Bring your Imagination
- I was the CEO, Founder & Creative Director of Makea Games from February 2022 to June 2025
- PC and console focused game studio working on a multiplayer UGC universe
- 17 FTE with massive technical talent (UE5 custom built Makea Editor game engine) and game studio talent (Supermoves game project)
- Supermoves released August 2024 to critical acclaim and positive user reviews, including winning 2nd Place for Finnish Game of the Year 2024
- We were working on Superstrike, a FPS followup, but it didn’t materialize in time.
- Winded down May 2025
Makea Games lets you make a game – just bring your imagination.
What a tagline! Back in the olden days (2022) there was a huge buzz about the Metaverse – Facebook had just changed their name to Meta, avatar systems and content toolkits were roaming the land and the world was dominated by user generated content (UGC) editors.
We pitched in with Makea Games and our interconnected “Makeaverse” of UGC games, where every game and level would be made with just your controller. I gathered a motley crew of 5 (very) talented founders and set out on an adventure with plenty of financial backing.
Our premiere title Supermoves was a very ambitious first game for a company of such a small size. It was a mashup of “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater”, “Fall Guys” and “Mirror’s Edge” – aiming to become yet another liveops obsession on PC and consoles by mixing breakneck parkour running together with community-powered levels and games – the perfect game universe for a streamer-dominated age.
During 2023 the world of funding in games was starting to dramatically shift due to post-pandemic gaming habits returning to normal, and like many game studios, we struggled to keep to our vision in an ever shifting landscape. While we managed to raise some more funding and still keep growing (from 5 founders to 17 full time employees), the foundations started to creak when we were faced with what I would call the “chicken and egg” problem of UGC.
The problem was shipping something that requires a community fast, while also building the game. We aimed to build a UGC editor on Unreal Engine 5 so powerful it could launch entire games, combined with community tools to support limitless player creation — all while developing a full game within that editor. It was very, very challenging.
The vision and scope became almost overbearing, and the tension started to rise. We had to downshift and build stuff that couldn’t scale. At the end of 2023, we had to start tightening down the scope and only had a meager marketing budget left for our important first title. Some marketing decisions didn’t yield the impact we hoped for.
Many of our next steps would fumble a bit due to the ongoing game industry crisis, which saw over 35 000 layoffs in a single year and many, many studios closing off. Despite this, we marched onwards with Supermoves, knowing we’d go to a market that had already saturated and, in my opinion, left us behind.
Meanwhile, as AI trends surged ahead and crypto hype faded, we optimized for the wrong signals. We misread how the investment landscape was shifting relative to our ambitious production goals. Steam alone had over 18 000 games released in 2024, which didn’t bode well for us.
Wheels were in motion that could no longer be stopped, while funding dreams faded. The timing coincided with market conditions that made visibility and traction difficult, as it did for many other studios.
We concluded Makea Games in May 2025 to focus on lessons learned and future projects. We had also been working on other projects, such as the prototype Superstrike – but it didn’t materialize in time.
I learned a lot running Makea. I think we still have something special built with the unique blend of UGC and fun gameplay. The game was a massive technical undertaking. It even won second place for Finnish Game of the Year 2024. I don’t regret the opportunity – in fact, I’m eternally grateful for everyone helping to get the game past the finish line.
The teachings were brutal. The lessons were hard. But it all made me so much stronger.
Thank you, next.