Gaming Studio Operating Model

The model structures a single-title studio across three phases. Years 1–2 cover pre-production and development, with no revenue and cash burn funded by equity.

• Year 3 marks launch, where premium unit sales peak. Years 4–5 shift toward live service, with DLC, in-app purchases, and battle passes becoming the primary revenue streams.
• This reflects a games-as-a-service strategy: premium pricing is a secondary event, and post-launch monetisation drives long-run revenue. Key drivers include unit sales, cumulative install base, monthly active users, ARPU, DLC attach rate, and battle pass adoption.

Platform fees of 30% apply to all digital revenue.

The model calculates revenue from unit sales and net price after platform fees and refunds. DLC revenue uses cumulative install base times attach rate times net price per pack.

• IAP revenue equals MAU times monthly ARPU times twelve times the platform fee adjustment. Live service revenue uses MAU times adoption rate times seasons times price.
• On the cost side, development labour in Years 1–2 is capitalised as an intangible asset, not expensed. Amortisation is accelerated at 50%, 30%, and 20% over Years 3–5 and appears in COGS.
• Staffing drives both capitalised costs and G&A, while marketing, rent, and software licences flow to operating expenses. A revolver facility prevents negative cash.

The income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement are fully linked.

IAP revenue = MAU × monthly ARPU × twelve × the platform fee adjustmentCopy

Primary outputs are the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement across five years. These show revenue by stream, gross profit after amortisation, EBITDA, EBIT, and net income.

• The balance sheet tracks capitalised development costs, PP&E, working capital, equity, and revolver balances. The cash flow statement reveals operating, investing, and financing cash flows, highlighting the pre-revenue burn and the timing of breakeven.
• Validation checks ensure the balance sheet balances, cash never goes negative, and amortisation and depreciation add-backs reconcile. This model is for evaluating whether a single premium title can sustain a studio through launch and live operations without additional funding beyond planned equity.

This model covers a single title with one premium launch and post-launch live service. It excludes scenario toggles, sensitivity analysis, WACC, DCF valuation, and term debt.

• Scenarios and valuation would require separate templates. The model assumes no deferred revenue for premium sales or IAP, consistent with delivery-based recognition.
• It includes a working capital facility but no conventional bank debt, as pre-revenue studios would not qualify. The public download is a values-only preview and does not contain live formulas or automatic recalculation.

Illustrative assumptions are provided, but users should replace them with their own data for decision-making.