Bringing your video game to an investor can be a nerve-wracking process. You need to put your best foot forward if you’re to secure the funding needed to finish development and bring your game to market. Investors will hear countless pitches, which means yours has to stand out from the crowd. 

Before you seek out investors, you need to solidify your pitch. To do that, you need to know what investors are looking for in a video game pitch. You may think all it takes is a snippet of gameplay, a proof of concept, and a synopsis, but there’s more to it than that.

There are many factors to consider when building your pitch, but some of the most important include:

• Team experience
• Vertical slice
• Milestones
• An overall budget
• Funds allocation
• Marketing plan/audience segmentation

Who Is On Your Team?

Ultimately, who is the investor entrusting with their money? Present thorough bios of any key players involved in the game’s development. Highlight anyone with experience that will really impress, such as team members who may have successfully shipped a game.

The team is almost as important as the game. If your development team comes across as inexperienced, it can immediately turn investors away. Even if you’re a solo developer, lay out all of your expertise, accomplishments, and anything else that suggests you can produce a marketable product.

Showcasing Your Game

There may be other factors that investors consider, but they are definitely going to want to see a portion of your game. You’ll want to create a vertical slice or a segment of gameplay developed specifically for the investor pitch.

Though this slice doesn’t necessarily have to be in the finished build, it should have gameplay and artistic elements that closely resemble what you want to put in front of gamers. For many investors, it’s not necessarily about seeing how the game will play. They want to see if they can trust that you’ll deliver a competent product.

Setting Milestones and Goals

Investors want to know how long it may be until they see a return on their funding. You can provide a crude schedule based on the current rate of development, so long as you touch on the stages of development and marketing.

Think about what you’re planning along the way. Are you going to host a beta? What’s your projected release date? Will there be post-launch content? The more thorough the schedule, the more organized and prepared you will look for investors. 

Budgeting and Funds Allocation

Before anyone hands over money, they’re going to want to see how you plan on dispersing those funds. Create a budget that shows what you need to fund different stages of development, including any wages being paid out to the team. Your budget should also reflect marketing costs and additional overhead, such as assets you may need to license. 

A completed budget shows investors how serious you are and lets them know how much they may need to invest. Integral to your budget is a breakdown of how funds will be dispersed. If you’re asking for $100,000, show how all $100,000 will go toward game development. 

Marketing Plan and Targeted Audience

Investors want to know that you’ve considered who will play your game the most. Having a broad marketing plan that reaches an extensive and widely diverse audience isn’t necessarily a good tactic. Developing your message for too varied a market can lead to wasted advertising dollars and a poor return on investment. 

Do you want your meticulous real-time strategy game to be pushed to fans of boomer shooters? No, you want it to hit that specific demographic. It can be difficult to find the right demographic, but with a little work and research, you’ll be able to draw up a targeted marketing plan to impress investors.

Need Help Preparing Your Pitch

When it comes to your development lifecycle, the investor pitch may be the most important part. Without funding, your project may not get off the ground, so it’s vitally important to take the pitch seriously. At Loopr Partners, we have helped several studios and independent teams prepare their investor pitch. We’d love the opportunity to do the same for you.

Move forward with a pitch you can be confident in. Contact Loopr Partners today to take advantage of our expertise in investor pitching.