Making games may start with passion and the desire to create something fun. But for Kachain Puttiwarawut or “Chain” from FairPlay Studios, turning game development into a sustainable and growing business requires thinking far beyond the word “fun.”
In Episode 2 of เอาอะไรคิด (“What Were You Thinking?”) We talk about the business behind game development, from financing and team building to learning from every game and, most importantly, understanding what it takes to build a game company that can grow and repeat its success.
From Banking to the Game Business
Before entering the game industry, Chain worked in banking and had a background in economics, finance, and risk management. That experience became an important foundation when he decided to enter game development.
What he saw was a significant opportunity in Thailand. While Thailand has a large population of gamers, there are still relatively few Thai game companies that have grown into major players in the industry.
For Chain, this was not simply a problem. It was an opportunity.
However, identifying an opportunity is only the first step. The next question is: Do we actually have the resources and capabilities to build it?
FairPlay was therefore built by combining business and financial expertise with a team that had practical experience in game development.
Don’t Put All Your Own Money Into the Game
One of FairPlay’s most interesting approaches is its philosophy of not relying primarily on the founders’ own money to develop games.
This does not mean avoiding investment altogether. Instead, it is about risk diversification and looking at each game on a project-by-project basis.
In this model, publishers or investors can provide funding once a project has been evaluated and shows potential. Once the game is completed and generates revenue, that capital can then be reinvested into the next project.
The reasoning is straightforward: if a developer puts all of their personal money into a single game, the failure of that game could turn into debt and prevent the company from moving forward.
This creates an important distinction between “making games because you want to make games” and “building a game business.”
A Game Has to Be Fun, but Fun Alone Isn’t Enough
Chain places great importance on the word “fun.” After all, games are entertainment, and players ultimately need to enjoy what we create.
But during development, the team discovered an important reality: a game that is fun for 10 minutes does not necessarily mean it is a game that people will buy.
Fun needs duration.
Players need a reason to keep playing to explore, experiment, progress, or simply spend more time within the game world.
This means game design has to go beyond asking, “Is the game fun?”
The more important question becomes:
“What makes it fun, and how can we create that fun in a systematic and repeatable way?”
A Game Is More Than Revenue, It Is an Asset
Another important idea is to view a game as more than a single product.
When a company creates a game, it accumulates IP, technology, knowledge, production pipelines, and team experience.
Systems such as character controls, saving, loading, tools, and development processes can potentially be reused in future projects.
The first game therefore creates value beyond its immediate revenue. It can also create the foundation for the next game.
This is where economies of scale begin to emerge.
As a company makes more games, it accumulates more knowledge and reusable assets. The time and cost required to solve familiar problems can decrease, while the team becomes more efficient and capable.
A Good Team Is About Knowledge
FairPlay’s approach to team building focuses on quality rather than simply increasing headcount.
People joining the team should make the work better and easier, while also being able to learn from the people around them.
One important part of this is knowledge transfer.
Allowing someone to make mistakes and figure everything out on their own can take months or even years. Learning directly from experienced team members can dramatically shorten that process.
This is one reason FairPlay values working together on-site. Simply walking past a colleague’s desk, seeing what they are working on, and being able to ask questions or solve problems immediately can become a natural form of knowledge transfer.
Every Game Should Make the Company Better
One of the most interesting lessons from the conversation is that FairPlay does not view each game simply as a product that needs to succeed commercially. Each project is also a learning process.
The first game should teach the team as much as possible from development and porting to multiple platforms, gathering player feedback, and managing production.
After a game is completed, the team can look back through a retrospective: What worked? What went wrong? What knowledge can be carried forward into the next project?
A game therefore becomes a foundation for the next one, allowing the team to develop faster, improve quality, and operate more efficiently.
The Real Formula Is Repeatability
Ultimately, the most important question in the game business may not be:
“Was this game successful?”
Instead, it is:
“Do we understand why it was successful?”
If a game succeeds purely because of luck, that may not yet represent a sustainable business model.
But if the team can identify what made the game successful and apply those insights to the next project, they begin to develop a repeatable business.
Success once may be an achievement.
Success twice may reveal a pattern.
But being able to repeat that success systematically is when it starts becoming a business.