • Has more indie partners to help fund more games
  • Most everyone working on the fund is part-time
  • Outersloth is a lean operation, run under a DBA, has a fixed $5m/yr budget
  • $25m total invested, don't want to put more money into it.
  • 4 games funded per quarter, all under $1m
  • As a fund, you need either money or a team that believes in the vision. Much like a publisher.
  • Find likeminded developers whose needs you can fill.
• Process
  • Originally all friends and angel investors, and did a lot of scouting
  • Now they don't do any scouting.
  • You submit on the website, submissions go to clickup.
  • Submissions go to first review, either send rejection if 2- stars or proceed if 3+ stars
  • If there is enough information, second review (works the same as 1st review). Otherwise, request more info before proceeding.
  • Panel of reviewers decide how they want to split funding of the game if they want to fund it. It's like the show Shark Tank.
  • If approved, offer made to developer.
  • Each partner judges the game on their own criteria, but production and money needs to make sense.
  • As of Feb 2026
    • 4.5 submissions a day
    • 299 unreviewed, 1,689 rejected
    • 50% thrown out, 30% gen ai
    • 1% make it to final round
• Contract
  • 50/50 pre-recoup (because they dont offer services)
  • 15/85 post-recoup
  • 7 year term after release, when 100% goes to developer
  • Agree to fund X platforms, but signs all platforms which is simpler
  • Requires monthly reports to know if things are going well
  • Outersloth Slack for all signed studios to help each other
  • Provides advice, connections and IndieBI services outside of contract
  • $19m invested right now
  • 24 games funded since start, 1.4% overall signing percentage
  • They consider the fund to be a success, based on values instead of profit. They are happy to see the games actually ship. So far, 2 games are profitable and one is close.
• Struggles
  • Hands off process means that newer developers struggle.
  • Hand-off is still a lot of work for Outersloth.
  • Don't provide as much marketing as the submissions request
  • Review process is slow and they missed out on games they would like to sign because of this.
• What they learned
  • Setting a budget every quarter works well
  • Pitch deck should cover production and money
  • Vibe check before signing
  • Set expectations upfront. Outersloth is only about providing funding.
  • Biz dev help is what people appreciate the most.
• Comtract is now posted online publically
• 5 takeaways:
  • Understand what giving your rev share away means
  • Publishers can dilute risk across portfolio, indies cannot
  • Publishers should consider making better, friendlier terms
  • Bigger publishers should start trying out running a fund.
  • Indiepocalypse is fake! Hopeful that things can grow.

Q&A:

• Do they make smaller bets?
  • Generally easier to be successful with smaller budgets, smaller games.
  • Especially true for countries with a lower cost of living.
  • Prototype funding is riskier but underserved
  • Did fund a game for less than 50k
• How far along in development are the games when they apply?
  • It depends, but it doesnt matter to them how far along a game is.
  • Forest cares about the quality of pitch deck, doesn't even play demo until about to sign.
  • Don't really have time to give feedback to all games anymore, only provide it when they think there is a lot of potential.
• How much are the services that Outersloth provides worth?
  • Not sure
  • Will ask developers to get specific quotes for things they need for the game.
• Do they find global south games more attractive to sign?
  • Will find good games regardless of where the game comes from
  • Global payments are difficult and are an interesting experience. Would still do it though, because they want to see the games.
• What is in a good production slide?
  • Something more than alpha, beta, release
  • Like to see milestones. Want to feel like they know how they game is going to make the game. Who is doing what?
  • It's easier to show examples
• Is there a relationship between timeline and cost?
  • Yes, people are expensive so longer projects cost more
• There's a wide spread of genres, what do you look for?
  • There is some promise in the game
  • The reason is different for all six
  • Story, mechanics, or liking the team.
  • They do have to have good financials because they want to recoup.
  • Would keep door open to games that will not recoup, but it would have to be personally special to the funder in some way.
  • Sometimes devs ask for too little. Remember to pay yourself.
• Do they consuder funding outside of games?
  • Have received tools or platform submissions, which have all been rejected.
• Should developers not include margin in submissions?
  • They are okay with seeing margin and financial safety nets in submissions
• Any advice for student games?
  • Don't overscope
  • They can tell when a game is student-quality.