In 2021, we spent several months talking to funders and game developers across the country to learn how we could build programming that would actually meet the needs of underrepresented game creators. During this time, we sent out a survey through our networks about the barriers to funding for Canadian indie game developers, particularly those from marginalized populations. Between the survey and these conversations, we heard countless stories about the difficulties accessing funding and staying afloat as an indie game dev in Canada.
In this post, we reflect on what we learned from these stories and how they helped shape our approach. By writing this, we hope to create an archive of the current funding landscape in Canada, as well as make suggestions for future improvements.
What we Learned
Location and Access
Our survey responses came from six provinces, predominantly Ontario and Quebec as well as Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, and British Columbia. The results revealed that, although funding is difficult to access for game devs in major cities and provinces, it is even harder for those in locations such as Saskatchewan and New Brunswick, where provincial funding support can be extremely extractive. The Territories are also severely underrepresented in indie game communities in Canada, and this can be seen in our survey results as well.
Many of the people we heard from have had difficulty finding communities of other game devs where they feel welcome, particularly those who are from more remote areas or come from a marginalized identity group. Without community, many early game devs aren't able to gain experience or access the resources they need to receive funding.
Several of the people we heard from described how early mentorship and access to communities would have prevented later issues with their studio. Although adequate funding is necessary for early studios, without mentorship and other resources, that funding can only go so far. Money alone can't address the lack of experience that so many early studios have.
Early Studios and the Lack of Experience
Applying for funding involves knowing the "unwritten rules of applications," such as how to write a grant, how best to pitch your studio/project, how to make a budget, and so on. Many early studios also don't know how to run a business, such as schedule and communicate about production, manage employees, or deal with conflicts. Marketing is also a big mystery for many early studios. Even those who have gained experience from years of applying for funding find that years of rejections has hurt their confidence and self-esteem, which becomes its own barrier.
Without access to communities and resources, these early studios are set up to fail, and therefore most funding goes to those who already have experience, such as those who have worked for AAA studios before or have other industry connections.
One of the biggest challenges of the funding landscape right now is that teams need money to make money. Many funds require that teams already have funding in order to receive more, or they only cover certain costs, meaning that studios have to scramble to fill the gaps in capital. One respondent described how the funding cycle leaves them and their team "on a constant hamster wheel" of barriers.
Survival and Sustainability
The people most underserved by the current funding landscape are those who haven't had previous supports and opportunities that appeal to funders. These are often people without any cushion of capital or resources to rely on. There are also many broader systemic issues facing underrepresented game devs, such as the costs of capitalism, climate change, the pandemic, and more.
Many of the stories we heard from our communities were ones of simple survival. Of wanting enough money to live on and pay others to live on. Of wanting access to healthcare, childcare, and food. So many indie game devs across Canada have to juggle freelance work or other jobs to make game development a survivable possibility.
Survival should be the bare minimum offered by funding. Teams should be able to sustain themselves and thrive. Many people found it difficult to sustain a team when all the funding they were getting was project-based, thereby leaving them with no opportunities to build a solid and healthy foundation for their studio.
Further, many teams have difficulty finding the time to apply for funding. Some of the survey respondents expressed spending anywhere from 5-16 hours a week looking for and applying to funds. Many talked about how applications can take many weeks or months to prepare and that they still rarely receive any funding. All of this work becomes time taken away from making games and actually building the studio.
Risks, Repayment, and Autonomy
For many early studios, having control over what they make is extremely important, especially for people who have been excluded and marginalized within games communities before. However, many existing funds require studios to give up their IP or equity in exchange for funding, forcing indies to choose between compromising their goals or getting the resources they need.
Our research showed that many underrepresented game devs are very wary of repayment and are looking for no-strings-attached funding and grants that won't leave them in debt. Several of them described funds with extremely extractive recoups that would leave the studio unable to pay themselves or would take too much away from the company. In the case where recoup is necessary for a fund, the desire was to let studios cover their costs first so that they can survive even without releasing a mass hit.
Although funding is meant to help studios survive and thrive, these stories showed us that sometimes the funding itself can become a barrier to making games and fostering community the way so many early indie studios would like to.
What We Built
Above, we've identified many of the barriers to accessing funding that face indie game developers today in Canada. Based on what we learned, here is how we've aimed to address these in building Baby Ghosts.
Location and Access
To help address provincial funding challenges, we've made our programming Canada-wide. That said, we recognize that our early cohorts were concentrated in major cities and the most populous provinces. We are working to expand our reach across all Provinces and Territories through partnerships with existing media and games organisations across the country, including our regional hub network launching in 2026.
With the pandemic, we focused entirely on digital communities. Although this has limitations, it also means that we can connect participants across the country despite location, which benefits those from more rural locations as well as those with access needs.
Mentorship and community are essential parts of our programming. In collaboration with Gamma Space, we offer peer support and community so that teams can work through their challenges and goals early on. We believe this is a fundamental step not only for making studios more sustainable, but for helping promote healthy work environments.
Early Studios and Lack of Experience
Baby Ghosts focuses specifically on supporting early-stage teams through cooperative governance education, peer mentorship, and educational bursaries so that they can take foundational steps in their development. Teams should leave the program feeling prepared to navigate the funding landscape and build sustainable working practices.
Based on our survey responses, we also aim to help build experience and confidence by giving teams structured opportunities to articulate their work and receive thorough feedback. Some of our respondents described how they never know why they are being rejected for funding, so we aim to be as transparent as we can about our process to help teams prepare for future applications.
We also heard from studios that they don't always have the resources to incorporate, but funds often require incorporation. In response, our Cooperative Foundations program focuses on pre-formation education - helping teams build governance, values alignment, and shared agreements before they incorporate.
Survival and Sustainability
We want Baby Ghosts to help teams exist sustainably. Educational programming and bursaries are part of this, but we also want to help teams meet their goals through peer support and to centre their voices and needs above our own. Our programming is based on what we have learned so far, but we plan to continue learning and changing our approach based on the needs of our communities.
In terms of time and commitment, we made our application as short as possible so that it takes teams less time to apply than traditional funding. We want to be a resource of useful information for early teams, even if they don't end up working with us.
Risks, Repayment, and Autonomy
Baby Ghosts offers no-strings-attached educational bursaries and peer support. There is no repayment, no equity stake, and no IP obligation. Teams retain full ownership of their work.
We aren't interested in taking away the autonomy of studios. Too many games and stories are missing from indie games right now because of barriers to funding.
Our goal is to keep trying to make space for those missing voices. We hope that we can look back on this document in another year and see even more ways to improve.
We're grateful for everyone who has shared their stories with us so far. We are always looking for feedback on how to improve our work, so don't hesitate to reach out to us at hello@babyghosts.fund.