Back to collectionA 20-Month Runway, With Harder Scheduling Ahead
The studio had frozen nonessential spending, but that was only a first step. Finance recalculated the runway: 20 months remained, and the rate of spending needed to fall further. The 20 months gave the team time, but also set limits on every scheduling decision.
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The studio had frozen nonessential spending, but that was only a first step. With the financing climate still bleak, the finance team needed to put game development and everyday expenses on the same sheet and calculate how long the team could keep going.
Finance recalculated the runway: 20 months remained, and the rate of spending needed to fall further. On hearing the figure, the production team debated which optional work to postpone. Cutting experiments too early could hurt the game; keeping the schedule full would strain the budget. They decided first to mark the cost and urgency of each task.
The 20 months gave the team time, but also set limits on every scheduling decision. Finance's next step was to review each proposed cut with production. They still had to determine, task by task, what could wait and what directly affected the player experience.