Consulting
Real experience, put to work.
Bespoke consulting for live-service studios and the people who back them. Senior, hands-on help from someone who has run these games at scale, on whichever part of the business needs it most.
Select a pillar to see what we do.
Product and strategy
Where the game is going, and the plan to get there.
- Product strategy and roadmapWe help you turn a direction into a plan your studio can deliver, and pressure-test the roadmap until it is one you believe in.
- Portfolio and IP planningWe help you plan how your IP and your portfolio grow over several years: what to build, extend or retire, how the pieces fit together, and where to invest next.
- Vision, purpose and Game SoulWe work with your leadership to make the game's purpose something the whole studio acts on, and to keep its creative identity clear.
- Product analysis and forecastingWe read what your numbers are really saying and build forecasts you can defend to a board, backed by our free Ember tools.
- Release and launch readinessWe review the game, the team and the plan before a launch or a major live release, so you go out ready and know how you will keep going afterwards.
Live ops and players
Keeping players, and their trust, for the long term.
- Live ops strategyWe shape your live ops plan, from cadence to content and events, and review how well it is serving the players you want to keep.
- Player experience and retention managementWe find where your bucket is leaking and why players leave. We look at the game as they live it and set out what to change, so you keep more of the players you win.
- Community and player trustWe help you build, maintain and restore the goodwill that makes hard decisions survivable.
Commercial and growth
How the game earns, and how it reaches players.
- Monetisation and commercial modelWe test whether the way your game earns works for the business and for players, and help you change it where it does not.
- Pricing, promotions and live eventsWe analyse your current pricing, promotions and live events to make sure you are not leaving opportunity on the table, and help you plan changes that earn more without spending your players' goodwill.
- Platform and distribution strategyWe help you decide where your game should live and how it reaches players: which platforms and stores, which publishing and distribution route, and how to manage them over time.
- Product marketingWe guide your positioning, messaging and go-to-market, so the game's story is clear and your marketing earns attention without eroding trust.
- Business development and partnershipsWe help you find, shape and negotiate the partnerships that move the game forward, from advice and introductions through to leading the negotiation.
Leadership and organisation
The people and structure that make delivery possible.
- Organisational designWe look at how decisions really get made, and redesign the structure and ownership that are slowing the studio down.
- Executive leadership coachingWe coach the people leading your studio, one to one, drawing on almost two decades of running live-service games.
- Interim and fractional leadershipWe provide experienced leadership for as long as you need it, while you hire, restructure or recover.
- Capability and team developmentWe identify your sharpest capability gaps and help you close them through hiring, development and structure.
Board, investors and crisis
When the stakes are highest.
- Board advisoryWe act as an independent voice for your board on a rolling basis, present enough to understand the detail, removed enough to say what needs to be said.
- Board reporting and planningWe help you give your board a clear, defensible picture of whether you are on track, what changed and why.
- Investor readinessWe help you tell your studio's story with evidence, and prepare for the questions an investor will ask.
- Live-service due diligenceWe give those backing a studio an independent view of what a data room cannot show. For investors.
- Emergency triage supportWe embed with your leadership for two intensive weeks when something has gone wrong. We help you see what is actually happening, decide what to do and steer the response. Your team executes.
Want to start with an honest, scored read on where you are? Explore PULSE or see a sample report.
How we work
One lead. The right specialists, when it matters.
Kritiq steers; we don't replace your team, and you always have one point of contact. Where a specialist will materially improve the outcome (data, monetisation, community, change management), we bring in the right person from our network, billed transparently as part of one engagement.
For investors
What financial due diligence can't see.
A data room shows you the numbers. It can't show you the health of the game, or the studio behind it.
Before you invest. A PULSE assessment is an independent, evidence-based view of a live-service studio's real condition. It complements financial due diligence, and surfaces the risks, strengths and opportunities a traditional data room can't show.
After you invest. We advise the board, support the leadership team and step in where the plan needs hands-on help, so the studio you backed becomes the one you thought you were buying.
