How small studios are navigating the games industry - Interview with Fateless Co-Founder Dan Francis

Fateless, a small independent studio building the mobile hero-collector Godforge, has assembled a team that includes veterans from Microsoft, Riot Games, Sony, EA, SEGA, Netflix and Plarium while also investing in graduates from institutions such as Howest University of Applied Sciences in Belgium. Co‑founder Dan Francis says the shift in the labour market — driven in part by almost 50,000 industry layoffs since 2022 — has changed access to experienced developers even as it presents human costs.

"50,000 layoffs is 50,000 people, and plenty of them are still looking," Francis said. "I'd be wary of anyone in my position calling that an opportunity — the talent didn't become available, it became displaced, and it's a very hard time for the families it's hit."

Francis argues the key change for small studios is practical: experienced developers who previously would not consider startups are now taking calls. "People who spent ten or fifteen years inside large studios will now take a call from a studio our size," he said, adding that Fateless's route to market and community support helped attract senior hires who "wouldn't have looked at a startup with no major backing three years ago." The studio emphasises immediate feedback loops — "your work is in the build the same week you did it — no six-week note from someone who's never played the game" — as a selling point for talent seeking ownership and faster creative cycles.

Fateless combines industry veterans and juniors intentionally. Francis described the value veterans bring as institutional memory: "Our veterans earn their weight in gold from past mistakes... they've watched a particular decision go badly before, so they can flag it six months before it costs us." At the same time he rejects the notion that graduates are merely "energy or fresh eyes," instead calling young hires domain experts for mobile genres. "Someone who's twenty-two and has been playing this genre or other games on their phone since they were fourteen knows things about it that someone with fifteen years on console doesn't," Francis said.

• Project: Godforge — a community‑first mobile hero‑collector
• Recruitment partners: Howest University of Applied Sciences (Belgium)
• Notable company backgrounds among hires: Microsoft, Riot Games, Sony, EA, SEGA, Netflix, Plarium

Fateless's partnership with Howest began after a cold outreach from a student named Nico, who joined the art team and "is now one of the strongest people on the Art team." Francis praised Howest's production‑first curriculum, saying students "arrive having actually built things in teams, on deadlines," which narrows the gap between graduation and meaningful studio contribution. He noted a practical limit to expansion: mentorship capacity. "We'd rather do this well with a few students than badly with a lot," he said.

On hiring signals for graduates, Francis highlighted classical strengths and a modern addition: "A portfolio of finished work... evidence you can take feedback without taking it personally, and having actually shipped something in a team." He also advised a "sensible relationship with AI tools," clarifying that tools should accelerate non‑creative parts of work rather than replace craft.

Looking ahead, Francis framed current market conditions as both corrective and structural. While acknowledging the suffering behind mass layoffs, he suggested the new talent landscape gives smaller studios the chance to recruit experienced creators and offer end‑to‑end ownership — a model that may reshape recruitment patterns even as broader industry dynamics continue to evolve.