GameCraft Studios

First fix the leaking bucket. Then scale it.

A compact turnaround case about reconnecting a struggling game studio’s business model with the experience its players actually wanted.

Brief: A 12-month turnaround and a new hit-game pitch
My focus: Game concept, UX-to-business logic and presentation

01 / Diagnosis

Paid reach could not repair a product players left.

The fictional studio kept buying acquisition while day-30 retention fell from 18% to 13%. Grind-heavy design and pay-to-win perceptions had weakened trust. The product was leaking faster than marketing could refill it.

Day-30 retention: 18 → 13%
Paid acquisition: Spend ↑
Player relationship: Trust ↓

02 / Counter-move

From bought growth to product-led growth.

Stop the leak

Put underperforming titles into maintenance and move attention back to product quality and live operations.

Restore the DNA

Rebuild the studio’s strategy identity through fair value, deeper play, user-generated content and map editing.

Let players compound it

Make clan and server owners creators—and organic recruiters for the communities they build.

03 / The game pitch

Warlords of Dominion

A persistent, clan-based real-time war game built around construction, raids and collective defence.

There is no final victory screen: power shifts as clans build bases, gather resources and contest a shared world. Modded servers give communities ownership, while a premium purchase and optional hosted worlds avoid pay-to-win.

Clan survival
Modded servers
Fair recurring value

Concept trailer

AI-assisted concept visuals, assembled and edited in DaVinci Resolve for the course pitch.

My contribution

I wrote the game direction, connected its UX choices to retention and acquisition, presented the business-model logic, and turned the concept into the pitch trailer. The final Q&A also made the financing, onboarding and scope risks more concrete.

04 / Debrief

“Retention is the truth. Marketing can fill the bucket; product quality decides whether it leaks.”

The course made one principle tangible: a turnaround needs a clear sequence of decisions, not a larger pile of disconnected ideas.

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