Newly independent studio The Chinese Room is looking to keep budgets small on its upcoming projects. 

Speaking to Game Developer, studio director Ed Daly said that he is hoping to keep budgets low in order to manage risk, though he adds that there are other benefits to this strategy. 

"Life is easier if budgets are large because you can take your time, play around, and make some mistakes. That approach no longer feels sustainable," he said. 

"So, for our new games we're essentially funding them ourselves at the moment, but we will be looking for partners to help us with that at some point. Beyond that, and maybe it seems like this has always been the case to an extent, but we need to pick our battles, manage scope, and avoid spending too much too quickly before we're ready. I think everyone has become more cost-conscious, which I don't think is a bad thing."

He added: "It feels like, three or four years ago, we were almost under pressure to talk up budgets for games to be taken seriously. So, sometimes we almost had the inverse problem where we had to figure out how to make a game that costs $10 million to $20 million," he continues. "At the moment, lots of people will be dealing with budgets in the low-single-millions to create double-A projects or whatever you want to call them. It's a big change." 

The Chinese Room was acquired by Sumo Group back in 2018; earlier this year, the studio conducted a management buyout and is now independent.